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NOTE: * Refer to the note at the end of this ebook for an explanation, by Peter Reynders, of usage regarding 17th Century Dutch Surnames.
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THE PART BORNE BY THE DUTCH IN THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 1606-1765.
BY
J. E. HEERES, LL. D. PROFESSOR AT THE DUTCH COLONIAL INSTITUTE DELFT
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PUBLISHED BY THE ROYAL DUTCH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY IN COMMEMORATION OF THE XXVth ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDATION
LONDON LUZAC & CO, 46 GREAT RUSSELL STREET W. C. 1899
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CONTENTS.
List of books, discussed or referred to in the work
List of Maps and Figures
Introduction
DOCUMENTS: I. Dutch notions respecting the Southland in 1595 II. Notices of the south-coast of New Guinea in 1602 III. Voyage of the ship Duifken under command of Willem Jansz(oon) and Jan Lodewijkszoon Rosingeyn to New Guinea.—Discovery of the east-coast of the present Gulf of Carpentaria (1605-1606) IV. Fresh expedition to New Guinea by the ship Duifken (1607) V. Voyage of the ships Eendracht and Hoorn, commanded by Jacques Le Maire and Willem Corneliszoon Schouten through the Pacific Ocean and along the north-coast of New Guinea (1616) VI. Project for the further discovery of the Southland—Nova Guinea (1616) VII. Voyage of de Eendracht under command of Dirk Hartogs(zoon). Discovery of the West-coast of Australia in 1616: Dirk Hartogs-island and -road, Land of the Eendracht or Eendrachtsland (1616) VIII. Voyage of the ship Zeewolf, from the Netherlands to India, under the command of supercargo Pieter Dirkszoon and skipper Haevik Claeszoon van Hillegom.—Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia (1618) IX. Voyage of the ship Mauritius from the Netherlands to India under the command of supercargo Willem Jansz. or Janszoon and skipper Lenaert Jacobsz(oon). Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia.—Willems-rivier (1618) X. Further discovery of the South-coast of New-Guinea by the ship Het Wapen van Amsterdam? (1619?) XI. Voyage of the ships Dordrecht and Amsterdam under commander Frederik De Houtman, supercargo Jacob Dedel, and skipper Reyer Janszoon van Buiksloot and Maarten Corneliszoon(?) from the Netherlands to the East-Indies.—Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia: Dedelsland and Houtman's Abrolhos (1619) XII. Voyage of the ship Leeuwin from the Netherlands to Java.—Discovery of the South-West coast of Australia.—Leeuwin's land (1622) XIII. The Triall. (English discovery)—The ship Wapen van Hoorn touches at the West-coast of Australia.—New projects for discovery made by the supreme government at Batavia (1622) XIV. Voyage of the ships Pera and Arnhem, under command of Jan Carstenszoon or Carstensz., Dirk Meliszoon and Willem Joosten van Colster or Van Coolsteerdt.—Further discovery of the South-West coast of New Guinea. Discovery of the Gulf of Carpentaria (1623) XV. Voyage of the ship Leiden, commanded by skipper Klaas Hermansz(oon) from the Netherlands to Java.—Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia (1623) XVI. Discovery of the Tortelduif island (rock) (1624?) XVII. Voyage of the ship Leijden, commanded by skipper Daniel Janssen Cock, from the Netherlands to Java. Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia (1626) XVIII. Discovery of the South-West coast of Australia by the ship Het Gulden Zeepaard, commanded by Pieter Nuijts, member of the Council of India, and by skipper Francois Thijssen or Thijszoon (1627) XIX. Voyage of the ships Galias, Utrecht and Texel, commanded by Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen.—Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia (1627) XX. Voyage of the ship Het Wapen van Hoorn, commanded by supercargo J. Van Roosenbergh.—Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia (1627) XXI. Discovery of the North-West coast of Australia by the ship Vianen (Viane, Viana), commanded by Gerrit Frederikszoon De Witt.—De Witt's land (1628) XXII. Discovery of Jacob Remessens-, Remens-, or Rommer-river, south of Willems-river (before 1629) XXIII. Shipwreck of the ship Batavia under commander Francois Pelsaert on Houtmans Abrolhos. Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia (1629) XXIV. Further surveyings of the West-coast of Australia by the ship Amsterdam under commander Wollebrand Geleynszoon De Jongh and skipper Pieter Dircksz, on her voyage from the Netherlands to the East Indies (1635) XXV. New discoveries on the North-coast of Australia, by the ships Klein-Amsterdam and Wesel, commanded by (Gerrit Thomaszoon Pool and) Pieter Pieterszoon (1636) XXVI. Discovery of Tasmania (Van Diemensland), New Zealand (Statenland), islands of the Tonga- and Fiji-groups, etc. by the ships Heemskerk and de Zeehaen, under the command of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Frans Jacobszoon Visscher, Yde Tjerkszoon Holman or Holleman and Gerrit Jansz(oon) (1642-1643) XXVII. Further discovery of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the North and North-West coasts of Australia by the Ships Limmen, Zeemeeuw and de Bracq, under the command of Tasman, Visscher, Dirk Corneliszoon Haen and Jasper Janszoon Koos (1644) XXVIII. Exploratory voyage to the West-coast of Australia round by the south of Java, by the ship Leeuwerik, commanded by Jan Janszoon Zeeuw (1648) XXIX. Shipwreck of the Gulden or Vergulden Draak on the West-coast of Australia, 1656.—Attempts to rescue the survivors, 1656-1658. —Further surveyings of the West-coast by the ship de Wakende Boei, commanded by Samuel Volckerts(zoon), and by the ship Emeloord, commanded by Aucke Pieterszoon Jonck, (1658) XXX. The ship Elburg, commanded by Jacob Pieterszoon Peereboom, touches at the South-West coast of Australia and at cape Leeuwin, on her voyage from the Netherlands to Batavia (1658) XXXI. Further discovery of the North-West-coast of Australia by the ship de Vliegende Zwaan, commanded by Jan Van der Wall, on her voyage from Ternate to Batavia in February 1678 XXXII. Further discovery of the West-coast of Australia by the ship Geelvink, under the skipper-commander of the expedition, Willem De Vlamingh, the ship Nijptang, under Gerrit Collaert, and the ship het Wezeltje, commanded by Cornelis De Vlamingh (1696-1697) XXXIII. Further discovery of the North-coast of Australia by the ships Vossenbosch, commanded by Maarten Van Delft, de Waijer under Andries Rooseboom, of Hamburg, and Nieuw-Holland or Nova-Hollandia, commanded by Pieter Hendrikszoon, of Hamburg (1705) XXXIV. Exploratory voyage by order of the West-India Company "to the unknown part of the world, situated in the South Sea to westward of America", by the ships Arend and the African Galley, commanded by Mr. Jacob Roggeveen, Jan Koster, Cornelis Bouman and Roelof Roosendaal (1721-1722) XXXV. The ship Zeewijk, commanded by Jan Steijns, lost on the Tortelduif rock (1727) XXXVI. Exploratory voyage of the ships Rijder and Buis, commanded by lieutenant Jan Etienne Gonzal and first mate Lavienne Lodewijk Van Asschens, to the Gulf of Carpentaria (1756) INDICES. (Persons, Ships, Localities)
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LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES.
* No. 1 Gedeelte der (Part of the) Orbis terrae compendiosa describtio * No. 2 Gedeelte der (Part of the) Exacta & accurata delineatio cum orarum maritimarum tum etjam locorum terrestrium, quae in regjonibus China...una cum omnium vicinarum insularum descriptjone ut sunt Sumatra, Java utraque * No. 3 Zuidoostelijk gedeelte der Kaart (South-eastern part of the Map) Indiae Orientalis Nova descriptio * No. 4 Caert van (Chart of) 't Land van d'Eendracht Ao 1627 door HESSEL GERRITSZ * No. 5 Uitslaande Kaart van het Zuidland door HESSEL GERRITSZ (Folding chart of the Southland). * No. 6 Kaart van het Zuidland van (Alap of the Southland by) JOANNES KEPPLER en PHILIPPUS ECKEBRECHT, 1630 * No. 7 Kaart van den opperstuurman AREND MARTENSZ. DE LEEUW, der Zuidwestkust van Nieuw Guinea en der Oostkust van de Golf van Carpentaria (Chart, made by the upper steersman Arend Martensz. De Leeuw, of the Southwest coast of New-Guinea and the East-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria) * No. 8 Kaart van (Chart of) Eendrachtsland, 1658 * No. 9 Kaart van (Chart of) Eendrachtsland, 1658 * No. 10 Kaart van (Chart of) Eendrachtsland, 1658 * No. 11 Kaart van de Noordzijde van 't Zuidland (Chart of the North side of the Southland), 1678 * No. 12 Opschrift op den schotel, door Willem De Vlamingh op het Zuidland achtergelaten (Inscription on the dish, left by Willem De Vlamingh at the Southland), 1697. * No. 13 Kaart van het Zuidland, bezeild door Willem De Vlamingh, in 1696-1697 door ISAAC DE GRAAFF (Chart of the South-land, made and surveyed by Willem De Vlamingh in 1696-1697) * No. 14 Uitslaande kaart van den Maleischen Archipel, de Noord- en West-kusten van Australie door ISAAC DE GRAAFF (Folding chart of the Malay Archipelago, the North- and West-coast of Australia) 1690-1714 * No. 15 Kaart van (Chart of) Hollandia Nova, nader ontdekt anno 1705 door (more exactly discovered by) de Vossenbosch, de Waijer en de Nova Hollandia * No. 16-17 Kaarten betreffende de schipbreuk der Zeewijk (Charts, concerning the shipwreck of the Zeewijk) 1727. * No. 18 Typus orbis terrarum uit GERARDI MERCATORIS Atlas...De Novo...emendatus...studio JUDOCI HONDIJ, 1632. * No. 19 Wereldkaartje uit het Journaal van de Nassausche Vloot (Little map of the world from the Journal of the Nassau fleet), 1626
* * * * *
LIST OF BOOKS DISCUSSED OR REFERRED TO IN THE WORK.
