But Allowing This To Be New Holland, It Only
Proves, That At The Date Of This Map It Was Known, Not That It Had Been
Discovered By The Portuguese.
The Dutch, however, certainly made several voyages to it between 1616 and
1644:
The western extremity was explored in 1616. The same year Van
Dieman's Land was discovered. In the course of the ten following years, the
western and northern coasts were visited. The southern coast was first
discovered in 1627, but we have no particulars respecting the voyage in
which it was discovered. In 1642, Tasman, a celebrated Dutch navigator,
sailed from Batavia, and discovered the southern part of Van Dieman's Land
and New Zealand. From this time to the beginning of the eighteenth century,
little progress was made in exploring the coast of New Holland. Dampier,
however, a man of wonderful talents, considering his education and mode of
life, collected, during his voyage, some important details respecting the
west coast. And among the numerous voyages undertaken by the Dutch East
India Company towards the close of the seventeenth and beginning of the
eighteenth century, to examine this vast country, which the Dutch regarded
as belonging to them, there was one by Van Vlaming deserving of notice:
this navigator examined with great care and attention many bays and
harbours on the west side; and he is the first who mentions the black swans
of this country.
Papua, or New Guinea, another part of Australasia, was discovered by the
Portuguese in 1528. The passage that divides this country from New Britain
was discovered by Dampier, who was also the first that explored and named
the latter country in 1683. The discovery of Solomon Islands by the
Spaniards took place in 1575: Mendana, a Spanish captain, sailed from Lima,
to the westward, and in steering across the Pacific, he fell in with these
islands. On a second voyage he extended his discoveries, and he sailed a
third time to conquer and convert the natives. His death, which took place
in one of these islands, put an end to these projects. They are supposed to
be the easternmost of the Papua Archipelago, afterwards visited by
Carteret, Bougainville, and other navigators. Mendana, during his last
voyage, discovered a group of islands to which he gave the name of
Marquesas de Mendoza.
This group properly belongs to Polynesia: of the other islands in this
quarter of the globe, which were discovered prior to the eighteenth
century, Otaheite is supposed to have been discovered by Quiros in 1606.
His object was to discover the imagined austral continent; but his
discoveries were confined to Otaheite, which he named Sagittaria, and an
island which he named Terra del Esperitu Sancto, which is supposed to be
the principal of the New Hebrides. The Ladrones were discovered by Magellan
in 1521. The New Philippines, or Carolinas, were first made known by the
accidental arrival of a family of their natives at the Philippines in 1686.
Easter island, a detached and remote country, which, however, is inhabited
by the Polynesian race, was discovered by Roggewein in 1686.
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