humiliating conditions. But, with the
Dutch, trade was trade, and under the able conduct of Francis Caron it
became of thriving proportions. During the next century no other
Europeans had any access to the Japanese market except the agents of the
Dutch East India Company.

Among the governors-general of this early period the name of Antony van
Diemen (1636-45) deserves special recognition. If Koen laid the firm
foundations of Dutch rule in the East, Van Diemen built wisely and ably
on the work of Koen. Carpentier's rule had been noteworthy for several
voyages of discovery along the coasts of New Guinea and of the adjoining
shore of Australia, but the spirit of exploration reached its height in
the days of Van Diemen. The north and north-west of Australia being to
some extent already known, Abel Tasman was despatched by Van Diemen to
find out, if possible, how far southward the land extended. Sailing in
October, 1642, from Mauritius, he skirted portions of the coast of what
is now Victoria and New South Wales and discovered the island which he
named after his patron Van Diemen's land, but which is now very
appropriately known as Tasmania. Pressing on he reached New Zealand,
which still bears the name that he gave to it, and sailed through the
strait between the northern and southern islands, now Cook's strait. In
the course of this great voyage he next discovered the Friendly or Tonga
islands and the Fiji archipelago. He reached Batavia in June, 1643, and
in the following year he visited again the north of Australia and
voyaged right round the Gulf of Carpentaria. Even in a modern map of
Australia Dutch names will be found scattered round certain portions of
the coast of the island-continent, recording still, historically, the
names of the early Dutch explorers, their patrons, ships and homes.
Along the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria may be seen Van Diemen
river, gulf and cape; Abel Tasman, Van Alphen, Nassau and Staten rivers;
capes Arnhem, Caron and Maria (after Francis Caron and Maria van
Diemen) and Groote Eylandt. In Tasmania, with many other names, may be
found Frederick Henry bay and cape, Tasman's peninsula and Tasman's head
and Maria island; while the wife of the governor-general is again
commemorated, the northernmost point of New Zealand bearing the name of
Maria van Diemen cape.

To Van Diemen belongs the credit of giving to the Dutch their first
footing (1638) in the rich island of Ceylon, by concluding