* Aa (PIETER VAN DER), Nauwkeurige Versameling der gedenkwaardigste Zee- en Landreysen na Oost- en West-Indien, Mitsgaders andere Gewesten (Leiden, 1707). * S. d. B. Historie der Sevarambes...Twede druk. t'Amsterdam, By Willem de Coup (enz.). 1701. Het begin ende voortgangh der Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie (II). Gedruckt in 1646. * BURNEY, Chronological history of the voyages and discoveries in the South Sea, Deel III (London, Luke Hansard, 1813). * Bandragen tot de taal- land- en volkenkunde van Nederlandsch Indie, nieuwe volgreeks, I (1856). * A F. CALVERT, The Discovery of Australia. (London, Liverpool, 1893). * G. COLLINGRIDGE, The discovery of Australia. (Sydney, Hayes, 1895). * Remarkable Maps of the XVth, XVIth & XVIIth centuries. II. III. The geography of Australia. Edited by C. H. COOTE (Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 1895). * L. C. D. VAN DIJK. Mededeelingen uit het Oost-Indisch Archief. No. 1. Twee togten naar de Golf van Carpentaria. (Amsterdam, Scheltema, 1859). * LOUIS DE FREYCINET, Voyage autour du monde, entrepris par ordre du roi, execute sur les corvettes de S. M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les annees 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820.—Historique. (Paris, Pillet aine, 1825). * J. F. GERHARD. Het leven van Mr. N. Cz. Witsen. I (Utrecht, Leeflang, 1881). * J. E. HEERES, Bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis der Nederlanders in den Maleischen Archipel, III. ('s Gravenhage, Nijhoff, 1895). * J. E. HEERES. Dagh-Register gehouden int Casteel Batavia Anno 1624-1629. Uitgegeven onder toezicht van...('s Gravenhage, Nijhoff, 1896). * Abel Janszoon Tasman's journal of his discovery of Van Diemens land and New Zealand in 1642...to which are added Life and Labours of Abel Janszoon Tasman by J. E. HEFRES...(Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 1898). * Iovrnael vande Nassausche Uloot...Onder 't beleyd vanden Admirael JAQUES L'HEREMITE, ende Vice-Admirael Geen Huygen Schapenham, 1623-1626. T'Amstelredam, By Hessel Gerritsz ende Jacob Pietersz Wachter. 't Jaer 1626. * J. K. J. DE JONGE De opkomst van het Nederlandsch gezag in Oost-Indie, 1. ('s-Gravenhage, Amsterdam, MDCCCLXIV); IV. (MDCCCLXIX.) * P. A. LEUPE. De reizen der Nederlanders naar het Zuidland of Nieuw-Holland, in de 17c en 18c eeuw. (Amsterdam, Hulst van Keulen, 1868). * LINSCHOTEN (JAN, HUYGEN VAN). Itinerario, Voyage ofte Schipvaert naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien...'t Amstelredam by Cornelis Claesz. op 't VVater, in 't Schriff-boeck, by de Oude Brugghe. Anno CICICXCVI. * R. H. MAJOR. Early voyages to Terra Australis, now called Australia (London, Hackluyt Society, MDCCCLIX). * GERARDI MERCATORIS atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica mundi et fabricati figura. De novo multis in locis emendatus novisque tabulis auctus Studio IUDOCI HONDIJ. Amsterodami. Sumptibus Johannis Cloppenburgij. Anno 1632. * A. E. NORDENSKIOeLD. Facsimile-Atlas to the early history of cartography. (Stockholm, MDCCCLXXXIX). * A. E. NORDENSKIOeLD. Periplus.—Translated from the Swedish original by F. A. Bather. (Stockholm, MDCCCLXXXXVII). * PURCHAS his Pilgrimes Contayning a History of the World in Sea voyages, and lande-Travells by Englishmen and others (HACKLUYTUS POSTHUMUS). * A. RAINAUD. Le Continent Austral. (Paris, Colin, 1893). * Dagverhaal der ontdekkings-reis van Mr. JACOB ROGGEVEEN...in de jaren 1721 en 1722. Uitgegeven door het Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen.—Te Middelburg, bij de gebroeders Abrahams. 1838. * TIELE (P. A.) Memoire bibliographique sur les journaux des navigateurs Neerlandais. (Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 1867). * TIELE (P. A.), Nederlandsche bibliographic van land- en volkenkunde. (Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 1884). * N. CZ. WITSEN. Noord- en Oost Tartarije. (1692, enz.) * C. WYTFLIET. Descriptionis Ptolemaicae augmentum. (1597).
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
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I.
OCCASION AND OBJECT OF THE PRESENT WORK.
In writing my biography of Tasman, forming part of Messrs. Frederik Muller and Co.'s edition of the Journal of Tasman's celebrated voyage of discovery of 1642-1643, I was time and again struck by the fact that the part borne by the Netherlanders in the discovery of the continent of Australia is very insufficiently known to the Dutch themselves, and altogether misunderstood or even ignored abroad. Not only those who with hypercritical eyes scrutinise, and with more or less scepticism as to its value, analyse whatever evidence on this point is submitted to them, but those others also who feel a profound and sympathetic interest in the historical study of the remarkable voyages which the Netherlanders undertook to the South-land, are almost invariably quite insufficiently informed concerning them. This fact is constantly brought home to the student who consults the more recent works published on the subject, and who fondly hopes to get light from such authors as CALVERT, COLLINGRIDGE, NORDENSKIOLD, RAINAUD and others. Such at least has time after time been my own case. Is it wonderful, therefore, that, while I was engaged in writing Tasman's life, the idea occurred to me of republishing the documents relating to this subject, preserved in the State Archives at the Hague—the repository of the archives of the famous General Dutch Chartered East-India Company extending over two centuries (1602-1800)—and in various other places? I was naturally led to lay before Messrs. Frederik Muller and Co. the question, whether they would eventually undertake such a publication, and I need hardly add that these gentlemen, to whom the historical study of Dutch discovery has repeatedly been so largely indebted, evinced great interest in the plan I submitted to them.[*]
[* See my Life of Tasman, p. 103, note 10.]
Meanwhile the Managing Board of the Royal Geographical Society of the Nether lands had resolved to publish a memorial volume on the occasion of the Society's twenty-fifth anniversary. Among the plans discussed by the Board was the idea of having the documents just referred to published at the expense of the Society. The name of jubilee publication could with complete justice be bestowed on a work having for its object once more to throw the most decided and fullest possible light on achievements of our forefathers in the 17th and 18th century, in a form that would appeal to foreigners no less than to native readers. An act of homage to our ancestors, therefore, a modest one certainly, but one inspired by the same feeling which in 1892 led Italy and the Iberian Peninsula to celebrate the memory of the discoverer of America, and in 1898 prompted the Portuguese to do homage to the navigator who first showed the world the sea-route to India.
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How imperfect and fragmentary even in our days is the information generally available concerning the part borne by the Netherlanders in the discovery of the fifth part of the world, may especially be seen from the works of foreigners. This, I think, must in the first place, though not, indeed, exclusively, be accounted for by the rarity of a working acquaintance with the Dutch tongue among foreign students. On this account the publication of the documents referred to would very imperfectly attain the object in view, unless accompanied by a careful translation of these pieces of evidence into one of the leading languages of Europe; and it stands to reason that in the case of the discovery of Australia the English language would naturally suggest itself as the most fitting medium of information[*]. So much to account for the bilingual character of the jubilee publication now offered to the reader.
[* The English translation is the work of Mr. C. Stoffel, of Nijmegen.]
Closely connected with this consideration is another circumstance which has influenced the mode of treatment followed in the preparation of this work. The defective acquaintance with the Dutch language of those who have made the history of the discovery of Australia the object of serious study, or even, in the case of some of them, their total ignorance of it, certainly appears to me one, nay even the most momentous of the causes of the incomplete knowledge of the subject we are discussing; but it cannot possibly be considered the only cause, if we remember that part of the documentary evidence proving the share of the Netherlanders in the discovery of Australia has already been given to the world through the medium of a leading European tongue.
In 1859 R. H. MAJOR brought out his well-known book Early Voyages to Terra Australis, now called Australia, containing translations of some of the archival pieces and of other documents pertaining to the subject. And though, from P. A. LEUPE'S work, entitled De Reizen der Nederlanders naar het Juidland of Nzeuw-Holland in de 17e en 18e eeuw, published in 1868, and from a book by L. C. D. Van Dijk, brought out in the same year in which MAJOR'S work appeared, and entitled Twee togten naar de golf van Carpentaria; though, I say, from these two books it became evident that MAJOR'S work was far from complete, still it cannot be denied that he had given a great deal, and what he had given, had in the English translation been made accessible also to those to whom Dutch was an unknown tongue. This circumstance could not but make itself felt in my treatment of the subject, since it was quite needless to print once more in their entirety various documents discussed by MAJOR. There was the less need for such republication in cases which would admit of the results of Dutch exploratory voyages being exhibited in the simplest and most effective way by the reproduction of charts made in the course of such voyages themselves: these charts sometimes speak more clearly to the reader than the circumstantial journals which usually, though not always, are of interest for our purpose only by specifying the route followed, the longitudes and latitudes taken, and the points touched at by the voyagers. These considerations have in some cases led me only to mention certain documents, without printing them in full, and the circumstance that my Tasman publication has been brought out in English, will sufficiently account for the absence from this work of the journal of Tasman's famous expedition of 1642/3.[*]
[* I would have the present work considered as forming one whole with my Tasman publication and with the fascicule of Remarkable Maps, prepared by me, containing the Nolpe-Dozy chart of 1652-3 (Cf. my Life of Tasman, pp. 75 f). Together they furnish all the most important pieces of evidence discovered up to now, for the share which the Netherlanders have had in the discovery of Australia.]
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The documents, here either republished or printed for the first time, are all of them preserved in the State Archives at the Hague[*], unless otherwise indicated. They have been arranged under the heads of the consecutive expeditions, which in their turn figure in chronological order. This seemed to me the best way to enable readers to obtain a clear view of the results of the exploratory voyages made along the coasts of Australia by the Netherlanders of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
[* My best thanks are due to Jhr. Th. Van Riemsdijk, LL. D., Principal Keeper, and to Dr. T. H. Colenbrander, Assistant-Keeper, of the State Archives of the Hague.]
For this and this only, was the object I had in view in selecting the materials for the present work: once more, as completely and convincingly as I could, to set forth the part borne by the Netherlanders in the discovery of the fifth part of the world. I have not been actuated by any desire to belittle the achievements of other nations in this field of human activity. The memorial volume here presented to the reader aims at nothing beyond once more laying before fellow-countrymen and foreigners the documentary evidence of Dutch achievement in this field; perhaps I may add the wish that it may induce other nations to follow the example here given as regards hitherto unpublished documents of similar nature. Still, it would be idle to deny that it was with a feeling of national pride that in the course of this investigation I was once more strengthened in the conviction that even at this day no one can justly gainsay MAJOR'S assertion on p. LXXX of his book, that "the first authenticated discovery of any part of the great Southland" was made in 1606 by a Dutch schip the Duifken. All that is asserted regarding a so-called previous discovery of Australia has no foundation beyond mere surmise and conjecture. Before the voyage of the ship Duifken all is an absolute blank.
II.
CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE DUTCH DISCOVERIES ON THE MAINLAND COAST OF AUSTRALIA.
If one would distribute over chronological periods the voyages of discovery, both accidental and of set purpose, made by the Netherlanders on the mainland coast of Australia, it might be desirable so to adjust these periods, that each of them was closed by the appearance in this field of discovery and exploration, of ships belonging to other European nations.
The first period, extending from 1595 to 1606, would in that case open with the years 1595-6, when JAN HUYGEN VAN LINSCHOTEN, in his highly remarkable book entitled Itinerario, imparted to his countrymen what he knew about the Far East; and it would conclude with the discovery of Torres Strait by the Spaniards in 1606, a few months after Willem Jansz. in the ship Duifken had discovered the east-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the latter discovery forming the main interest of this period.
The second period may be made to extend from 1606 to 1622, i.e. from the appearance of the Spaniards on the extreme north-coast of the fifth part of the world, to the year in which the English ship Trial was dashed to pieces on a rock to westward of the west-coast of Australia; the discovery of this west-coast by the Dutch in and after 1616, and of the south-western extremity of the continent in 1622, constituting the main facts of the period.
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We next come to the palmiest period of Dutch activity in the discovery of Australia (1622-1688), terminating with the first exploratory voyage of importance undertaken by the English, when in 1688 William Dampier touched at the north-west coast of Australia. This period embraces the very famous, at all events remarkable, voyages of Jan Carstensz (1623), of Pool and Pieterszoon (1636), of Tasman (1642-1644), of Van der Wall (1678), etc.
