As To The Product And Commodities Of This Country In General, There
Is The Greatest Reason In The World To
Believe that they are
extremely rich and valuable, because the richest and finest
countries in the known world lie all
Of them within the same
latitude; but to return from conjectures to facts, the country
discovered by De Quiros makes a part of this great island, and is
the opposite coast to that of Carpentaria. This country, the
discoverer called La Australia del Espiritu Santo, in the latitude
of 15 degrees 40 minutes south, and, as he reports, it abounds with
gold, silver, pearl, nutmegs, mace, ginger, and sugar-canes, of an
extraordinary size. I do not wonder that formerly the fact might be
doubted, but at present I think there is sufficient reason to induce
us to believe it, for Captain Dampier describes the country about
Cape St. George and Port Mountague, which are within 9 degrees of
the country described by De Quiros. I say Captain Dampier describes
what he saw in the following words: "The country hereabouts is
mountainous and woody, full of rich valleys and pleasant fresh-water
brooks; the mould in the valleys is deep and yellowish, that on the
sides of the hills of a very brown colour, and not very deep, but
rocky underneath, yet excellent planting land; the trees in general
are neither very straight, thick, nor tall, yet appear green and
pleasant enough; some of them bear flowers, some berries, and others
big fruits, but all unknown to any of us; cocoa-nut trees thrive
very well here, as well on the bays by the sea-side, as more remote
among the plantations; the nuts are of an indifferent size, the milk
and kernel very thick and pleasant; here are ginger, yams, and other
very good roots for the pot, that our men saw and tasted; what other
fruits or roots the country affords I know not; here are hogs and
dogs, other land animals we saw none; the fowls we saw and knew were
pigeons, parrots, cocadores, and crows, like those in England; a
sort of birds about the bigness of a blackbird, and smaller birds
many. The sea and rivers have plenty of fish; we saw abundance,
though we catched but few, and these were cavallies, yellow-tails,
and whip-wreys."
This account is grounded only on a very slight view, whereas De
Quiros resided for some time in the place he has mentioned. In
another place Captain Dampier observes that he saw nutmegs amongst
them, which seemed to be fresh-gathered, all which agrees perfectly
with the account given by De Quiros; add to this, that Schovten had
likewise observed, that they had ginger upon this coast, and some
other spices, so that on the whole there seems not the least reason
to doubt that if any part of this country was settled, it must be
attended with a very rich commerce; for it cannot be supposed that
all these writers should be either mistaken, or that they should
concur in a design to impose upon their readers; which is the less
to be suspected, if we consider how well their reports agree with
the situation of the country, and that the trees on the land, and
the fish on the coast, corresponding exactly with the trees of those
countries, and the fish on the coasts, where these commodities are
known to abound within land, seem to intimate a perfect conformity
throughout.
The next thing to be considered is, the possibility of planting in
this part of the world, which at first sight, I must confess, seems
to be attended with considerable difficulties with respect to every
other nation except the Dutch, who either from Batavia, the
Moluccas, or even from the Cape of Good Hope, might with ease settle
themselves wherever they thought fit; as, however, they have
neglected this for above a century, there seems to be no reason why
their conduct in this respect should become the rule of other
nations, or why any other nation should be apprehensive of drawing
on herself the displeasure of the Dutch, by endeavouring to turn to
their benefit countries the Dutch have so long suffered to lie, with
respect to Europe, waste and desert.
The first point, with respect to a discovery, would be to send a
small squadron on the coast of Van Diemen's Land, and from thence
round, in the same course taken by Captain Tasman, by the coast of
New Guinea, which might enable the nations that attempted it to come
to an absolute certainty with regard to its commodities and
commerce. Such a voyage as this might be performed with very great
ease, and at a small expense, by our East India Company; and this in
the space of eight or nine months' time; and considering what mighty
advantages might accrue to the nation, there seems to be nothing
harsh or improbable in supposing that some time or other, when the
legislature is more than usually intent on affairs of commerce, they
may be directed to make such an expedition at the expense of the
public. By this means all the back coast of New Holland and New
Guinea might be thoroughly examined, and we might know as well, and
as certainly as the Dutch, how far a colony settled there might
answer our expectations; one thing is certain, that to persons used
to the navigation of the Indies, such an expedition could not be
thought either dangerous or difficult, because it is already
sufficiently known that there are everywhere islands upon the coast,
where ships upon such a discovery might be sure to meet with
refreshments, as is plain from Commodore Roggewein's voyage, made
little more than twenty years ago.
The only difficulty that I can see would be the getting a fair and
honest account of this expedition when made; for private interest is
so apt to interfere, and get the better of the public service, that
it is very hard to be sure of anything of this sort.
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