ive
of a very tall people. They saw marks, such as are left by the claws of
a tiger, and brought on board the excrements of some quadruped; gum lac,
which dropped from trees, and greens "which might be used in place of
wormwood." They saw people at the east corner of the bay:[3] they found
no fish, except mussels: many trees were burned hollow near the ground;
they were widely separated, and admitted an extensive view.

On the 3rd, they went to a little bay, south-west from their ships, in
search of water: the surf prevented their landing, but the carpenter
swam on shore; and near four remarkable trees, standing in the form of a
crescent, he erected a post, on which a compass was carved, and left the
Prince's flag flying upon it.[4] "When the said carpenter had done this
in the sight of me, Abel Jans Tasman, of the master Jerit Zanzoon, and
under merchant Abraham Coomans, we went in the shallop as near as
possible, and the said carpenter swam back through the surf. We then
returned on board, and left this memorial to the posterity of the
inhabitants. They did not show themselves, and we suspected some to be
not far from thence, and watching carefully our doings." The last object
they noticed was a large round mountain (St. Patrick's Head), on the
eastern coast, of which they lost sight on the 5th December.

From Van Diemen's Land they proceeded to New Zealand, where by an
encounter with the natives several lives were lost: thence they passed
Tongataboo, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, and arrived at Batavia on the 15th
June, 1643. Tasman closes his journal with his usual devotion: "God be
praised for this happy voyage. Amen."

That Maria Island was named after the daughter of Van Diemen, and that
Tasman went over the ocean writing down her name in the imperishable
records of his discoveries, is a pleasing tale; but the evidence on
which it rests is far from conclusive. Thus at Amsterdam he called the
anchorage Van Diemen's Road, and where the boats went for water Maria's
Bay, "in honor of our governor-general and his lady." That a daughter of
the same name existed is not improbable, but who can tell whether the
Maria Island of Tasmania's coast was named in complaisance to the
daughter, or to conciliate the mother! In hope to confirm the agreeable
fiction the journal of Tasman has been examined, but in vain.

The spirit of discovery revived in Europe after a long slumber; and a
succession of illustrious navigators, in their