The last period with which we wish to deal, lies between Dampier's arrival and Cook's first visit to these regions (1688-1769), and is of secondary importance so far as Dutch discoveries are concerned. We may just mention Willem de Vlamingh's voyage of 1696-1697, and Maerten van Delft's of 1705; Gonzal's expedition (1756) is not quite without significance, but the results obtained in these voyages will not bear comparison with those achieved by the expeditions of the preceding period. Besides this, the English navigator Dampier and afterwards Captain Cook now began to inscribe their names on the rolls of history, and those names quite legitimately outshine those of the Dutch navigators of the eighteenth century. The palmy days of Dutch discovery fell in the seventeenth century.
In some such fashion the history of the Dutch wanderings and explorations on the coasts of Australia might be divided into chronological periods. The desire of being clear has, however, led me to adopt another mode of treatment in this Introduction: I shall one after another discuss the different coast-regions discovered and touched at by the Netherlanders.
III.
THE NETHERLANDERS IN THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA[*]
[* As regards the period extending from 1595-1644, see also my Life of Tasman, Ch. XII, pp. 88ff.]
We may safely say that the information concerning the Far East at the disposal of those Dutchmen who set sail for India in 1595, was exclusively based on what their countryman JAN HUYGEN VAN LINSCHOTEN, had told them in his famous Itinerario. And as regards the present Australia this information amounted to little or nothing.
Unacquainted as he was with the fact that the south-coast of Java had already been circumnavigated by European navigators, VAN LINSCHOTEN did not venture decidedly to assert the insular nature of this island. It might be connected with the mysterious South-land, the Terra Australis, the Terra Incognita, whose fantastically shaped coast-line was reported to extend south of America, Africa and Asia, in fact to the southward of the whole then known world. This South-land was a mysterious region, no doubt, but this did not prevent its coast-lines from being studded with names equally mysterious: the charts of it showed the names of Beach [*], the gold-bearing land (provincia aurifera), of Lucach, of Maletur, a region overflowing with spices (scatens aromatibus). Forming one whole with it, figured Nova Guinea, encircled by a belt of islands.
[* That the Dutch identified Beach with the South-land discovered by them in 1616, is proved by No. XI A of the Documents (p. 14).]
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So far the information furnished by VAN LINSCHOTEN [*]. At the same time, however, there were in the Netherlands persons who had other data to go by. In 1597 CORNELIS WIJTFLIET of Louvain brought out his Descriptionis Plolomaicae augmentum, which among the rest contained a chart on which not only Java figured as an island, but which also represented New Guinea as an island by itself, separated from Terra Australis. The question naturally suggests itself, whether this chart [**] will justify the assumption that the existence of Torres Strait was known to WIJTFLIET. I, for one, would not venture to infer as much, seeing that in other respects this chart so closely reproduces the vague conjectures touching a supposed Southland found on other charts of the period, that WIJTFLIET'S open passage between New Guinea and Terra Australis cannot, I think, be admitted as evidence that he actually knew of the existence of Torres Strait, in the absence of any indications of the basis on which this notion of his reposed. Such indications, however, are altogether wanting: none are found in WIJTFLIET'S work itself, and other contemporary authorities are equally silent on the point in question [***].
[* See No. I of the Documents, with charts Nos. 1 and 2.]
[** COLLINGRIDGE, Discovery, p. 219, has a rough sketch of it.]
[*** Cf. also my Life of Tasman, p. 89, and Note 8.]
After this digression let us return to the stand-point taken up by the North-Netherlanders who first set sail for the Indies in 1595. They "knew in part" only: they were aware that they knew nothing with certitude. But their mercantile interests very soon induced them to try to increase and strengthen their information concerning the regions of the East. What sort of country after all was this much-discussed New-Guinea, they began to ask. As early as 1602 information was sought from the natives of adjacent islands, but these proved to have "no certain knowledge of this island of Nova Guinea" [*]. The next step taken was the sending out of a ship for the purpose of obtaining this "certain knowledge": there were rumours afloat of gold being found in New Guinea!
[* See No. II of the Documents.]
On the 28th of November 1605 the ship Duifken, commanded by Willem Jansz., put to sea from Bantam with destination for New Guinea. The ship returned to Banda from its voyage before June of the same year. What were the results obtained? What things had been seen by Willem Jansz. and his men? The journal of the Duifken's voyage has not come down to us, so that we are fain to infer its results from other data, and fortunately such data are not wanting. An English ship's captain was staying at Bantam when the Duifken put to sea, and was still there when the first reports of her adventures reached the said town. Authentic documents of 1618, 1623, and 1644 are found to refer to her voyage. Above all, the journal of a subsequent expedition, the one commanded by Carstensz. in 1623, contains important particulars respecting the voyage of his predecessors in 1605-6. [*]
[* See pp. 28, 42, 43, 45 infra. I trust that these data will go far to remove COLLINGRIDGE'S doubt (Discovery p. 245) as to whether the ship Duifken sailed farther southward than 8 deg. 15'.]
On the basis of these data we may safely take for granted the following points. The ship Duifken struck the south-west coast of New Guinea in about 5 deg. S. Lat., ran along this coast on a south-east course [*], and sailed past the narrows now known as Torres Strait. Did Willem Jansz. look upon these narrows as an open strait, or did he take them to be a bay only? My answer is, that most probably he was content to leave this point altogether undecided; seeing that Carstensz. and his men in 1623 thought to find an "open passage" on the strength of information given by a chart with which they had been furnished. [**] This "open passage" can hardly refer to anything else than Torres Strait. But in that case it is clear that Jansz. cannot have solved the problem, but must have left it a moot point. At all events he sailed past the strait, through which a few months after him Luiz Vaez de Torres sailed from east to west.
[* As regards the names given on this expedition to various parts of this coast, see my Life of Tasman, pp. 90-91, and chart No. 3 on p. 5 infra.]
[** See pp. 47, 66 infra.]
{Page vi}
Jansz. next surveyed the east-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria as far as about 13 deg. 45'. To this point, the farthest reached by him, he gave the name of Kaap-Keerweer [Cape Turn-again]. That skipper Jansz. did not solve the problem of the existence or non-existence of an open passage between New Guinea and the land afterwards visited by him, is also proved by the circumstance that even after his time the east-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria was also called New Guinea by the Netherlanders. Indeed, throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch discoverers continued in error regarding this point. They felt occasional doubts on this head [*] it is true, but these doubts were not removed.
[* See inter alia a report of a well-known functionary of the E.I.C., G. E. RUMPHUS, dated after 1685 in LEUPE Nieuw-Guinea, p. 86: "The Drooge bocht [shallow bay], where Nova-Guinea is surmised to be cut off from the rest of the Southland by a passage opening into the great South-Sea, though our men have been unable to pass through it owing to the shallows, so that it remains uncertain whether this strait is open on the other side."]
The Managers of the E.I.C. did not remain content with this first attempt to obtain more light [*] as regards these regions situated to eastward, the Southland-Nova Guinea as they styled it, using an appellation characteristic of their degree of knowledge concerning it. But it was not before 1623 that another voyage was undertaken that added to the knowledge about the Gulf of Carpentaria: I mean the voyage of the ships Pera and Arnhem, commanded by Jan Carstensz. and Willem Joosten van Colstjor or Van Coolsteerdt. [**]
[* See pp. 6, 7-8, 13 and note 2 infra.]
[** See the Documents under No. XIV (pp. 21 ff.), and especially chart No. 7 on p. 46.]
On this occasion, too, the south-west coast of New Guinea was first touched at, after which the ships ran on on an eastern course. Torres Strait was again left alongside, and mistaken for a Drooge bocht,[*] "into which they had sailed as into a trap," and the error of New Guinea and the present Australia constituting one unbroken whole, was in this way perpetuated. The line of the east-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, "the land of Nova Guinea", was then followed up to about 17 deg. 8' (Staten river), whence the return-voyage was undertaken [**]. Along this coast various names were conferred. [***]
[* As regards the attempts to survey and explore this shallow water, see infra pp. 33-34]
[** See p. 37 below.]
[*** As regards this, see especially the chart on p. 46.—Cf. my Life of Tasman, pp. 99-100.]
In the course of the same expedition discovery was also made of Arnhemsland on the west-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and almost certainly also of the so-called Groote Eyland or Van der Lijns island (Van Speultsland) [*] The whole of the southern part of the gulf remained, however, unvisited.
[* See my Life of Tasman, pp. 101-102; and pp. 47-48 below.]
{Page vii}
The honour of having first explored this part of the gulf in his second famous voyage of 1644 is due to our countryman Abel Janszoon Tasman together with Frans Jacobszoon Visscher and his other courageous coadjutors in the ships Limmen Zeemeeuw and Brak. [*] Abel Tasman's passagie [course] of 1644 lay again along the south-west coast of New Guinea; again also Tasman left unsolved the problem of the passage through between New Guinea and Australia: Torres Strait was again mistaken for a bay. The east-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria was next further explored, and various new names were conferred especially on rivers on this coast, which most probably got the name of Carpentaria about this time; of the names then given a great many continue to figure in modern maps. After exploring the east-coast, Tasman turned to the south-coast of the gulf. In this latter case the results of the exploration proved to be less trustworthy afterwards. Thus Tasman mistook for a portion of the mainland the island now known as Mornington Island; the same mistake he made as regards Maria Eiland in Limmensbocht. For the rest however, the coast-line also of the south-coast was delineated with what we must call great accuracy if we keep in mind the defective instruments with which the navigators of the middle of the seventeenth century had to make shift. The west-coast of the gulf, too, was skirted and surveyed in this voyage; Tasman passed between this coast and the Groote (Van der Lijn's) eiland.
[* See my Life of Tasman, pp. 115-118, and especially chart No. I of the Tasman Folio. Much information may also be gathered from chart No. 14 of the present work, since it registers almost the whole amount of Dutch knowledge about Australia circa 1700.]
The entire coastline enclosing the Gulf of Carpentaria had accordingly now been skirted and mapped out. The value of Tasman's discoveries in this part of Australia directly appears, if we lay side by side, for instance, the chart of the upper-steersman De Leeuw [*], who formed part of the voyage of 1623, or Keppler's map of 1630 [**]; and Tasman's chart of 1644 [***], or Isaac De Graaff's made about 1700 [****], which last gives a pretty satisfactory survey of the results of Tasman's voyage of 1644 so far as the Gulf of Carpentaria is concerned. Although Tasman's expedition of 1644 did not yield complete information respecting the coast-line of the Gulf, and although it is easy to point out inaccuracies, the additions made by this voyage to our knowledge on this point are so considerable that we may say with complete justice that while the discovery of the east-coast of the Gulf is due to Jansz. (1606) and Carstensz. (1623), it was Tasman who made known the south-coast and the greater part of the west-coast.
[* No. 7 on p. 46.]
[** No. 6 on p. 10.]
[*** Chart No. I in the Tasman Folio.]
[**** No. 14 below.]
