Tasman.
1642.
posterity of the inhabitants of this country. They did not shew themselves; but we suspected some to be not far from thence, watching carefully our doings."
The wind was from the northward all this day; and at sunset, it blew a storm. The variation at anchor was observed to be 3° east; the latitude was 43° south, and longitude 167½° east (from Teneriffe.)
Dec. 4. The wind was more moderate, and came from the westward, off the land. The anchors were then weighed, but the flukes of one were broken. On quitting Frederik Hendrik's Bay, the ships steered northward as much as possible, to look for a watering place. At noon, the course had been N.E. 32 miles; the latitude was 42° 40′, and longitude 168°. In the evening, they saw a round mountain, about eleven leagues to the N.N.W.; and during the whole day, several smokes were visible along the coast. "Here," says Tasman, "I should give a description of the extent of the coast, and the islands near it, but I hope to be excused, and refer, for brevity's sake, to the chart made of it, and herewith joined."
The ships kept close to the wind all night, as they did in the morning of Dec. 5, when it was N.W. by W. The high round mountain was then seen bearing west, eight leagues, and this was the furthest land visible, nor did the wind allow them to come in with it again. At noon, the latitude was judged to be 41° 34′, and longitude 169°; the course for the last day having been N.E. by N. 80 miles. Tasman then steered "precisely eastward, to make further discoveries," agreeably to a resolution of the council, taken in the morning.
The copy of Tasman's charts, given in the Atlas, Plate III. of D'Entrecasteaux's Voyage, and taken from Valentyn, is conformable to the manuscript charts in the Dutch journal. There is, however, an error of one degree too much east, in the scale of longitude; and Pedra Blanca is erroneously written against the Eddystone, in the general chart. In the plan of Frederik Hendrik's Bay, the name is placed within the inner bay, instead of being