Such was the end of this expedition, which
has been always considered as the clearest and most exact that
Was
ever made for the discovery of the Terra Australis Incognita, from
whence that chart and map was laid down in the pavement of the
stadt-house at Amsterdam, as is before mentioned. We have now
nothing to do but to shut up this voyage and our history of
circumnavigators, with a few remarks, previous to which it will be
requisite to state clearly and succinctly the discoveries, either
made or confirmed by Captain Tasman's voyage, that the importance of
it may fully appear, as well as the probability of our conjectures
with regard to the motives that induced the Dutch East India Company
to be at so much pains about these discoveries.
CHAPTER XX: CONSEQUENCES OF CAPTAIN TASMAN'S DISCOVERIES.
In the first place, then, it is most evident, from Captain Tasman's
voyage, that New Guinea, Carpentaria, New Holland, Antony van
Diemen's Land, and the countries discovered by De Quiros, make all
one continent, from which New Zealand seems to be separated by a
strait; and, perhaps, is part of another continent, answering to
Africa, as this, of which we are now speaking, plainly does to
America. This continent reaches from the equinoctial to 44 degrees
of south latitude, and extends from 122 degrees to 188 degrees of
longitude, making indeed a very large country, but nothing like what
De Quiros imagined; which shows how dangerous a thing it is to trust
too much to conjecture in such points as these.
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