More than a century was to elapse before Dutch explorers again were to visit the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 1756 the east- and west-coast of it were visited first by Jean Etienne Gonzal and next by Lavienne Lodewijk van Assehens [*]. The expedition is of little interest as regards the surveying of the coast-line, but these explorers got into more frequent contact with the natives than any of their predecessors—what especially Gonzal reports on this subject, is certainly worth noting. Gonzal also first touched at the south-west coast of New Guinea, and next, again without becoming aware of the real character of Torres Strait, sailed to the east-coast of the Gulf, skirting the same up to about 13 deg. S. Lat., after which he crossed to the west-coast. What he did there is of little interest. Van Asschen's experiences are of even less importance for our present purpose. One remark of his, however, is worth noting: he states namely that he found the east-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria [**] to be "fully 12 miles more to eastward" than the charts at his disposal had led him to believe; and it would really seem to be a fact that Tasman had placed this coast too far to westward.
[* See No. XXXVI infra.]
[** The names there conferred by him on various parts of the coast, may be sufficiently gathered from Document No. XXXVI.]
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IV.
THE NETHERLANDERS ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA.
In a previous work [*] I have attempted to show that the discovery of Arnhemsland must beyond any doubt be credited to the voyage of the yacht Arnhem, commanded by Van Colster or Van Coolsteerdt, which took place in 1623. Since the Journal and the charts of this voyage are no longer available, we are without the most important data for determining with certainty between what degrees of longitude the Arnhemsland then discovered was situated. To westward of it must be sought Van Diemens- and Maria's-land, touched at in 1636 by Pieter Pieterszoon with the ships Cleen Amsterdam and Wesell) [**]. There can be no doubt that Pieterszoon must have sailed far enough to westward to have passed Dundas Strait, and to have reached the western extremity of Melville Island (Roode hoek = red point). He took Dundas Strait to be not a strait, but a bay, and accordingly looked upon Melville Island not as an island, but as a portion of the mainland (Van Diemensland) [***].
[* See my Life of Tasman, pp. 100-102, and the Documents under No. XIV, 2 infra.]
[** See the Documents under No. XXV.]
[*** Maria-land lies immediately to eastward of Van Diemens-land, and to westward of Arnhems-land.]
In the course of these two voyages of 1623 and 1636, therefore, the whole of the north-west coast from Melville Bay to Melville Island was surveyed by Dutch ships. But in the absence of charts made on these voyages it is impossible for us to say with certainty, whether the coastline can have been traced with correctness. On this point also more light is thrown by the well-known chart of 1644, in which the results of Tasman's voyages are recorded. Tasman sailed along the whole of the coast, but in this case too, his observations were not on all points accurate. Thus the situation of Wessel-eiland and the islets south of it, with respect to the mainland, is not given correctly by him; nor has he apprehended the real character of Dundas Strait and of Van Diemen's Gulf, so that also according to him Melville island forms part of the mainland. But for the rest Tasman's chart also in this case approximately reproduces the coast-line with so much correctness, that we find it quite easy [*] to point out on the maps of our time the results of the Dutch voyages of discovery in this part of the Australian coast.
[* Chart No. 14 below may also be of excellent service here.]
Far more accurate, however, than Tasman's chart is the chart which in 1705 was made of the voyage of the ships Vossenbosch, de Waijer and Nova-Hollandia, commanded by Maarten van Delft [*]. This chart may at the same time be of service to elucidate Tasman's discoveries and those of his predecessors. It is to be regretted, therefore, that it only embraces a comparatively small portion of the north-west coast, namely the part extending from the west-coast of Bathurst island and the western extremity of Melville island to the eastern part of Coburg peninsula and Croker-island. This time again the real character of Dundas Strait and Van Diemens Gulf were not ascertained [**].
[* See the Documents under No. XXXIII and Chart No. 15.]
[** I subjoin the names of localities that are found in this chart, since the reproduction had to be made on too small a scale to allow of the names being distinctly visible to the naked eye. Going from west to east they are the following: Kliphoek, Duivelsklip, Droge Hoek, Boompjeshoek, Wille Hoek, Noordhoek van Van Diemens Land, Waterplacts, Vuyle Bocht, Vuijl Eijland, Hoek van Goede Hoop, Hoefyzer Hoek, Fortuyns Hoek, Schrale Hoek, Valsche Westhoek, Valsche Bocht, Bedriegers Hoek, Westhoek van 3 Bergen's bocht of Vossenbos Ruyge Hoek, Orangie Hoek, Witte Hoek, Waterplacts, Alkier liggen drie bergen, Toppershoedje, Oosthoek van Drie Bergens bocht, Scherpen Hoek, Vlacke Hoek, Westhoek en Costhoek (van) Mariaes Land, Maria's Hoek, de Konijnenberg, Marten Van Delft's baai, Pantjallings Hoek, Rustenburg, Wajershoek, Hoek van Onier, Hoek van Canthier, P. Frederiksrivier, Jan Melchers Hoek. Pieter Frederiks Hoek, Roseboomshoek, W. Sweershoek, Hoek van Calmocrie.]
{Page ix}
V.
THE NETHERLANDERS ON THE WEST- AND SOUTH-WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA
In the year 1616 the Dutch ship Eendracht, commanded by Dirk Hartogs on her voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia unexpectedly touched at "divers islands, but uninhabited" and thus for the first time surveyed part of the west-coas of Australia[*]. As early as 1619 this coast, thus accidentally discovered, was known by the name of Eendrachtsland or Land van de Eendracht. The vaguenes of the knowledge respecting the coast-line then discovered, and its extent, is not unaptly illustrated in a small map of the world reproduced as below, and found in {Page x} GERARDI MERCATORIS Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica mundi et fabricati figura. De novo...auctus studio JUDOCI HONDIJ (Amsterodami; Sumptibus Johannis Cloppenburgij. Anno 1632) [**]. If, however, we compare this map of the world with KEPPLER'S map of 1630 [***], we become aware that Hondius has not recorded all that was then known in Europe respecting the light which since 1616 European explorers had thrown on the question of the western coast-line of Australia. In Keppler's map, namely, besides the English discovery of the Trial rocks (1622) [****], and the name "'T Landt van Eendracht" in fat characters, passing from the north to the south, we meet with the following names, which the smaller letters show to have been intended to indicate subordinate parts of Eendrachtsland: Jac. Rommer Revier [*****], Dirck Hartogs ree, F. Houtmans aebrooleus and Dedells lant. What is more, Keppler's map also exhibits the south-west coast of Australia.
[* See on this point the Documents sub No. VII (pp. 8f.).—It will hardly be denied that these pieces of evidence may justly be called "documents immediately describing" Hartogs's dicsovery.]
[** For my knowledge of this remarkable atlas I am indebted to Mr. ANTON MENSING, member of the firm of Messrs. Frederik Muller and Co., of Amsterdam. These gentlemen kindly enabled me to reproduce this chart for the present work. I received it too late to allow of its being placed among the charts accompanying the various documents.]
[*** See Chart No. 6 on p. 10 below.]
[**** See under No. XIII (p. 17) below.]
[***** See on this point p. 54 infra (No. XXII A and note 3).]
[Map No. 18. Typus orbis terrarum uit GERARDI MERCATORIS Atlas...De Novo...emendatus...studio JUDOCI HONDIJ, 1632.]
Whence all those names? The answer to this question, and at the same time various other new features, are furnished by the chart of Hessel Gerritsz. of 1627 [*] and by the one dated 1618 [**], in which corrections have been introduced after date. The 1627 chart is specially interesting. Gerritsz., at the time cartographer in ordinary to the E.I.C., has "put together this chart of the Landt van d'Eendracht from the journals and drawings of the Steersmen", which means that he availed himself of authentic data [***]. He acquitted himself of the task to admiration, and has given a very lucid survey of the (accidental) discoveries made by the Dutch on the west-coast of Australia. In this chart of 1627 the Land of d'Eendracht takes up a good deal of space. To the north it is found bounded by the "Willemsrivier", discovered in July 1618 by the ship Mauritius, commanded by Willem Janszoon [****]. According to the chart this "river" is in about 21 deg. 45' S. Lat., but there are no reliable data concerning this point. If we compare Hessel Gerritsz's chart with those on which about 1700 the results of Willem De Vlamingh's expedition of 1696-7 were recorded [*****] we readily come to the conclusion that the ship Mauritius must have been in the vicinity of Vlaming Head (N.W. Cape) on the Exmouth Gulf. From Willem Janszoon's statements it also appears that on this occasion in 22 deg. an "island (was) discovered, and a landing effected." The island extended N.N.E. and S.S.W. on the west-side. The land-spit west of Exmouth Gulf may very possibly have been mistaken for an island. From this point then the Eendrachtsland of the old Dutch navigators begins to extend southward. To the question, how far it was held to extend, I answer that in the widest sense of the term ('t Land van Eendracht or the South-land, it reached as far as the South-coast, at all events past the Perth of our day) [******]. In a more restricted sense it extended to about 25 deg. S.' Lat. In the latter sense it included the entrance to Shark Bay, afterwards entered by Dampier, and Dirk Hartogs island, likewise discovered by Dirk Hartogs.
[* No. 4 on p. 9 infra.]
[** No. 5 (folding map).]
[*** It is evident that he did not use all the data then available. Thus, for instance, he left unused those furnished by the Zeewolf (No. VIII, pp. 10 ff. below), and those of the ship Leiden (No. XV, p. 49).]
[**** See the Documents under No IX (pp. 12f.).]
[***** Nos. 13 and 14]
[****** Chart No. 14]
{Page xi}
More to southward we find in the chart of 1627 I. d'Edels landt, made in July 1619 by the ships Dordrecht and Amsterdam, commanded by Frederik De Houtman and Jacob Dedel [*]. To the north of Dedelsland the coast is rendered difficult of access by reefs, the so-called (Frederik De) Houtmans-Abrolhos (now known as the Houtman Rocks), also discovered on this occasion [**]. To the south, in about 32 deg. S. Lat. [***] Dedelsland is bounded by the Landt van de Leeuwin, surveyed in 1622 [****]. Looking at the coast more closely still, we find in about 29 deg. 30, S. Lat. the name Tortelduyff (Turtle Dove Island), to the south of Houtmans Abrolhos, an addition to the chart dating from about 1624 [*****].
[* See the documents sub No. XI (pp. 14 ff.). If NORDENSKIOeLD had known these documents, he would have withheld the second alinea on p. 199 of his interesting Periplus.—The doubts, also, concerning Frederik De Houtman's share in the discoveries on the west-coast of Australia, expressed by COLLINGRIDGE (Discovery p. 304), CALVERT (Discovery, p. 25), and others, are now likely to be set at rest.]
[** They were then held to lie in 28 deg. 46'. On this point see also the documents of PELSAERT'S shipwreck (No. XXIII, pp. 55 ff).]
[*** About this latitude, between 32 deg. and 33 deg. S. Lat., also De Houtman and Dedel estimated themselves to be, when they first came upon land. They afterwards ran on on a northerly course.]
[**** See the documents sub No. XII (p. 17).]
[***** See No. XVI (p. 50) below, and the highly curious charts Nos. Nos. 16 and 17.]
So much for the highly interesting chart of Hessel Gerritsz of the year 1627. If we compare with it the revised edition of the 1618 chart, we are struck by the increase of our forefathers' knowledge of the south-west coast. This revised edition gives the entire coast-line down to the islands of St. Francois and St. Pieter (133 deg. 30' E. Long. Greenwich), still figuring in the maps of our day: the Land of Pieter Nuyts, discovered by the ship het Gulden Zeepaard in 1627 [*].
