W. Eaton

“ Not to be content with an occasional mild flirtation, but to be an ardent votary and sincere seeker after truth, and have for his motto that noble line from Tennyson: "Let knowledge grow from more to more. How pleasant are the ways which lead to knowledge!" ”

“ There is no mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters; or, if any have done so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from them." But the Portuguese navigators, creeping southwards along the African coast, bit by bit, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and eventually reaching India, gave a stimulus to geographical research.
Cartography, hitherto of an archaic and academic nature, became elevated to the dignity of a useful science. The invention of printing, and consequent revival of letters, gave powerful aid in extending geographical knowledge. ”

“ The clock on the wall—the cooking pans over the fire-place—a book on navigation in the Dutch language, by a Spanish author—an account of China, by Mendozai—a flute which still gave out a few notes of music—a halbert leaning against the wall—and the shoes of a boy who had died. The Arctic climate has a wonderful preserving power.
In the beginning of the 17th century we find the Dutch in possession of Java; and now the sturdy figure of Abel Jansen Tasman looms dimly through the centuries. ”

“ It is interesting to reflect that, in all probability, it had ever been a vast solitude, undisturbed by man’s puny handiwork; where the trade-wind, and the gale, and the hurricane, had been, during vast ages— (ere ever man was) —doing Nature's work, as they do, to-day.
An eminent writer of the Middle Ages, and who is quoted by Washington Irving, says: "No one is able to verify anything concerning the ocean, on account of its difficult and perilous navigation, its great obscurity, its profound depth, and frequent tempests; through fear of its mighty fishes, and haughty winds. ”

“ We have a complacent feeling that Providence has hitherto kept many secrets of Nature under lock and key for our special behoof; that all through the ages men groped their way from the cradle to the grave, enveloped in the murkiest ignorance. ”

“ We read in Tasman's journal that during his stay here every preparation was made for their great voyage to the unknown land.
The crews were sent on shore to assist the huntsmen in catching game for present and future use. The position and rating of huntsmen on those exploring ships is now rather a mystery, and in our modern vessels has lapsed, owing to increased facilities in every port for obtaining supplies. Ship chandlers and butchers have usurped the place of the huntsmen, and now the name is only suggestive of the modern English hunting field. ”

“ On November 17th, forty days out, their latitude was 44° 15' South, and their longitude 126° East. They found the compass variation 8° West. That is, the north point of the compass needle is drawn 8 degrees west of the true north. The magnetic pole has so changed its position in two and a half centuries that the variation in this locality is now 2° West. The variation of the compass needle was familiar enough to the navigators of Tasman's time, but to Columbus, who first observed the aberration, it occasioned great uneasiness, and much terror to his officers and crew. ”

“ The high land sighted by Tasman was the west coast of the South Island, just south of Cook's Straits. Steering to the north-east, he anchored in what is now known as Golden Bay. Here their boats' crews were attacked by the natives, who were as fierce and intractable then as Cook found them long afterwards. Tasman describes them of good stature, strong boned, and of a rough voice. Their colour is between brown and yellow; their hair black, which they tie up on the crown of their heads like the Japanese, and with a large white feather stuck upright in it. ”

“ The expedition was not purely exploratory. The very practical and hard-headed directors of the Dutch East India Company were never actuated by any adventurous ideals; neither did they believe that the honour of exploration, like the practice of virtue, was it own reward. Profitable dividends were tho chief ends in view.
For this purpose the two vessels were laden with all sorts of goods, under the care and management of a merchant or supercargo. It may be interesting to mention, parenthetically, that Tasman's monthly salary was 80 guilders, or, in English money, £6 13s. ”

“ The north coast of Queensland is ravaged at intervals by cyclones, and when we try to solve the laws which regulate their motion when in our vicinity, we are on the outskirts of the Domain of Meteorology.
But Nautical Discovery is distinct from all neighbouring sciences. It stands alone, and is the very foundation of the building. To the ordinary student it is also the most attractive section of the science. ”

“ It is scarcely possible to navigate a vessel with safety, so close to the shore as to influence her compass to any appreciable amount; but it is possible that a vessel may sail over magnetic rocks, well below the surface, but quite near enough to render her compass unsteady and erratic.
On the 24th November, their compass was again steady, as before. They were steering a course to gain the 40th parallel, when in the afternoon they saw land about 40 miles off. They had discovered Tasmania.
After a run of 47 days, mostly in stormy weather, Tasman’s longitude was only 90 miles too far west ”

