north-east, or the north-north-east, with dark cold weather. Fearing,
therefore, that we were run farther to the west than we thought ourselves
by our reckoning, and dreading that we should fall to the south of New
Guinea, or be thrown upon some unknown coast in such blowing misty
weather, we resolved to stand away to the north, or to the north-north-
west, till we should arrive in the latitude of 4, 5, or 6 degrees south,
and then to bear away west for the coast of New Guinea, as the least
dangerous way that we could take.

It is very plain from hence, that Captain Tasman had now laid aside all
thoughts of discovering farther, and I think it is not difficult to guess
at the reason; when he was in this latitude, he was morally certain that
he could, without further difficulty, sail round by the coast of New
Guinea, and so back again to the East Indies. It is therefore extremely
probable that he was directed by his instructions to coast round that
great southern continent already discovered, in order to arrive at a
certainty whether it was joined to any other part of the world, or
whether, notwithstanding its vast extent, viz., from the equator to 43
degrees of south latitude, and from the longitude of 123 degrees to near
190 degrees, it was, notwithstanding, an island. This, I say, was in all
appearance the true design of his voyage, and the reason of it seems to
be this: that an exact chart being drawn from his discoveries, the East
India Company might have perfect intelligence of the extent and situation
of this now-found country before they executed the plan they were then
contriving for preventing its being visited or farther discovered by
their own or any other nation; and this too accounts for the care taken
in laying down the map of this country on the pavement of the new
stadthouse at Amsterdam; for as this county was henceforward to remain as
a kind of deposit or land of reserve in the hands of the East India
Company, they took this method of intimating as much to their countrymen,