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.
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