“ It may happen, as it often does happen in our work-a-day world, that we meet with crosses and troubles, but when these assail us, we have, in the pursuit and enjoyment of knowledge, the purest consolation, and which will enable us to rise on the stepping-stones of our worldly selves to higher things. ”

“ The present age is characterised by an intensely intellectual activity. The ordinary mind is bewildered by the daily discoveries and inventions of science. Some of these are so far-reaching that we ask ourselves when the limit to these wonders will be reached, and whether we will yet attain to a more divine intelligence, so that we may fathom those great mysteries, Time and Space. ”

“ Fearing that the coast of this new land might have hidden dangers, they stood out to sea until morning. Next day it was calm, and the succeeding day they were blown off the land by a northerly gale; and it was not until four days after, on 1st of December, that they anchored their storm-tossed ships in what is known as Blackman Bay; whereupon Tasman piously exclaims: “We ought to lift up thankful hearts to Almighty God."
Next day the boats were sent on shore, and they returned at night with an unsatisfactory report. Water, of which they were in great need, was scarce. ”

“ Their gardens were laid out in regular squares of bananas and other trees, the fruits of which were found very pleasant after the rough voyage. They also manufactured a kind of cloth from the bark of a tree, and altogether their condition was similar to that in which Cook afterwards found them.
They appeared to have no idea of a Supreme Being, but those we term savages are sometimes reticent in expressing their superstitious beliefs to strangers. Tasman notices with curiosity that all the elder women had their little fingers cut from both hands, but the young women had not. ”

“ But we are beginning to have an uneasy feeling or suspicion that in many of our intellectual triumphs we have been forestalled. The Chinese claim many of our good things, and their claims cannot be altogether ignored. We cannot dispute their title to the mariner's compass, the discovery of which is not due to modern civilisation, but is mentioned, as illustrating the case in point. ”

“ The great kingdom of Geographical Science has many ramifications, and these ramifications are so extensive and far-reaching that, like the territories of some powerful potentate, they sometimes infringe on the boundaries of neighbouring States. ”

“ Only one of his vessels was decked over all. It is to us wonderful that the daring expeditions of those days into unknown seas should have been undertaken in such vessels.
Those early navigators relate their adventures in the quaintest of language, in which there is scarcely ever a note of complaint.
They are cast away on inhospitable shores. They are cut off by hostile savages. Their ships are often charnel houses of disease and death. They lose their masts in Cape storms, and their rudders on unknown shoals. Their food and their water are often of the roughest kind. ”

“ That the iron doctrine of the survival of the fittest should have come into action, and that even the very virtues of our boasted civilisation should lead to the deterioration and ultimate extinction of a once happy people. ”

“ The famous Drake, in the earlier part of his career, made a voyage to the Spanish Main in two vessels of 70 and 25 tons respectively. In 1576 Martin Frobisher voyaged to the Arctic regions in search of a N.W. passage to China, with a vessel of 25 tons and a pinnace of 10 tons. Columbus discovered the New World and encountered the winter storms of the North Atlantic in small vessels not any larger than our river and coasting craft. ”

“ In 1605 a Spanish expedition sailed from Peru for "the discovery of lands and seas in Southern parts." It was commanded by Quiros and Torres, two eminent navigators. The narrative of the voyage was written by Torres. He gives the latitude of the various positions of his vessels no less than seventeen times, but never once alludes to longitude. ”

“ Their future proceedings have for us no personal or scientific interest. They pursued their leisurely course northward of the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, and arrived at Batavia after a ten months' absence. Tasman finishes his journal characteristically, as follows: "We arrived at Batavia, June 15, 1643. God be praised for this happy voyage.—Amen."
Tasman's great voyage was disappointing to the Dutch East India Company. He had discovered no golden regions, or any people eager for trade. Voyages of merely geographical discovery had for them no attraction. ”

“ The particulars here, quoted apply specially to the vessels of a Dutch expedition, which sailed from the Texel, in 1643, bound for Chili, and other possible places, and commanded by Hendrick Brouer, whom the annalist characterises as a man of much experience. With possible slight differences, it would also doubtless apply to the English shipping of that time.
"To each man one good cheese for the whole voyage. ”