X 
INTRODUCTION. 
[Prior Discoveries, 
Torres. lt cannot be doubted, that the " very large islands" seen by Torres, 
1606. at tne lltn degree of south latitude, were the hills of Cape York ; 
or that his two months of intricate navigation were employed in 
passing the strait which divides Terra Austral is and New Guinea. 
But the account of this and other discoveries, which Torres himself 
addressed to the King of Spain, was so kept from the world, that 
the existence of such a strait was generally unknown, until 1770; 
when it was again discovered and passed by our great circumnavi- 
gator Captain Cook. 
Torres, it should appear, took the precaution to lodge a copy of 
his letter in the archives of Manila ; for, after that city was taken 
by the British forces, in 1762, Mr. Dalrymple found out, and drew 
from oblivion, this interesting document of early discovery; and, as a 
tribute due to the enterprising Spanish navigator, he named the pas- 
sage Torres' Strait; and the appellation now generally prevails. 
Zeachen. Zeachen is said to have discovered the land of Arnhem and the 
1618 ' northern Van Diemen's Land, in 1618; and he is supposed, from 
the first name, to have been a native of Arnhem, in Holland ; and 
that the second was given in honour of the governor-general of the 
Indies.* But there are two important objections to the truth of this 
vague account : first, no mention is made of Zeachen in the recital 
of discoveries which preface the instructions to Tasman ; nor is there 
any, of the North Coast having been visited by the Dutch, in that 
year: secondly, it appears from Valentyn's lives of the governors 
of Batavia, that Van Diemen was not governor-general until 
January 1, 1636. 
Carstens. The second expedition, mentioned in the Dutch recital, for the dis- 
1623 " covery of the Great South Land, " was undertaken in a yacht, in the 
year 16 17, " with little success ;" and the journals and remarks were 
not to be found. In January 1623, the yachts Pera and. Arnhem, 
* Hist, des Navigations aux Terres Aust. Tome I. p. 432. 
