brought his prisoner on board.

"On the 18th day of September the captain and the master-pilot,
taking with them ten men of Weybehays' company, passed over in
boats to the island of Cornelis. Those who still remained thereon
lost all courage as soon as they saw them, and allowed themselves
to be placed in irons."

Pelsart remained another week at the Abrolhos, endeavouring to recover
some of the _Batavia's_ treasure, and succeeded in finding all but one
chest. The mutineers were tried by the officers of the _Sardam_, and all
but two were executed before the ship left the scene of their awful crime.
The two men who were not hanged were put on shore on the mainland, and
were probably the first Europeans to end their lives upon the continent.
Dutch vessels for many years afterwards sought for traces of the marooned
seamen, but none were ever discovered.

The 1644 voyage of Tasman was made expressly for the purpose of exploring
the north and north-western shores of the continent, and to prove the
existence or otherwise of straits separating it from New Guinea. Tasman's
instructions show this, and prove that while the existence of the straits
was suspected, and although Torres had unconsciously passed through them,
they were not known. Tasman explored a long length of coast-line,
establishing its continuity from the extreme north-western point (Arnhem
Land) as far as the twenty-second degree of south latitude (Exmouth Gulf).
He failed to prove the existence of Torres Straits, but to him, it is
generally agreed, is due the discovery and naming of the Gulf of
Carpentaria (Carpenter in Tasman's time being President at Amsterdam of
the Dutch East India Company) and the naming of a part of North Australia,
as he had previously named the island to the south, after Van Diemen. From