[* See No. XVIII (p. 51) below.]
North of Willemsrivier, this so-called 1618 chart has still another addition, viz. G. F. De Witsland, discovered in 1628 by the ship Vianen commanded by G. F. De Witt [*]. In this case, too, it is difficult to determine exactly the longitudes between which the coast-line thus designated is situated. [**] But with great distinctness the chart exhibits the chain of islands of which the Monte Bello and tha Barrow islands are the principal, and besides, certain islands of the Dampier Archipelago, afterwards so called after the celebrated English navigator. I would have these observations looked upon as hints towards the more accurate determination of the site of this De Wit's land, and they may be of the more value since the small scale of the chart renders an exact determination of it exceedingly difficult.
[* See No. XXI (p. 54) below.]
[** See, however, No. XXI., C. infra.]
In Gerritsz's chart of 1627, as well as in the so-called 1618 one, we are struck by the fact, that on the west-coast the coast-line shows breaks in various places: De Witt's land is not connected with the coast of Willems-rivier; the coast-line of Eendrachtsland does not run on; there is uncertainty as regards what is now called Shark-bay; the coast facing Houtmans Abrolhos is a conjectural one only; the coast-line facing Tortelduyf is even altogether wanting; Dedelsland and 't Land van de Leeuwin are not marked by unbroken lines. This fragmentary knowledge sufficiently accounts for the fact, that about the middle of the seventeenth century navigators were constantly faced by the problem of the real character of the South-land: was it one vast continent or a complex of islands? And the question would not have been so repeatedly asked, if the line of the west-coast had been more accurately known.
{Page xii}
Tasman and Visscher [*] did a great deal towards the solution of this problem, since in their voyage of 1644 they also skirted and mapped out the entire line of the West-coast of what since 1644 has borne the name of Nieuw-Nederland, Nova Hollandia, or New Holland, from Bathurst Island to a point south of the Tropic of Capricorn. In this case also certain mistakes were committed: they failed, for instance, to recognise the real character of Bathurst Island, which, like Melville Island, they looked upon as forming part of the mainland; but if we make due allowance for the imperfection of their means of observation, we are bound to say that the coast-line has by them been mapped out with remarkable accuracy [**].
[* I pass by certain other exploratory voyages on the westcoast (see e.g. No. XXIV. infra, etc.).]
[** Cf. Tasman's chart of 1644 in the Tasman Folio.]
About fifteen years after the west-coast was more accurately mapped out also, to the south of the tropic of Capricorn. In the year 1658 Samuel Volekersen with the ship de Wakende Boei [Floating Buoy], and Aucke Pieters Jonck with the ship Emeloord surveyed a portion of the west-coast, and the charts then made have been preserved [*]. The coast-line from a point near the Tortelduyf down to past Rottenest (the large island on which Volkertsen did not confer a name, preferring to "leave the naming to the pleasure of the Hon. Lord Governor-General") and the present Perth, were surveyed with special care. In the same year the ship Elburg, commanded by Jacob Peereboom, brought in further reports about the Land van de Leeuwin, where she had been at anchor "in Lat. 33 deg. 14' South, under a projecting point" (in Geographe Bay?).
[* See infra No. XXIX., pp. 75 ff., and the charts sub No. XXIX. E, F and I.]
The surveying of the lines of the west-coast was finally brought to a close by the exploratory voyage of Willem De Vlamingh in 1696-7 with the ships Geelvink, Nijptang, and het Wezeltje. A remarkable chart referring to this voyage, here reproduced [*], as well as the ISAAC DE GRAAFF chart [**] of circa 1700, give an excellent survey of the expedition. The whole coast-line from the so-called Willemsrivier (N.W. Cape) to a point south of Rottenest, Garden-island and Perth, was now mapped out. And that, too, with great accuracy. Thus, for instance, the true situation of the belt of islands enclosing Shark Bay was this time observed with unerring exactitude, and Shark Bay itself actually discovered, though its discovery is usually credited to Dampier (August, 1699).
[* No. 13.]
[* No. 14.]
VI.
THE NETHERLANDERS TO EASTWARD OF PIETER NUYTS-LAND.
The south-east- and east-coasts of Australia have never been visited by the ships of the East India Company. Tasman and Visscher [*] discovered Tasmania (Van Diemen's land) in 1642, but were unaware of the existence of what is now known as Bass Strait; they discovered the west-coast of New Zealand (Staten-land) and certain island-groups east of Australia, but did not touch at or sight the east-coast of Australia. Of course, after the discovery of the west-coast of New Zealand and of the island-groups east of Australia [**], the existence of an east-coast of Australia to westward of the regions thus discovered, was an indubitable fact, but this east-coast itself was never visited by the Netherlanders.
[* See the journal of this voyage and the discussion of it in my Tasman Folio.]
[** In the year 1616 Lemaire and Schouten (No. V), and in 1722 Roggeveen (No. XXXIV), also touched at various island-groups east of Australia, but these voyages fall outside the plan of the present work.]
{Page xiii}
VII.
OBJECT OF THE DUTCH VOYAGES FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH-LAND.—CONCLUSION.
Although it is quite true that the south-east- and east-coasts of the Australian continent were not discovered by Dutch ships, still it is an undoubted fact that, so far as is known up to now, the whole of the Australian coast-line from Prince of Wales Island and York Peninsula and along the Gulf of Carpentaria, the north- and north-west-coast of Australia then following, the whole of the west-coast, and the south-coast down to the islands of St. Francois and St. Pieter (133 deg. 30' E. L. Greenwich) were in the 17th century discovered by vessels belonging to the Netherlands [*].
[* It is true that Dampier touched at the north-west coast in 1688, but at that time this coast had already been surveyed by Dutch skippers.]
We now come to the question of the object which the Dutch authorities had in view in arranging for the expeditions that ultimately led to these discoveries.
In answering this question we shall have to distinguish between two different categories of voyages: among the voyages undertaken by Netherlanders that have led to discoveries on the coasts of Australia, there are some which were not begun with the express purpose of going in search of unknown lands; but there are others also that were undertaken expressly with this end in view. Of course the second class only can be called exploratory expeditions in a more restricted sense—the voyages of the first category became voyages of discovery through accidental circumstances.
The discoveries on the west- and south-west coasts of Australia down to Tasman's time all bore an accidental character. Eendrachtsland was discovered by accident in the year 1616, and after that time a number of Dutch ships unexpectedly touched at those shores, thus continually shedding additional, though always imperfect light on the question of the conformation of the coast-line. How was it, we may ask, that it was especially after 1616 that this coast was so often touched at, whereas there had never been question of this before that time? The question thus put admits of avery positive answer.
When the Netherlanders set sail for India for the first time, they naturally took the route which they knew to be followed by the Portuguese. After doubling the Cape of Good Hope, they directly continued their voyage on a north-eastern course, along the west-coast, or close by the east-coast, of Madagascar, and then tried to reach India coming from the west. To this route there were grave objections both as regards the winds prevailing in those latitudes, the intense heat soon encountered, the great number of "shallows or foul islands," etc. Besides, the voyage was apt to last very long. In 1611, however, certain ships going from the Netherlands to India followed another route: directly after leaving the Cape they ran on an eastern course (in about 36 deg. S. Lat.) for a considerable time, after which they tried to navigate to Java on a northerly course. The commander of these ships, the subsequent Governor-General {Page xiv} Hendrik Brouwer, wrote to the Managers of the E.I.C. about "this fairway" in highly laudatory terms. They adopted the idea suggested by Brouwer, of henceforth prescribing this route in the instructions for the commanders and skippers sailing for the Indies, leaving them a certain scope certainly as regards the latitude in which the said easterly course was to be followed, and the degree of longitude up to which it was to be kept. As early as the beginning of 1613 such a route was enjoined on the ships' captains by the Managers of the E.I.C. The ship Eendracht also was directed to follow this course: she ran so far to eastward as to come upon the west-coast of Australia, and the same thing happened to subsequent vessels.
Although in the sense thus indicated we must here speak of acczdental discoveries on the west-coast, yet the Dutch authorities were fully aware of the importance of such discoveries. As early as 1618, the Managers of the E.I.C. were considering the possibility of "discovering the Southern Lands in passing," and in a letter of September 9, 1620, with reference to "the discovery of a vast land, situated south of Java...by the ship Eendracht", etc., they expressly enjoined the G.-G. and Counc. to dispatch a ship for the purpose of "resuming this work with some hope of success." The lands discovered were to be mapped out, and efforts made to ascertain "the situation and condition of the country, its productions, what commodities it yields, the character of the natives, their mode of life, etc."
The Managers had not preached to deaf ears: the direction of the Company's affairs in India was at that time in the hands of Jan Pieternoon Coen, who, being himself strongly disposed in favour of extending the Dutch connections with the East [*], eagerly embraced the idea thus suggested, as is proved by the instructions, dated September 29, 1622, for the ships Haring and Hazewind, "destined for the discovery of the South-land". [**] Thus we see that one of the projects contemplated by the Dutch authorities certainly was the dispatching of ships also to the west-coast of Australia for the purpose of further discovery and of definitely ascertaining the real state of affairs there.
[* See below.]
[** See below, No. XIII, B (pp. 18 ff.)]
But not for the purpose of further discovery exclusively, although this continued to be "the principal end in view." The instructions of September 29, 1622, also point to other motives that led the Netherlanders to reckon also with regions to be first discovered, in carrying out their colonial policy. The commanders of this expedition were "specially to inquire what minerals, such as gold, silver, tin, iron, lead and copper, what precious stones, pearls, vegetables, animals and fruits, these lands yield and produce";—the commercial interests of the E.I.C.—and what was more natural in the case of a trading corporation?—were to take a foremost place. Wherever possible, also political connections were to be formed, and the countries discovered "to be taken possession of". The authorities were even considering the idea of at some future date "planting colonies" in some of the regions eventually to be discovered.
Here we have the colonial policy of the E.I.C. of the period to its full extent: commerce, increase of territory, colonies. And these ideas were at the bottom of most of the voyages of discovery to the north-coast of Australia before Tasman, and of Tasman's voyages themselves. The celebrated voyage of the ship Duifken (1605-6) {Page xv} bears a character of intentionality, and if we bear in mind that the same ship's voyage of 1602 had for its professed object the extension of the Company's mercantile connections, we need not be in doubt as to this being equally the motive or one of the motives of the expedition on which she was dispatched in 1605-6. We know, moreover, that New Guinea was then reported "to yield abundance of gold." The three principles of colonial policy just mentioned also underlay the voyage undertaken by Jan Carstensz in 1623; for we know that this commander got the instructions drawn up for the ships Haring and Hazewind, but not then carried into effect, since these ships did not sail on their ordained expedition [*]. These principles are found set forth with more amplitude than anywhere else in the instructions drawn up for Tasman and his coadjutors in 1642 and 1644 [**]. The voyages, then planned, were to be undertaken "for the enlargement, increase and improvement of the Dutch East India Company's standing and commerce in the East."
[* See below, p. 21, Note 1.]
[** See these instructions in my Life of Tasman, pp. 131 ff. and 147 ff.]
