Tasman’s voyage of discovery.
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Company, as that of Curacao to the Dutch Weft India Company, who raife no lefsthan fixty thoufand florins per annum for licenfing {hips to trade there.
From Juan Fernandez to Van Diemen’s Land is not above two months fail; and avoyage for difcovery might be very conveniently made between the time that afquadron returned from Juan Fernandez, and another fquadron’s arrival there fromhence. It is true, that, if once a confiderable fettlement was made in the moft fouthempart of Terra Auftralis, the company might then fall into a large commerce in the moftvaluable Eaft India goods, very probably gold, and fpices of all forts : yet I cannotthink, that even thefe, would fall within the exclufive provifo of their charter; for thatWas certainly intended to hinder their trading in fuch goods as are brought hither bypur Eaft India Company ; and I muft confefs I fee no difference, with refped to theWtereft of that company, between our having cloves, cinnamon, and mace, by theSouth Sea Company’s {hips from Juan Fernandez, and our receiving them from Holland ,after the Dutch Eaft India Company’s fhips have brought them thither by the way ofthe Cape of Good Hope . Sure I am they would come to us fooner by fome monthshy the way of Cape Horne. If this reafoning does not fatisfy people, but they ftillRemain perfuaded, that the South Sea Company ought not to intermeddle with theEaft India trade at all, I defire to know, why the Weft India merchants are allowed toimport coffee from Jamaica , when it is well known, that the Eaft India Company can.f upply the whole demand of this kingdom from Mocha ? If it be anfwered, that theJamaica coffee comes cheaper, and is the growth of our own plantations, I reply, thatthefe fpices will not only be cheaper but better, and be purchafed by our own manu-facturers ; and thefe, I think, are the ftrongeft reafons that can be given.
If it be demanded, what certainty I have, that fpices can be had from thence, I anfwer;all the certainty that in a thing of this nature can be reafonably expected : Ferdinandde Ouiros met with all forts of fpices in the country he difcovered ; William Schovten,a nd Jaques le Maire, faw ginger and nutmegs ; fo did Dampier; and the author ofCommodore Roggewein’s Voyage afferts, that the free burgeffes of Amboyna purchafenutmegs from the natives of New Guinea for bits of iron. All therefore I contendf° r is, that thefe bits of iron may be fent them from Old England.
The reafon I recommend fettling on the fouth coaft of Terra Auftralis, if this defignmould be profecuted, from Juan Fernandez, rather than the ifland of New Britain ,which I mentioned before, is, becaufe that coaft is nearer, and is fituated in a better andPftafanter climate. Befides all which advantages, as it was never hitherto vifited byne Dutch , they cannot with any colour of juftice, take umbrage at our attemptingUc h a fettlement. To clofe then this fubject, the importance of which alone inclined111 T t0 - *P en ^ f° much of mine and the reader’s time about it:
m is moft evident, that, if fuch a fettlement was made at Juan Fernandez, properJ^ a gazines ere tied, and a cortftant correfpondence eftablilhed between that ifland andii e lerra Auftralis, thefe three confequences muft abfolutely follow from thence :
"1 hat a new trade would be opened, which muft carry off a great quantity of ourS°ods and manufactures, that cannot, at prefent, be brought to any market, or at leaftot to fo good a market, as if there was a greater demand for them. 2. It wouldender this navigation, which is at prefent fo ftrange, and confequently fo terrible, tos, eafy and familiar; which might be attended with advantages that cannot be forefeen,pecially fince there is, as I before obferved, in all probability another fouthern con-sent, which is ftill to be difcovered. 3. It would greatly increafe our {hipping andUr f ea men, which are the true and natural ftrength of this country, extend our navalP°wer, and raife the reputation of this nation; the moft diftant profpeCt of which is
3 n 2 fufficient