[** See these instructions in my Life of Tasman, pp. 131 ff. and 147 ff.]

In the instructions for Tasman's voyage of 1644 the G.-G. and Counc.,
who drew them up, could still refer to "the express commands of the
'Heeren Maijoores" [*] to "attempt the discovery of Nova Guinea and other
unknown Eastern and Southern lands." And it is a fact certainly, that in
the first half of the seventeenth century the Governors-General who
planned these exploratory voyages were in their endeavours supported by
the Managers of the E.I.C. in the mother country [**]: it was especially
Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1619-1623 and 1627-1629), Hendrik Broulwer
(1632-1636) and Antonio van Diemen (1636-1645), who were most efficiently
backed in their efforts for this purpose by their principals at home.
Among these Governors-General Van Diemen holds the foremost place as
regards the furtherance of discoveries by Netherlanders in the Far East:
in the Pacific and on, "the mainland coasts of Australia." It is, with
complete justice, therefore, that a foreign author mentions the name of
Van Diemen as "a name which will ever rank among the greatest promotors
of maritime discovery".[***]

[* Meaning the Managers of the E.I.C.]

[** See also the instructions for the voyage of 1636, p. 64 _infra_.]

[*** BURNEY, Chronological History, III, p. 55. Speaking of Van Diemen,
we must not omit to call the reader's attention to sentiments such as the
following: "Whoever endeavours to discover unknown lands and tribes, had
need to be patient and long-suffering, noways quick to fly out, but
always bent on ingratiating himself" (p. 65 _infra_), a piece of advice
elsewhere taking the form of a command, e.g. p. 66: "You will not carry