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.
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