on board, if stretching to the south-east; but, notwithstanding this,
endeavour by all means to proceed; that we may be sure whether this land
is divided from the _Great Known_ SOUTH CONTINENT, or not."

The Dutch had, by this time, acquired some knowledge of a part of the
south coast of Terra Australis; of the west coast; and of a part of the
north-west; and these are the lands meant by "the Great Known South
Continent." Arnhem's, and the northern Van Diemen's Lands, on the North
Coast, are not included in the expression; for Tasman was directed "from
_De Witt's Land_ (on the North-west Coast,) to run across, very near
eastward, to complete the discovery of _Arnhem's_ and _Van Diemen's
Lands_; and to ascertain perfectly, whether these lands are not _one and
the same island_."

It is a great obstacle to tracing correctly the progress of early
discovery in Terra Australis, that no account of this voyage of Tasman
has ever been published; nor is any such known to exist. But it seems to
have been the general opinion, that he sailed round the _Gulph of
Carpentaria_; and then westward, along _Arnhem's_ and the northern _Van
Diemen's Lands_; and the form of these coasts in Thevenot's chart of
1663, and in those of most succeeding geographers, even up to the end of
the eighteenth century, is supposed to have resulted from this voyage.
The opinion is strengthened by finding the names of Tasman, and of the
governor-general and two of the council, who signed his instructions,
applied to places at the head of the Gulph; as is also that of _Maria_,
the daughter of the governor, to whom our navigator is said to have been
attached. In the notes, also, of Burgomaster Witsen, concerning the
inhabitants of NOVA GUINEA and HOLLANDIA NOVA, as extracted by Mr.
Dalrymple; Tasman is mentioned amongst those, from whom his information
was drawn.