Tasman’s voyage of discovery.

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and not very deep, but rocky underneath, yet excellent planting land; the treesin general are neither very ftrait, thick, nor tall, yet appear green and pleafantenough; fome of them bear flowers, fome berries and others big fruits, but all un-known to any of us; cocoa-nut trees thrive very well here, as well on the bays bythe fea-fide, as more remote among the plantations; the nuts are of an indifferentfize, the milk and kernel very thick and pleafant; here are ginger, yams, andother very good roots for the pot, that our men faw and tailed; what other fruits orroots the country affords, I know not; here are hogs and dogs, other land animalswe faw none ; the fowls we faw and knew were pigeons, parrots, cocadores andcrows, like thofe in England; a fort of birds about the bignefs of a black-bird, andfmaller birds many. The fea and rivers have plenty of filh; we faw abundance,though we catched but few, and thefe were cavallies, yellow-tails and whip-wreys.”

This account is grounded only on a very flight view, whereas De Quiros refided forfome time in the place he has mentioned. In another place Captain Dampier obferves,that he faw nutmegs amongft them, which feemed to be frelh-gathered, all whichagrees perfectly with the account given by De Quiros ; add to this, that Schovten hadlikewife obferved, that they had ginger upon this coaft, and fome other fpices, fo thaton the whole, there feems not the leaft reafon to doubt, that if any part of this countrywas fettled, it mull be attended with a very rich commerce; for it cannot be fuppofed,that all thefe writers Ihould be either miftaken, or that they Ihould concur in a defignto impofe upon their readers; which is the lefs to be fufpe&ed, if we confider howwell their reports agree with the fituation of the country, and that the trees on theland, and the filh on the coaft, correfponding exactly with the trees of thofe countries,and the filh on the coafts, where thefe commodities are known to abound within-land,feem to intimate a perfect conformity throughout.

The next thing to be confidered is, the poflibility of planting in this part of theworld; which, at firft fight, I mull confefs, fee ms to be attended with confiderabledifficulties with refpect to every other nation except the Dutch , who, either fromBatavia, the Moluccas, or even from the Cape of Good Hope , might with eafe fettlethemfelves where-ever they thought fit; as, however, they have neglected this forabove a century, there feems to be no reafon, why their conduct in this refpeCt Ihouldbecome the rule of other nations, or why any other nation Ihould be apprehenfiveof drawing on herfelf the difpleafure of the Dutch , by endeavouring to turn to theirbenefit countries the Dutch have fo long fullered to lie, with refpect to Europe , wafteand defert.

The firft point, with refpect to a difcovery, would be, to fend a fmall fquadron onthe coaft of Van Diemen’s Land, and from thence round, in the fame courfe takenby Captain Tafman, by the coaft of New Guinea , which might enable the nations thatattempted it to come to an abfolute certainty with regard to its commodities and com-merce : fuch a voyage as this might be performed with very great eafe, and at a fmallexpence, by our Eaft India company; and, this in the fpace of eight or nine monthstime; and conlidering what mighty advantages might accrue to the nation, there feemsto be nothing harlh or improbable in fuppofing that, fome time or other, when thelegiflature is more than ufually intent on affairs of commerce, they may be directed tomake fuch an expedition at the expence of the public. By this means all the backcoaft of New Holland and New Guinea , might be thoroughly examined, and we mightknow as well, and as certainly as the Dutch , how far a colony fettled there mightanfwer our expectations; one thing is certain, that to perfons ufed to the navigationof the Indies, fuch an expedition could not be thought either dangerous or difficult*