point known to the Spaniards as Cabo S. Maria. Thence he passed westward along the north of New Ireland, New Hanover, New Britain (Neu Pommern) and New Guinea. He reached the western extremity of New Guinea on the 18th of May; Schouten’s Islands were noted to the south of the vessels’ course on the 12th of May. Tasman’s track, lying between New Guinea and Halmahera (Gilolo), then brought him south "to Ceram; he passed through the narrow strait hctween Celebes and Buton on the 27th of May, and arrived at Batavia on the 15th of June 1643 after a ten months’ voyage. The materials for an account of Tasman’s important second voyage in 1644 are scanty, but we know he was instructed to obtain a thorough knowledge of Statcn Land and Van Diemen’s Land, and to find out “whether New Guinea is a continent with the great Zuidland, or separated by channels and islands,” and also “whether the new Van Diemen’s Land is the same continent with these two great countries or with one of them.” In this voyage Tasman had three ships under his command, the “Limmen,” “Zeemeeuw” (or “Meeuw”), and “Brak” (or “Bracq”). His course lay along the south-west coast of New Guinea; he mistook the western opening of Torres Straits for a bay, but explored (and perhaps named) the Gulf of Carpentaria: for the first time the coast-line of this great bay was mapped with fair accuracy. Though preceded by Jansz (1606) and Carstensz (1623) on the east shore of the gulf as far as 17° S., Tasman first made known the south, and most of the west, coast. Be- yond this he explored the north and west coasts of Australia as far as 22 S., and established the absolute continuity of all this shore-line of the “Great Known South Continent”; his chart gives soundings for the whole of this coast. Tasman’s achievements were coldly received by the Dutch colonial authorities; but on the 4th of October 1644 they rewarded him with the rank of commander (he had frequently enjoyed the use of the title already). On the 2nd of November 1644 he was also made a member of the Council of Justice of Batavia. He was a member of the committee appointed on the 18th of April 1645 to declare a truce between the Dutch East India Company and the viceroy of Portuguese India. In 1647 he commanded a trading fleet to Siam, and in 1648 a war-fleet sent against the Spaniards of the Philippines (May 15, 1648, to January 1649). By 1653 he had quitted the company’s service, but still lived, apparently as one of its wealthiest citizens, in and near Batavia. His will, made the 10th of April 1657, seems to have but slightly preceded his death, which probably happened before October 22, 1659, and certainly before February 5, 1661.
See Siebold’s paper in Le Moniteur des Indes-Orientales et Occidentales, 1848–49, pt. i. p. 390; the paper on Tasman by C. M. Dozy in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie, 5th series, vol. ii. p. 308; R. H. Major, Early Voyages to . . . Australia (London, Hakluyt Society, 1859), especially pp. xciii.-ciii., 43–58 (here are printed the instructions for Tasman and his colleagues on the voyage of 1644); G. Collingridge, Discovery of Australia (Sydney, 1895), especially pp. 238–40, 279–80; and, above all, J. E. Heeres and others, Tasman’s Journal . . . facsimiles of the original MS. . . . . with . . . .life . . . .of . . . . Tasman, &c. (Amsterdam, 1898)—here the Life of Tasman, with its appendices, is separately paged (163 pp.). See also Aandeel der Nederlanders in de Ontdekking van Australië, 1606–1765 (in Dutch and English, Leiden and London, 1899), especially pp. vi., viii., xii.–xv., 72; the valuable summary of the voyage of 1642–43 in the anonymous Account of several late Voyages and Discoveries (beginning with Sir John Narborough’s), London, 1711, with sub-title, Relation of a Voyage . . . of Captain Abel Jansen Tasman (originally extracted from his journals by Dirk Rembrantse in Dutch, published in English in Dr Hook’s collections); also The Discovery of Van Diemen’s Land in 1642, by James Backhouse Walker (Hobart, 1891). A draft journal of the voyage of 1642–43, probably made by a sailor on the expedition, is in the state archives at The Hague. There are also several copies made from Tasman’s official Journal; the best of these (the original fair copy) is reproduced in Heeres’ Tasman’s Journal, 1898, noticed above.
An original chart of Tasman’s, made after the voyage of 1644, has been discovered and is in the possession of Prince Roland Bonaparte. Before this discovery reliance was placed on an excellent copy, probably made about 1687, by Captain Thomas Bowrey (art. 12 in the miscell. MS. collection marked 5222 in the British Museum, London). This gives the tracks of both the voyages 1642–43 and 1644, and the soundings of the latter. Burgomaster Witsen, of Noord en Oost Tartarye fame (1705), preserved a brief record of certain observations made in Tasman’s voyage of 1644, between 13° 8′ and 19° 35′ S. (and approximately between 129° 30′ and 120° E., Greenwich). This was translated by A. Dalrymple in his Papua (reprinted in R. H. Major, Early Voyages to . . . Australia, xcviii.–xcix.). Basil Thomson, Diversions of a Prime Minister (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 311, &c., records that the remembrance of Tasman’s visit to the Tonga Islands still remains “fresh to the smallest details” among the natives. (C. R. B.)
TASMANIA, a British colonial state, forming part of the
Australian Commonwealth. It is composed of the island of
Tasmania and its adjoining islands, and is separated from the
Australian continent on the south-east by Bass Strait.
The island of Tasmania is triangular in shape, area 24,331 sq. m.
(with the other islands 26,215 sq. m.), 200 m. from N. to S.,
and 245 m. from E. to W.
Coastal Features.—The southern portion of the eastern shore of Tasmania is remarkable for its picturesque inlets and bold headlands The principal inlet is Storm Bay, which has three well-defined arms. The most easterly is Norfolk Bay, enclosed between Forestier’s Peninsula and Tasman Peninsula. The middle arm is Frederick Henry Bay, and the western the estuary of the Derwent. It is on this estuary that Hobart, the capital of the island, is situated. Besides the main entrance to Storm Bay, between Cape Raoul and Tasman Head, there is D’Entrecasteaux Channel, which divides North and South Bruni Island from the mainland. This channel has two branches, the easterly forming the entrance into Storm Bay, and the western being the estuary of the Huon river. On the east coast lies the peculiarly-shaped Maria Island, almost severed by deep indentations on the east and west. Above this island is Oyster Bay, formed by the projection, Freycinet Peninsula. On the south are some very prominent headlands. In the south-west lies the line harbour of Port Davey, which receives several small rivers. Proceeding northward along the west coast the most conspicuous headlands are Rocky Point, Point Hibbs and Cape Sorell, which stands at the entrance of Macquarie Harbour, the deep inlet receiving the waters of the river Gordon
