out of their wits with fear," so they decided to land these on
an island for "their cries and noise served only to disturb them."
The landing was extremely difficult owing to the rocky coast, where
the waves were dashing high. When the weather had moderated a bit,
Captain Pelsart took the ship and went in search of water, thereby
exploring a good deal of coast, which, he remarked, "resembled the
country near Dover." But his exploration amounted to little, and the
account of his adventures is mostly taken up with an account of the
disasters that befell the miserable party left on the rock-bound
islands of Abrolhos--conspiracies, mutinies, and plots. His was only
one of many adventures on this unknown and inhospitable coast, which
about this time, 1644, began to take the name of New Holland.

[Illustration: THE WRECK OF CAPTAIN PELSART'S SHIP THE _BATAVIA_ ON
THE COAST OF NEW HOLLAND, 1644. From the Dutch account of Pelsart's
_Voyages_, 1647.]

CHAPTER XLII

TASMAN FINDS TASMANIA

At this time Anthony Van Diemen was governor at Batavia, and one of
his most trusted commanders was Abel Tasman. In 1642, Tasman was given
command of two ships "for making discoveries of the Unknown South
Land," and, hoisting his flag on board the _Sea-Hen_, he sailed south
from Batavia without sighting the coast of Australia. Despite foggy
weather, "hard gales, and a rolling sea," he made his way steadily
south. It was three months before land was sighted, and high mountains
were seen to the southeast. The ship stood in to shore. "As the land
has not been known before to any European, we called it Anthony Van
Diemen's Land in honour of our Governor-General, who sent us out to
make discoveries. I anchored in a bay and heard the sound of people
upon the shore, but I saw nobody. I perceived in the sand the marks
of wild beasts' feet, resembling those of a tiger."

Setting up a post with the Dutch East India Company's mark, and leaving
the Dutch flag flying, Tasman left Van Diemen's Land, which was not
to be visited again for over one hundred years, when it was called
after its first discoverer. He had no idea that he was on an island.
Tasman now sailed east, and after about a week at sea he discovered
a high mountainous country, which he named "Staaten Land." "We found
here abundance of inhabitants: they had very hoarse voices and were
very large-made people; they were of colour between brown and yellow,
their hair long and thick, c