38 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
passes out of sight protesting loudly that his discovery 
was a land of gold and silver, cattle and grain, the rich- 
est fruit and the healthiest climate, a land without venom- 
ous beasts or insects, peopled by gentle natives, a land 
richer than Mexico or Peru and as large as all Europe 
and hither-Asia as far as Persia. 
Meanwhile the Dutch voyagers sailing south from the 
Malay archipelago had discovered the Gulf of Carpen- 
taria, where Jansz arrived a few months before Torres ; 
and year after year the west coast of Australia was felt 
out ; and its bays and headlands bear testimony to this day 
to the hardiness of the Dutch captains and the names of 
their ships. In 1627 Nuyt discovered that after passing 
Cape Leeuwin the coast turned eastward, and Tasman 
crowned the work by sailing round the coast and cutting 
off the great mass of New Holland from the dwindling 
hypothetical continent. Continuing on his way he dis- 
covered the west coast of New Zealand, which he named 
Staten Land in honour of the Dutch States General. 
He thought that it might perhaps be continuous with the 
other Staten Land east of Cape Horn; but in any case 
he was of opinion that the new discovery formed part 
of the unknown South Land. 
Except possibly in the middle of the three southern 
oceans it was now apparent that the Antarctic continent 
could not reach very far into the temperate zone. This 
was the utmost of the achievements of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, and so far as attaining high latitudes is concerned, 
the best results were due to the tempests off Cape Horn, 
such expeditions as set out with the professed intention 
of pushing on to the great South Land having usually 
been well content to harbour in some tropical island. 
In the Cape Horn region the hopes of meeting with 