In the instructions for Tasman's voyage of 1644 the G.-G. and Counc., who drew them up, could still refer to "the express commands of the 'Heeren Maijoores" [*] to "attempt the discovery of Nova Guinea and other unknown Eastern and Southern lands." And it is a fact certainly, that in the first half of the seventeenth century the Governors-General who planned these exploratory voyages were in their endeavours supported by the Managers of the E.I.C. in the mother country [**]: it was especially Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1619-1623 and 1627-1629), Hendrik Broulwer (1632-1636) and Antonio van Diemen (1636-1645), who were most efficiently backed in their efforts for this purpose by their principals at home. Among these Governors-General Van Diemen holds the foremost place as regards the furtherance of discoveries by Netherlanders in the Far East: in the Pacific and on, "the mainland coasts of Australia." It is, with complete justice, therefore, that a foreign author mentions the name of Van Diemen as "a name which will ever rank among the greatest promotors of maritime discovery".[***]
[* Meaning the Managers of the E.I.C.]
[** See also the instructions for the voyage of 1636, p. 64 infra.]
[*** BURNEY, Chronological History, III, p. 55. Speaking of Van Diemen, we must not omit to call the reader's attention to sentiments such as the following: "Whoever endeavours to discover unknown lands and tribes, had need to be patient and long-suffering, noways quick to fly out, but always bent on ingratiating himself" (p. 65 infra), a piece of advice elsewhere taking the form of a command, e.g. p. 66: "You will not carry off with you any natives against their will". And, sad to say, such injunctions were often imperiously necessary!]
And this same eminent manager of the Company's interests in India lived to see at the end of his official career far narrower views about colonial policy not only take root in the mother-country (where isolated opinions that way had found utterance long before), but even get the upper hand in the Company's councils. Van Diemen's policy came ultimately to be condemned in the Netherlands, whatever homage might there be paid to his eminent talents, whatever acknowledgment vouchsafed to his great merits! It may almost be called a matter of course that great differences of opinions were bound surely, if slowly, to crop up between the Managers on one hand, and able Governors-General on the other, touching the line of conduct to be followed by the Netherlanders in the East. The Managers were in the first place the directors of a trading company: they hardly looked beyond the requirements of a purely mercantile policy. Eminent Governors-General on the contrary were conscious {Page xvi} of being more than this: they were not only the representatives of a body of merchants, they were also the rulers of a colonial empire which in the East was looked up to with dread, with hatred also sometimes, to be sure, but at the same time with respect and awe! There lay the ultimate cause of the fundamental difference of opinion respecting the colonial policy to be followed [*]. Van Diemen dreamt a bold dream of Dutch supremacy in the East and of the East India Company's mastery "of the opulent Indian trade." To this end he deemed necessary: "harassing of the enemy [**], continuation and extension of trade, together with the discovering or new lands." But if he had lived to read the missive [***], his grand projects would have received an effectual damper as he perused the letter addressed to him by the Lords Managers, on September 9, 1645, and containing the passage following: "[We] see that Your Worships have again taken up the further exploration of the coast of Nova Guinea in hopes of discovering silver- and gold-mines there. We do not expect great things of the continuation of such explorations, which more and more burden the Company's resources, since they require increase of yachts and of sailors. Enough has been discovered for the Company to carry on trade, provided the latter be attended with success. We do not consider it part of our task to seek out gold- and silver-mines for the Company, and having found such, to try to derive profit from the same; such things involve a good deal more, demanding excessive expenditure and large numbers of hands...These plans of Your Worships somewhat aim beyond our mark. The gold- and silver-mines that will best serve the Company's turn, have already been found, which we deem to be our trade over the whole of India..."
[* I have dealt at some length with this subject in Vol. III ('s-Gravenhage, NIJHOFF, 1895) of my Bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis der Nederlanders in den Maleiscken Arckipel, pp. LVI ff.]
[** The eighty years' war was still going on]
[*** Van Diemen died April 19, 1645.]
Is it wonderful that, where the supreme authorities of the E.I.C. regarded matters in this light, there was no longer question of exploratory voyages of any importance? The period of the great voyages of discovery undertaken by Netherlanders, accordingly terminates with Van Diemen's death. It is true that occasionally voyages of this nature were planned [*]; that Australia—not to go further afield—was also visited now and then in later times, but such visits either bore an incidental character, or formed part of expeditions undertaken for other purposes [**], the occasion being then used to "obtain once for all some full and reliable information touching the situation and coast-lines" of lands previously discovered.
[* See p. 72 and Note below: 1645 and 1646.]
[** Now, for instance (No. XXVIII, 1648), for the purpose of seeking another route than the customary one from Batavia to Banda, at another time (No. XXIX, 1656-1658) to inquire into the fate of a shipwrecked crew; or to prevent the voyages of William Dampier from entailing unpleasant consequences for the Dutch E.I.C. (1705, No. XXXIII).—Thus, in 1718, a Swiss of the name of J. P. Purry submitted to the Managers of the E.I.C. proposals for the further discovery of Nuytsland. The proposal was duly reported on, but ultimately laid aside (Resolutions of the "Heeren XVII", Oclober 3, 1718, and March 11 1719; Resolution of the Amsterdam Chamber, April 17, 1719).]
Still, we must not omit to mention that at the close of the seventeenth century a desire to contribute to the enlargement of geographical knowledge for a moment got a voice in the question of equipping vessels for expeditions sent out for this purpose. And this scientific impulse originated in the mother-country [*]. The impulse was undoubtedly given by the well-known burgomaster of Amsterdam and Manager of the E. I. C., Nicolaas Corneliszoon Witsen, LL D, author of the work entitled {Page xvii} Noord en Oost Tartarije. He took a diligent part in the preparations for the voyage of skipper De Vlamingh: "We are having the vessels manned mainly with unmarried and resolute sailors; I have directed a draughtsman to join the expedition that whatever strange or rare things they meet with, may be accurately depicted". And Witsen anxiously awaited the outcome of De Vlamingh's expedition. He was disappointed by the results: the commander had indeed "surveyed and made soundings on the coasts, but had made few landings." At the same time Manager Witsen mentions not without some satisfaction the results of this voyage, meagre though they may be in his eyes, in letters to friends both at home and abroad, imparting to them what he has learned on the subject [**]. A few years later, however, he bitterly complains of the indifference of many of his countrymen in those days: "What does Your Worship care about curious learning from India," he grumbles in a letter to one of his friends [***] "no, sir, it is money only, not learned knowledge that our people go out to seek over there, the which is sorely to be regretted."
[* Resolution of the "Heeren XVII", August 25, 1692; see also p. 60 infra.]
[** As regards this see J F GEBHARD Het leven van Witsen I., pp. 480 f.: II. pp. 260 f. (Letter of Witsen to "Dr. Martin Lister, fellow of the Colledge of Physicians and R. S., concerning some late observations in Nova Hollandia" October 3, 1698), pp. 299 f. (Letter to Gijsbert Cuper at Deventer, 1698?) pp. 407, 414, 416]
[*** Witsen to Cuper, August 1, 1712 (GEBHARD p. 480).]
"The which is sorely to be regretted!"...The times of Van Diemen had failed to return; the spirit by which he was imbued no longer presided over the debates on colonial matters. But his name is indissolubly bound up with the palmy days of Dutch discovery in the Far East, initiated by the East India Company.
Fortunately, in our time Holland again bears a part in what is done by cultured Europe for the scientific exploration of the unknown regions of the world. In this field of inquiry the nineteenth century has again beheld her sons take a place which the achievements of their forefathers have as it were by right of inheritance assigned to them.
* * * * * * * *
{Page 1}
DOCUMENTS.
I.
(1595) DUTCH NOTIONS RESPECTING THE SOUTH-LAND IN 1595.
Itinerario, Voyage ofte Schipvaert, van JAN HUYGEN VAN LINSCHOTEN naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien [Itinerary, Voyage or Navigation of J. H. v. L. to Eastern or Portuguese India]...t' Amstelredam. By Cornelis Claesz opt Water, in 't Schrijf-boeck by de Oude Brugghe. Anno CIC.IC.XCVI (1596?-Ed.)[*].
[* There may have been an earlier edition of this book. At all events, the Netherlanders who in 1595 undertook the first voyage from Holland to India, were acquainted with the work either in manuscript or in print. See the journal of this voyage, kept by Frank Van der Does, one of the sharers of the expedition, and printed in the second volume of J. K. J. De JONGE'S well-known book: De Opkomst van het Nederlandsch gezag in Oost-Indie [The Rise of the Dutch power in the East Indies] ('s Gravenhage, Amsterdam MDCCCLXIV), pp. 287-372. It may safely be assumed that Van Linschoten's book contains everything that the Dutch knew of the East, when in 1595 Dutch vessels were first sent out to those remote regions. Charts Nos 1 (a part of the Orbis terrarum combmdiosa descriptio. Antverpiae apud joafiem Baptistam Vrient), and 2 (a part of the Exacta & accurata delineatio cum orarum maritimarum tum eijam locorum terrestrium quae in regionibus Chiua...una cum omnium vicinarum instilarum descriptjone ut sunt Sumatra, Java utraque...) give a survey of this knowledge so far as our present purpose is concerned. I have made use of a copy of Van Linschoten's work in the library of the Leyden University.]
Pag. 25. Chapter the Twentieth.
Concerning the island of Java Mayor, together with its commodities, merchandise and dealings, weights, coins and value of the same, and other particulars.
[Map No. 1. Gedeelte der (Part of the) Orbis terrae compendiosa describtio]
{Page 2}
South-south-east, facing the farthest extremity of the island of Samatra, south of the line equinoctial, lies the island called Java Mayor, or great Java...This island begins in 7 degrees Latitude South, and extends east by south a length of 150 miles but of its breadth nothing is known up to now, since it has not yet been explored, nor is this known to the inhabitants themselves. Some suppose it to be a mainland, [forming part] of the land called Terra incognita, which would then extend hitherward from beyond the C de boa Esperanca but of this there is no certitude hitherto, so that it is usually accounted an island...
[Map No. 2. Gedeelte der (Part of the) Exacta & accurata delineatio cum orarum maritimarum tum etjam locorum terrestrium, quae in regjonibus China...una cum omnium vicinarum insularum descriptjone ut sunt Sumatra, Java utraque]
* * * * *
{Page 3}
II.
(1602). NOTICES OF THE SOUTH-COAST OF NEW GUINEA IN 1602.
Journal or Daily Register, begun on the 22nd day of April, A.D. 1601, kept on board the sho Gelderlant...
This 10th day of April 1602.
The meeting of the Plenary Council [*] having been convened by order of the Lord Admiral [**] to resolve to dispatch the yacht called Duyffken to the island of Ceram, the Council have drawn up the Instructions following, which Supercargo Master Claes Gaeff [and] skipper Willem Cornelisz Schouten will have to act up to.
[* The joint council of all the ships forming the flotilla to which the Gelderland belonged.]
[** Wolphert Hermanszoon.]
Imprimis he will have to navigate to the island of Ceran, and there call at the ports or roads following, to wit: Queuin, Quelibara, Quelilonhen or Goulegoubj [*], and failing these, at certain others where profitable dealings may be expected...
[* Keffing, Kilwaroc,...Goeli-goeli. These place-names go to show, that by Ceram are meant the south-eastern extremity of Ceram and the Ceram-Laut islands.]
