272 DISCOVERY OF VAN DIEMEN's LAND. 



We may now turn our attention to identifying the 

 parts of the coast of our island which were sighted hy 

 Tasaian. The difficulty is that his longitudes are very 

 uncertain, and his latitudes, though loss variable, do not 

 agree with modern observations, being in general some 

 9 or 10 miles too southerly.* His longitudes are quite 

 hopeless. Their uncertainty is shown by the fact that he 

 makes a difference of 3 deg. 40 min. between the west 

 coast and Frederick Henry Bay, while the true difference 

 is only 2 deg. 48 min. — an error of 52, or nearly a degree 

 in that short, distance. Many of his positions are stated 

 to have been estimated by reckoning, and we know that 

 in those days the ascertainment of longitude by obser- 

 vation was always very uncertain. 



It is generally stated that the first land sighted by 

 Tasman was near Point Hibbs, and his little chart of 

 Van Diemen's Land appears to favour this opinion, but 

 an examination of his journal leads us to a different 

 conclusion. From the entries in the journal it is evident 

 that his position on November 24, when he first saw the 

 land, is not laid down on the chart at all. The latitude 

 entered for noon that day is 42 deg. 25 min. As the 

 weather was clear this was probably the observed lati- 

 tude, and making allowance for the usual error we may 

 place it some miles more to the north, say 42 deg. 20 min. 

 or 42 deg. 15 min. From noon he sailed four "hours E. 

 by N. before he sighted land bearing E. by N. 40 

 English miles distant. When evening fell some three 

 hours later this course would have brought him to a 

 latitude a little to the northward of Cape Sorell (42 deg. 

 12 min.) This position would agree very well with bis 

 description of the land as he saw it on that evening, and. 

 which he describes as "very high." " Towards evening 

 we saw three high mountains to the E.S.E. and to the 

 N.E. We also saw two mountains, but not so high as 

 those to the southward." 



Flinders in his circumnavigation of the island identi- 

 fied the two mountains to the N.E. as those named by 

 him Heemskirk and Zeehan after Tasman's ships. They 

 are visible at about 30 miles distance. Now with 

 Heemskirk and Zeehan bearing N.E., at a, distance of 

 say 20 miles, Mount, Sorell, the southern peaks of the 

 West Coast Range, and the Frenchman's Cap, would be 

 nearly E.S.E., while the centre of the West Coast Range 



• This conclusion is reached by a comparison of the latitudes shown on his 

 chart for his anchorage on the east coast, for Maria Island, the Friars, and 

 Maatsuykor Island. On the other hand lie gives the latitude of the point 

 where he approached close to shore as 4Ji dcu'. SOmin., the tmo latitude of 

 Point Hibbs being 42 dour, 38 min, 



