The
Assertion Is Bold, And At First Sight May Appear Improbable; But A
Little Attention Will Make It So Plain, That The Reader Must Be
Convinced Of The Truth Of What I Say.
The proposition made by
Columbus to the State of Genoa, the Kings of Portugal, Spain,
England, and France, was this, that he could discover a new route to
the East Indies; that is to say, without going round the Cape of
Good Hope.
He grounded this proposition on the spherical figure of
the earth, from whence he thought it self-evident that any given
point might be sailed to through the great ocean, either by steering
east or west. In his attempt to go to the East Indies by a west
course, he met with the islands and continent of America; and
finding gold and other commodities, which till then had never been
brought from the Indies, he really thought that this was the west
coast of that country to which the Portuguese sailed by the Cape of
Good Hope, and hence came the name of the West Indies. Magellan,
who followed his steps, and was the only discoverer who reasoned
systematically, and knew what he was doing, proposed to the Emperor
Charles V. to complete what Columbus had begun, and to find a
passage to the Moluccas by the west; which, to his immortal honour,
he accomplished.
When the Dutch made their first voyages to the East Indies, which
was not many years before Captain Pelsart's shipwreck on the coast
of New Holland, for their first fleet arrived in the East Indies in
1596, and Pelsart lost his ship in 1629--I say, when the Dutch first
undertook the East India trade, they had the Spice Islands in view:
and as they are a nation justly famous for the steady pursuit of
whatever they take in hand, it is notorious that they never lost
sight of their design till they had accomplished it, and made
themselves entirely masters of these islands, of which they still
continue in possession. When this was done, and they had
effectually driven out the English, who were likewise settled in
them, they fixed the seat of their government in the island of
Amboyna, which lay very convenient for the discovery of the southern
countries; which, therefore, they prosecuted with great diligence
from the year 1619 to the time of Captain Pelsart's shipwreck; that
is, for the space of twenty years.
But after they removed the seat of their government from Amboyna to
Batavia, they turned their views another way, and never made any
voyage expressly for discoveries on that side, except the single one
of Captain Tasman, of which we are to speak presently. It was from
this period of time that they began to take new measures, and having
made their excellent settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, resolved
to govern their trade to the East Indies by these two capital
maxims: 1. To extend their trade all over the Indies, and to fix
themselves so effectually in the richest countries as to keep all,
or at least the best and most profitable part of, their commerce to
themselves; 2. To make the Moluccas, and the islands dependent on
them, their frontier, and to omit nothing that should appear
necessary to prevent strangers, or even Dutch ships not belonging to
the Company, from ever navigating those seas, and consequently from
ever being acquainted with the countries that lie in them. How well
they have prosecuted the first maxim has been very largely shown in
a foregoing article, wherein we have an ample description of the
mighty empire in the hands of their East India Company. As for the
second maxim, the reader, in the perusal of Funnel's, Dampier's, and
other voyages, but especially the first, must be satisfied that it
is what they have constantly at heart, and which, at all events,
they are determined to pursue, at least with regard to strangers;
and as to their own countrymen, the usage they gave to James le
Maire and his people is a proof that cannot be contested.
Those things being considered, it is very plain that the Dutch, or
rather the Dutch East India Company, are fully persuaded that they
have already as munch or more territory in the East Indies than they
can well manage, and therefore they neither do nor ever will think
of settling New Guinea, Carpentaria, New Holland, or any of the
adjacent islands, till either their trade declines in the East
Indies, or they are obliged to exert themselves on this side to
prevent other nations from reaping the benefits that might accrue to
them by their planting those countries. But this is not all; for as
the Dutch have no thoughts of settling these countries themselves,
they have taken all imaginable pains to prevent any relations from
being published which might invite or encourage any other nation to
make attempts this way; and I am thoroughly persuaded that this very
account of Captain Pelsart's shipwreck would never have come into
the world if it had not been thought it would contribute to this
end, or, in other words, would serve to frighten other nations from
approaching such an inhospitable coast, everywhere beset with rocks
absolutely void of water, and inhabited by a race of savages more
barbarous, and, at the same time, more miserable than any other
creatures in the world.
The author of this voyage remarks, for the use of seamen, that in
the little island occupied by Weybhays, after digging two pits, they
were for a considerable time afraid to use the water, having found
that these pits ebbed and flowed with the sea; but necessity at last
constraining them to drink it, they found it did them no hurt. The
reason of the ebbing and flowing of these pits was their nearness to
the sea, the water of which percolated through the sand, lost its
saltness, and so became potable, though it followed the motions of
the ocean whence it came.
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