Secondly, [he will have to inquire] whether there is anything to be had there besides sago; their way of doing business and in what places; what commodities had best be sent thither; and to what limits their farthest navigation extends; also, whether they have any knowledge of Nova Guinea; whether they have ever sent ships thither, or whether ships from Nova Guinea have ever come to Ceran. In the island of Banda, actum April the 10th, A.D. 1602, on board the ship Gelderlandt. God send his blessing unto salvation. Amen.
* * *
Laus deo A.D. 1602 This 15th day of May in the island of Banda.
A brief account of certain islands with which they of the islands of Ceran and, Banda carry on trade...
They can say nothing certain respecting the island of Nova Guinea, but say that there are white people living on the south side, inhabited by Portuguese [*], but [the people of the parts of Ceram visited by the Dutch] had never seen any Portuguese ships. They can give no information about their dealings and commodities.
[* If any reliance can be placed on this report, it proves that in 1602 the Portuguese were acquainted with the South(-west) coast of New Guinea. But considering the fact that the Dutch were utterly unacquainted with New Guinea, it is quite possible that on this point they misunderstood the inhabitants of the parts of Ceram visited by them.]
* * * * *
{Page 4}
III.
(1605-1606).VOYAGE OF THE SHIP DUIFKEN UNDER COMMAND OF WILLEM JANSZ(OON) AND JAN LODEWIJKSZOON ROSINGEYN TO NEW GUINEA.—DISCOVERY OF THE EAST-COAST OF THE PRESENT GULF OF CARPENTARIA.
A.
HACKLUYTUS Posthumus or PURCHAS his Pilgrimes Contayning a History of the World in Sea voyages, & lande-Travells by Englishmen & others.
English Voyages beyond the East-Indies, to the islands of Japan, China, Cauchinchina, the Philipinae with others; and the Indian navigations further prosecuted...
THE FOURTH BOOKE.
Chap. II.
Observations of Captaine Iohn Saris, of occurrents which happened in the East-Indies during his abode at Bantam, from October 1605, till October 1609...
The eighteenth [November 1605] [*] heere [**] departed a small Pinnasse of the Flemmings, for the discovery of the Land called Nova Guinea which, as it is said, affordeth great store of Gold...
[* Old style: therefore November 28, 1605.]
[** Bantam.]
The fifteenth [*] of June [1606] heere [**] arrived Nockhoda [***] Tingall, a Cling-man from Banda, in a Java juncke...
[* Old style: therefore Junr 25, 1606.]
[** Bantam.]
[*** Nachoda or Anachoda: a skipper.]
He told me that the Flemmings Pinasse which went upon discovery for Nova Ginny, was returned to Banda, having found the Iland: but in sending their men on shoare to intreate of Trade, there were nine of them killed by the Heathens, which are man-eaters; So they were constrained to returne, finding no good to be done there.
B.
Instructions drawn up to serve as a basis for Answers on the part of the General United E.I.C. to the advice given by the Lords States of Holland and Westfriesland, touching the Charter of the Australia Company. Laid before the Council, Aug. 2, 1618.
...So that the E.I.C. opines that in every case the Australia Company aforesaid ought to be excluded from the Southern parts, situated between the Meridian passing through the Eastern extremity of Ceylon and the Meridian lying a hundred miles eastward of the Salomon islands; seeing that the United East India Company has repeatedly given orders for discovering and exploring the land of Nova Guinea and the islands situated east of the same, since, equally by her orders, such discovery was once tried about the year 1606 with the yacht de Duyve by skipper Willem Jansz and subcargo Jan Lodewijs van Rosingijn, who made sundry discoveries on the said coast of Nova Guinea, as is amply set forth in their journals. [*]
[* In 1618, therefore, there must have been extant journals of the expedition of 1605-6.]
{Page 5}
C.
See infra the Journal of the voyage Of JAN CARSTENSZOON 1623, at the dates: March 7, May 11, 12, 15.
D.
South-eastern part of the Map Indiae Orientalis Nova descriptio in the atlas JOANNES JANSSONIUS-MERCATOR-HONDIUS 1633 [*]
[* The whole map is reproduced in Remarkable Maps (II, 7.) See also C. H. COOTE'S Introduction; P. A. TIELE: Nederlandsche Bibliographic van Land- en Volkenkunde, s. vv. Janssonius and Mercator, and my Life of Tasman, p. 91, note I.]
[Map No. 3. Zuidoostelijk gedeelte der Kaart (South-eastern part of the Map) Indiae Orientalis Nova descriptio]
E.
Instructions for Skipper Commander Abel Jansen Tasman, Skipper Pilot-Majjr Frans Jacobsen Visscher, and the Council of the Yachts Limmen, Zeemeeuw, and the Quel de Brack, destined for the further discovery of Nova Guinea, and of the unknown coasts of the discovered East- and South-lands, together with the channels and islands presumably situated between and near the same.
* * *
Both by word of mouth and through the perusal of Journals, Charts and other writings, it is in the main well-known to you, how the successive Governors of India, at {Page 6} the express command of our Lords and Masters the "Heeren XVII", have, in order to the aggrandisement, enlargement and improvement of the Dutch East India Company's standing and trade in the East, divers times diligently endeavoured to make timely discovery of the vast country of Nova Guinea and of other unknown Eastern and Southern regions; to wit, that four several voyages have up to now with scant success been made for this desired discovery; of the which voyages the first was undertaken in the year 16066 with the Yacht 't Duyffken, by order, of President Jan Willemsz Verschoor (who then managed the Company's affairs in Bantham), on which voyage the islands of Key and Arouw were visited in passing, and the unknown south and west coasts of Nova Guinea were discovered over a length of 220 miles from 5 to 133/4 degrees Southern Latitude, it being only ascertained that vast regions were for the greater part uncultivated, and certain parts inhabited by savage, cruel, black barbarians who slew some of our sailors, so that no information was obtained touching the exact situation of the country and regarding the commodities obtainable and in demand there.; our men having by want of provisions and other necessaries, been compelled to return and give up the discovery they had begun, only registering in their chart with the name of Cape Keer-weer the extreme point of the discovered land in 133/4 degrees Southern Latitude.
In the castle of Batavia, this 29th of January Ao 1644. Signed ANTONIO VAN DIEMEN, CORNELIS VAN DER LIJN, JOAN MAETSUIJCKER, JUSTUS SCHOUTEN and SALOMON SWEERS.
* * * * *
IV.
(1607). FRESH EXPEDITION TO NEW GUINEA BY THE SHIP DUIFKE.
Second volume of "Het begin ende voortgangh der Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie. Gedruckt in den jaere des Heeren 1646" [Rise and Progress of the United Netherlands Chartered East India Company. Printed Anno Domini 1646].
A Narrative and Journal of the voyage made from Bantam to the coast of Choromandel and other parts of India, by Supercargo PAULUS VAN SOLT in the years 1605 1606, 1607, 1608.
* * *
"On the 4th of March 1607, through God's mercy [we] arrived before the Castle [of Victoria in Amboyna]...here we found...the yacht Duyfken, which had come from Nova Guinea"...
* * * * *
V.
(1616). VOYAGE OF THE SHIPS EENDRACHT AND HOORN, COMMANDED BY JACQUES LE MAIRE AND WILLEM CORNELISZOON SCHOUTEN THROUGH THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ALONG THE NORTH-COAST OF NEW GUINEA.
One of the journals of this voyage has been repeatedly printed in various languages. (See TIELE, Memoire Bibliographique, pp. 42-62, and the same writer's Bibliographic Land- en Volkenkunde, s. vv. Begin ende Voortgangh, Herrera, W. Cz. Schouten, and Spilbergen). I need not, therefore, go into detail on this point here. The voyage was begun on the 14th of June 1615, and in January 1616 the strait of {Page 7} Le Maire was discovered. In the Pacific Ocean various islands unknown to the voyagers were touched at: inter alia Kokos-island (Boscawen or Tafahi), Verraders-eiland [Traitors' island] (Keppel or Niutabutabu), (Goede) Hoop island (Nino-fa), the Hoornsche islands (Fotuna and Alofi). Besides, various islands east of New Guinea were surveyed, and New Ireland, New Hanover and the north-coast of New Guinea with the islands north of it (among others Schoutens island), sailed round or touched at.
* * * * *
VI.
(1616). PROJECT FOR THE FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH-LAND NOVA GUINEA.
A.
Resolution of the Governor-General and Councillors, October 8, 1616.
...Inasmuch as heretofore the Company has taken in hand to dispatch a ship for the discovery of the South-land-Nova-Guinea and the dependencies thereof, which project has not been executed owing to other intervening business, it has been resolved to take the said project once more in hand at the present time; and that to this end the Lord Admiral...[*] shall dispatch from Amboyna or Banda the ship de Jager with any other small yacht that should lie at anchor there, or happen to put into port, in order to the discovery of the lands aforesaid; seeing that it is much more convenient to visit those parts starting from here than from the Netherlands, and that the same can now be done without any inconvenience or detriment to the Company. And if in Amboyna or Banda no other yacht besides the ship de Jager should be found available, then the Lord Admiral shall be free to assign the ship Morgenster for the said purpose...
[* Steven Van der Haghen.]
B.
Resolution of the Governor-General and Councillors, October 21, 1616.
...Considering the confident inclination to the said voyage evinced by the Lord Advocate Dedel [*], and the importance of this enterprise being conducted with great skill and judgment, it has been determined and resolved to employ the Advocate aforesaid in the said voyage, to the end that all things may be conducted in good order, with the requisite courage and resolution, for which purpose the Hon. Advocate will now depart for Amboyna with the Lord Admiral...
[* Cornelis Dedel, LL. D.]
C.
Letter from the Governor-General LAURENS REAEL to the Managers of the E.I.C., May 10, 1617.
...Mr. Cornelis Dedel, LL. D., had by us been dispatched to this place [*] from the Moluccas, that with two or three yachts and pinnaces he might proceed to the discovery of the Southern lands, which undertaking had heretofore once more by order of...Admiraal Verhagen been engaged in by Jan Rossangin [**]. But when lying at anchor in Amboyna...Dedel's ships were employed on other services. [***]
[* Reael was then staying in Banda.]
[* This almost certainly refers to the voyage of 1605-6 under Willem Jansz. and Rosengein.]
[* Although, as we see, the project was not carried into execution, I have thought it good to print the above documents, because they bear testimony to the earnest intention of the Dutch authorities in India once more to undertake the discovery of the "South-land" (at the same time the matter was by no means lost sight of in the Netherlands, as is proved by a resolution of the Managers of the E.I.C., of October 1616); [and] because document C in the text is presumably fresh evidence for the voyage of 1605-6.]
* * * * *
{Page 8}
VII.
(1616). VOYAGE OF DE EENDRACHT UNDER COMMAND OF DIRK HARTOGS(ZOON). DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA IN 1616: DIRK HARTOGS ISLAND AND -ROAD, LAND OF THE EENDRACHT OR EENDRACHTSLAND.
A.
Letter of Supercargo Cornelis Buysero at Bantam to the Managers of the East India Company at Amsterdam.
Worshipful, Wise, Provident, very Discreet Gentlemen,...
...The ship Eendracht [*], with which they had sailed from the Netherlands, after communicating at the Cabo sailed away from them so far southward as to come upon 6 various islands which were, however, found uninhabited [**]...
[* Commanded by Dirk Hartogs, or Hartogszoon.]
