tasman’s voyage of discovery.

446

down the map of this country on the pavement of the new ftadthoufe at Amfterdam; for•as this county was henceforward to remain as a kind of depofit, or land of referve, inthe hands of the Eaft India Company, they took this method of intimating as muchto their countrymen; fo that, while ftrangers are gaping at this map as a curiofity,every intelligent Dutchman may fay to himfelf, “ Behold the wifdom of the Eaft IndiaCompany ! by their prefent empire, they fupport the authority of this republic abroad;and by their extenfive commerce, enrich its fubjects at home; and, at the fame time,fhew us here what a referve they have made for the benefit of pofterity, whenever,through the viciffitudes to which all fublunary things are liable, their prefent fourcesof power and grandeur lhall fail.”

I cannot help fupporting my opinion, in this refpect, by putting the reader in mindof a very curious piece of ancient hiftory, which furnilhes us with the like inftance inthe conduct of another republic. Diodorus Siculus , in the fifth book of his HiftoricalLibrary, informs us, that in the African Ocean, fome days fail weft from Libya , therehad been difcovered an ifland, the foil of which was exceedingly fertile, and the countryno lefs pleafant, all the land being finely diverfified by mountains and plains, the formerthick clothed with trees, the latter abounding with fruits and flowers, the wholewatered by innumerable rivulets, and affording fo pleafant an habitation, that a fineror more delightful country fancy itfelf could not feign: yet he affures us, the Car-thagenians, thofe great mafters of maritime power and commerce, though they haddifcovered this admirable ifland, would never fuffer it to be planted; but referved itas a fanfluary, to which they might fly, whenever the ruin of their own republic leftthem no other refource. This tallies exactly with the policy of the Dutch Eaft IndiaCompany, who, if they fhould at any time be driven from their poffefiions in Java,Ceylon, and other places in that neighbourhood, would without doubt retire back intothe Moluccas , and avail themfelves effeflually of this noble difcovery, which lies opento them, and has been hitherto clofe fliut up to all the world befide. But to proceed:

12. On February 14th we were in the latitude of 16 0 30' fouth, and in the longitudeof 193 0 35'. We had hitherto had much rain, and bad weather; but this day, thewind finking, we hailed our confort the Zee-Haan; and found to our great fatisfactionthat our reckonings agreed. On the 20th, in the latitude of 13 0 45', and in the longi-tude of 193 0 35', we had dark, cloudy weather, much rain, thick fogs, and a rollingfea ; on all fides the wind variable. On the 26th, in the latitude of 9 0 48' fouth, andin the longitude of 193° 43', we had a north-weft wind, having every day, for thefpace of twenty-one days, rained more or lefs. On March 2d, in the latitude of9 0 11' fouth, and in the longitude of 192 0 46', the variation was 10° to the eaft, thewind and weather (till varying. On March 8th, in the latitude of 7 0 46' fouth, andin the longitude of 190° 47', the wind was ftill variable.

13. On the 14th, in the latitude of io° 12' fouth, and in the longitude of x86° 14 *we found the variation 8° 45' to the eaft. We paffed fome days without being ableto take any obfervation, becaufe the weather was all that time dark and rainy. OnMarch 20th, in the latitude of 5 0 15' fouth, and in the longitude of 181 0 16', theweather being then fair, we found the variation 9 0 eaftward. On the 22d, in thelatitude of 5 0 2 / fouth, and in the longitude of 178° 32', we had fine fair weather*and the benefit of the eaft trade wind. This day we had fight of land, which layfour miles weft. This land proved to be a duller of twenty iflands, which in the map®,are called Anthong Java. They lie ninety miles, or thereabouts, from the coaft ®New Guinea . It may not be amifs to obferve here, that what Captain Tafman ca^ s