leave their bones in Australia, an unhappy omen of the future. According
to the instructions issued to Tasman, on his second voyage, he was
directed to "enquire at the continent thereabout" (i.e., the
neighbourhood of the Abrolhos) "after two Dutchmen, who, having by the
enormity of their crimes forfeited their lives, were put on shore by the
Commodore Francisco Pelsart, if still alive. In such case, you may make
inquiries of them about the situation of those countries, and if they
entreat you to that purpose, give them passage thither." He was also
instructed to recover, if possible, the chest of rix dollars.
Unfortunately Tasman's journal has never been discovered, and it is not
known how he fared on his mission.

Captain Gerrit Tomaz Poole sailed from Banda in 1636, with the yachts
KLYN, AMSTERDAM, and WESEL, to meet his death on the New Guinea coast, in
the same place that had been fatal to Carstens, and in a like manner. The
supercargo took charge, and prosecuted the voyage, revisiting Arnhem's
Land.

A name familiar to all is that of Abel Janz Tasman. In 1644, after his
discovery of Van Dieman's Land, he was sent out on a second voyage of
exploration. His instructions were: "To discover whether Nova Guinea is
one continent with the Great South Land, or separated by channels and
islands lying between them, and also whether that New Van Dieman's Land"
(Arnhem's Land) "is the same continent with these two great countries, or
with one of them." He was also directed to search for the strait between
New Guinea and New Holland, in a large opening said to exist in that
locality. Apparently, this portion of his instructions was, for some
reasons, not thoroughly carried out.

Although Tasman's journal of this voyage has never been found, we have