CHAPTER XXXIX. 



THE DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY RENEWED SEARCH FOR THE TERRA AUS- 



TRALIS INCOGNITA JACOB ROGGEWEIN HIS VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY — BRUSH 



WITH PIRATES ARRIVAL AT JUAN FERNANDEZ EASTER ISLAND ITS INHA- 

 BITANTS ENTERTAINMENT OF ONE ON BOARD THE SHIP A MISUNDERSTAND- 

 ING — PERNICIOUS AND RECREATION ISLANDS GLIMPSE OF THE SOCIETY ISLANDS 



A FAMINE IN THE FLEET — ARRIVAL AT NEW BRITAIN — CONFISCATION OF 



THE SHIP AT BATAVIA DECISION OF THE STATES-GENERAL VITUS BEHRING 



BEHRING'S STRAIT DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENE DEATH OF BEHRING 



SUBSEQUENT SURVEY OF THE STRAIT. 



The monopoly of the Dutch East India Company had been 

 somewhat disturbed, as early as the year 1621, by the formation 

 and charter of the Dutch West India Company. The latter 

 held the exclusive commerce of the African coast from the 

 tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope, and that of the 

 American coast both upon the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 

 1674, its power and influence were somewhat extended by a 

 fresh grant of privileges and an increase of capital. It was ne- 

 cessary for any one proposing a new scheme of commerce within 

 the limits under their control, to apply to the Company for 

 permission to execute it. A mathematician by the name of 

 Roggewein, a native of the province of Zealand, formed a 



project, in 1696, for the discovery of the vast continent and 



409 



