270 DISCOVERY OF VAN DIEMEN'-S LAND. 



East Indies published in 1726, gave ;< more extended 

 account, illustrated by copies of Tasman's maps and 

 sketches. But the journal itself remained practically 

 unknown until a copy of it and of the original sketches' 

 and charts was discovered in London in 1776 and pur- 

 chased for half a guinea. This MS. afterwards came 

 into the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, and he employed 

 the Rev. C. G. Woide, a Dutch clergyman living in 

 London, to make a translation of it. Thirty years later 

 the substance ot this translation was printed by Dr. 

 Burney in his " History of Discovery in the South Sea," 

 published in 1814. Woide's MS. is now in the British 

 Museum, and a verbatim copy of the part, relating to 

 our island has lately been made by Mr. Bonwick for the 

 Tasmanian Government. In Tasman's own country his 

 original journal remained neglected for more than two 

 centuries, until in the year 1860 it was printed in externa 

 at Amsterdam under the editorship of Mr. Jacob Swart.* 

 Tasman's expedition was probably the first systematic 

 attempt made by the Dutch to explore the Great South 

 Land. In the early years of the 17th century the 

 Western Coast of Australia had been several times 

 sighted by Dutch Captains. Ships, bound for the Dutch 

 settlements at Batavia, had been driven to the southward 

 by storms, and the resulting discoveries had, therefore, 

 been to a large extent involuntary, or at least accidental. 

 Tn the year 1642, however, the Governor-General, 

 Anthony Van Diemen, and the Council of Netherlands- 

 India, determined to despatch from Batavia a properly 

 equipped expedition, having for its sole object the dis- 

 covery of the Great Southern Continent. The instruc- 

 tions to the commander, prepared by their direction, 

 have been preserved. They contain a detailed statement 

 of all that was then known by the Dutch of the geography 

 of those parts, and they prescribe the course that the 

 ships were to pursue. The command of the expedition 

 was entrusted to Tasman, then 40 years old, and (he ship 

 Heemskirh was assigned to him for the service, with the 

 little fly-boat Zeelian as tender. Tasman sailed from 

 Batavia on August 14; reached Mauritius (then a Dutch 

 settlement) on September 5, and sailed thence for the 

 South on October 5. He held a S.E. course until on 

 November 6 he had reached lOOdeg. E. long, in hit. 

 49deg. S., without finding any signs of the supposed 

 continent. A council of officers was held, and the 

 chief pilot, Francis Jacobsen, advise;! that the course 



* .Tournaal van dereis naar hefc onbekende Zuidtand in den jare 1642, door 

 Abel .Tansz, Tasman ; medegedeeld door Jacob Swart. Amsterdam, i860. 