[* What "uninhabited islands" the ship Eendracht "came upon", Buysero's letter does not say. Various authentic archival documents of 1618 and subsequent years, however, go to show that the land afterwards named Eendrachtsland or Land van de Eendracht, and the Dirk Hartogsreede (island) must have been discovered on this voyage.]
Bantam, this last day of August, A.D. 1617. Your Worships' servant to command CORNELIS BUYSERO [*]
[* Buysero was supercargo at Bantam (DE JONGE, Opkcornst, IV, p. 68,) and was therefore likely to be well informed as to the adventures of the ship, which had sailed from the Netherlands in January 1616, departed from the Cape of Good Hope in the last days of August, and had arrived in India in December of the same year, as appears from what Steven Van der Haghen, Governor of Amboyna, writes May 26, 1617: "That in the month of December 1616, the ship Eendracht entered the narrows between Bima and the land of Endea near Guno Api (Goenoeng Api) in the south of Java" (Sapi Straits).]
B.
See infra Document No. IX, of 1618.
It proves that as early as 1618 the name of Eendrachtsland was known in the Netherlands.
C.
The subjoined chart (reproduced on the original scale in Remarkable Maps, II, 4) was drawn by HESSEL GFRRITSZ, Cartographer in ordinary to the East India Company {Page 9} (Ress. of the "Heeren XVII", March 21, 1619 and October 21, 1629). He had accordingly at his disposal the official documents referring to this discovery.
[Map No. 4. Caert van (Chart of) 't Land van d'Eendracht Ao 1627 door HESSEL GERRITSZ]
D.
The interesting little folding chart, marked No. 5, is now in the possession of Jhr. J. E. Huydecoper van Maarsseveen en Nigtevegt, LL. D., at Utrecht. It is bound up with the said gentleman's copy of Abel Janszoon Tasman's journal of his voyage of 1642-3 [*]. The chart clearly shows that at times in subsequent issues of certain charts the dates given in the first issue were retained, while numerous corrections were made in the chart itself.
[* See my Life and Labours of TASMAN, p. 69.]
{Page 10}
E.
Of the chart of which this is a small portion, a complete reproduction will be found in Remarkable Maps, II, 8. In 1630, accordingly, the discovery of Eendrachtsland was known at Nuremberg.
[Map No. 6. Kaart van het Zuidland van (Alap of the Southland by) JOANNES KEPPLER en PHILIPPUS ECKEBRECHT, 1630]
* * * * *
VIII.
(1618). VOYAGE OF THE SHIP ZEEWOLF, FROM THE NETHERLANDS TO INDIA, UNDER THE COMMAND OF SUPERCARGO PIETER DIRKSZOON AND SKIPPER HAEVIK CLAESZOON VAN HILLEGOM.—FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA.
Letter of Supercargo Pieter Dirkszoon to the Managers of the E.I.C. at Amsterdam, dated June 24, 1618.
A.
Worshipful Wise Provident Very Discreet Gentlemen.
By the ships T'Wapen van Zeelandt, den Eenhoorn and Enckhuyzen (which with full cargoes arrived at the Cape de bone Esperance from these parts of India) I have on the 22nd of March last [1618] briefly advised Your Worships of our safe arrival there...[*]
[* The ship had sailed from the Netherlands in December 1617.]
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{Page 11}
Now with this ship den Witten Beer Your Worships may be pleased to receive news of the subsequent successful progress of our voyage to this part of India, viz. that on the 24th of the said month we sailed from the Taeffelbaey [Table Bay]...in the ship Seewolf for Bantam (pursuant to Your Worships' orders); in such fashion that by God's grace we soon got south as far as 37, 38 and 39 degrees, after which we held our course due east for a thousand miles before turning it northward; so that on the 21st of May following we made the land in Cleyn Java about 6 or 8 miles east of the island of Bali; after which, passing between Bali and Cleyn Java, we came to anchor before our factory of Japara on the second day of June...
Having on the 11th of May reached 21 deg. 15' S. Latitude, we saw and discovered...land about 5 or 6 miles to windward east of us, which in consequence we were unable to touch at. We observed it to be a level, low-lying shore of great length, and looking out from the top-mast we saw on both ends of it, to north as well as to southward, still other land which showed high and mountainous. But as the land bore eastward from us, and we could not have got higher without considerable inconvenience, we do not know whether it forms an unbroken coast-line, or is made up of separate islands. In the former case it might well be a mainland coast, for it extended to a very great length. But only the Lord knows the real state of affairs. At all events it would seem never to have been made or discovered by any one before us, as we have never heard of such discovery [*], and the chart shows nothing but open ocean at this place. According to our skipper's estimation in his chart the Strait of Sunda was then N.N.E. of us at about 250 miles' distance; according to the second mate's reckoning the direction was North East, and according to the first mate's estimation North East by North. These statements, however, proved erroneous, since we arrived east of Bali on a north-north-east course. So that consequently this land bears from Sunda Strait south-south-west, and ships must arrive in Java eastward of Sunda Strait on a north-by-west or northern course; on which those who come in sight of this land from eastward and wish to go to Bantam, may safely base their course. This much by way of advice...
[* Dirk Hartochs's discovery had not come to their knowledge then.]
On board the ship Seewolff lying at anchor before Jacatra, this 20 of June, 1618. Your Worships' obedient Servant PIETER DIRCXSOON 1618.
B.
Letter of Skipper Haevick Claeszoon van Hillegom to the Managers of the E.I.C. at Amsterdam, dated June 24, 1618.
Laus Deo. On board the ship Seewolf lying at anchor before Jaeketerae, this 24th of June 1618.
Right Worshipful Beloved Gentlemen My Lords Directors of the United Company at Amsterdam, with friendly greeting, the present, after my best wishes for the {Page 12} well-being and health of my Worshipful Noble Masters, serves to express my hope that Your Worships may have duly received, through Pieter Gertsz, skipper of the ship Enckhuyzen [*], my letters of the 22nd of March, written in the Taefel Bay, recounting what had happened on our voyage up to said date. The present further serves to inform Your Worships of our progress up to this day, as follows. We set sail from the Cape de bon Esperanse on the 24th of the same month...
[* See supra A.]
On the 5th of May we got into Latitude 28 deg. 26' South, when we saw numbers of birds many of which seemed to be land-birds, such as a white tropic-bird and a few scissor-tailed ducks, so that I surmised that we were near land. Two or three days afterwards we saw sea-weed floating in large quantities and long strips. On the 10th do. we passed the tropic in fine weather. On the 11th do. we saw land in 21 deg. 20' S. Lat.: it was a level, low-lying coast extending to a great length, and bearing mainly south and north, falling off on both sides with high mountains; we could not get near it. Whether it was a mainland coast or islands only, is known to God alone, but from the signs seen at various times I suspect it to be a mainland. The compass has one point north-westerly variation here; we saw a good deal of sea-weed floating about, and observed land-birds up to the 16th degree, both of these being signs of the proximity of the mainland. This land is a fit point to be made by ships coming here with the eastern monsoon, in order to get a fixed course for Java or Sunda Strait; for if you see this land in 21, 22 or 23 degrees, and shape your course north-north-west and north-by-west you will make the western extremity of Jaeva. I write this as a matter of certainty, seeing that we have made the same on a fixed course, and ships following this course are sure to find it true. On the 21st do. we saw land, to wit, Kleyn Jaevae; we kept off and on during the night, and at daybreak made for the land, passing through the strait between Kleyn Jaeva and Baely...
Your Worships' servant to command
H. CLAESSEN VAN HILLEGOM.
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IX.
(1618). VOYAGE OF THE SHIP MAURITIUS FROM THE NETHERLANDS TO INDIA UNDER THE COMMAND OF SUPERCARGO WILLEM JANSZ OR JANSZOON AND SKIPPER LENAERT JACOBSZ(OON). FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA.—WILLEMS-RIVER.
Letter Of supercargo WILLFM JANSZ(OON) to the Managers of the Amsterdam Chamber, Oclober 6, 1618.
A.
Worshipful Wise Provident Discreet Gentlemen,
(Sailed 1000 miles to eastward in in 38 degrees with notable success.)
The present serves only to inform you that on the 8th of June last with the ship Mauritius we passed Cape de bon esperence, with strong westerly winds, so that we deemed it inadvisable to call at any land, after which we ran a thousand miles to eastward in 38 degrees Southern Latitude, though we should have wished to go still further east.
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On the 31st of July we discovered an island and landed on the same, where we found the marks of human footsteps—on the west-side it extends N.N.E. and S.S.W.; it measures 15 miles in length, and its northern extremity is in 22 deg. S. Lat. It bears Eendracht S.S.E. and N.N.W. from the south-point of Sunda at 240 miles' distance; from there (Eendrachtsland [*]) through God's grace we safely arrived before Bantam on the 22nd of August...
[* This marginal note was made by an official of the East India Company, when the letter had reached its destination.]
Done on board the ship 't Wapen van Amsterdam, October 6, 1618.
Your Worships' Obedt. Servant
WILLEM JANSZ.
B.
Worshipful Wise Provident Discreet Gentlemen,
See the Maps numbered VII, C and D (1616).
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X.
(1619)? FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH-COAST OF NEW-GUINEA BY THE SHIP HET WAPEN VAN AMSTERDAM? [*]
Instructions for Tasman 1644.
...In the interim in the year 1619 the ship 't Wapen van Amsterdam, passing Banda on her way thither, was east on the south-coast of Nova Guinea where also some of her crew were slain by the barbarian inhabitants, so that no certain information respecting the situation of the country was obtained...
[* I place a note of interrogation here. The matter is not quite clear. For the sake of completeness I mention it here, but without drawing any conclusion. On p. 95, note 5 of my "Life of Tasman" in Fred. Muller's Tasman publication I say: "Leupe, Zuidland, p. 35, cites a letter sent by the Directors to the Gov.-Gen. and Councillors, of Sept. 9, 1620. In this letter there is question of the discoveries made by d'Eendracht, Zeewolff, 't Wapen van Amsterdam, and quite recently by Commanders Houtman and D'Edel." When, we may ask, did the ship 't Wapen van Amsterdam survey the South-land? There certainly was a ship of that name by the side of another vessel, named Amsterdam pur et simple. According to the Register of departures of vessels of the E.I.C., preserved in the State Archives at the Hague, this ship set sail from the Netherlands on May 11, 1613. I have found no reliable trace of later date of this vessel, and the documents know nothing of any exploration of the South-land by her. I am inclined to think that Leupe is mistaken here. The letter itself, which is contained in the copying-book of letters, preserved in the State Archives, has suffered much from theravages of time. Between the words "Zeewolff" and "Amsterdam" the paper has suffered so much that nothing is left of the intervening letters. L. C. D. Van Dijk, in his Mededeelingen uit het Oost-Indisch archief. Amsterdam, Scheltema, 1859 p. 2, note 2, has also printed the letter in question. He puts the words: "'t Wapen van" in parentheses, in order to denote that they are merely conjectural. Leupe may have inadvertently omitted these parentheses. Perhaps the original text read: "ende Amsterdam". In this case there would have been two times question of Dedel's voyages: once by a reference to the ship Amsterdam; and afterwards by mentioning Dedel's name itself. I must not however omit to make mention here of what the Instructions for Tasman's second voyage, dated January 29, 1644, say about an unsuccessful expedition undertaken by the ship 't Wapen van Amsterdam to the south coast of New Guinea in 1619.] |
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