第10章

When the Dutch made their first voyages to the East Indies, which was not many years before Captain Pelsart's shipwreck on the coast of New Holland, for their first fleet arrived in the East Indies in 1596, and Pelsart lost his ship in 1629--I say, when the Dutch first undertook the East India trade, they had the Spice Islands in view: and as they are a nation justly famous for the steady pursuit of whatever they take in hand, it is notorious that they never lost sight of their design till they had accomplished it, and made themselves entirely masters of these islands, of which they still continue in possession. When this was done, and they had effectually driven out the English, who were likewise settled in them, they fixed the seat of their government in the island of Amboyna, which lay very convenient for the discovery of the southern countries; which, therefore, they prosecuted with great diligence from the year 1619 to the time of Captain Pelsart's shipwreck; that is, for the space of twenty years.

But after they removed the seat of their government from Amboyna to Batavia, they turned their views another way, and never made any voyage expressly for discoveries on that side, except the single one of Captain Tasman, of which we are to speak presently. It was from this period of time that they began to take new measures, and having made their excellent settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, resolved to govern their trade to the East Indies by these two capital maxims: 1. To extend their trade all over the Indies, and to fix themselves so effectually in the richest countries as to keep all, or at least the best and most profitable part of, their commerce to themselves; 2. To make the Moluccas, and the islands dependent on them, their frontier, and to omit nothing that should appear necessary to prevent strangers, or even Dutch ships not belonging to the Company, from ever navigating those seas, and consequently from ever being acquainted with the countries that lie in them. How well they have prosecuted the first maxim has been very largely shown in a foregoing article, wherein we have an ample description of the mighty empire in the hands of their East India Company. As for the second maxim, the reader, in the perusal of Funnel's, Dampier's, and other voyages, but especially the first, must be satisfied that it is what they have constantly at heart, and which, at all events, they are determined to pursue, at least with regard to strangers; and as to their own countrymen, the usage they gave to James le Maire and his people is a proof that cannot be contested.

Those things being considered, it is very plain that the Dutch, or rather the Dutch East India Company, are fully persuaded that they have already as munch or more territory in the East Indies than they can well manage, and therefore they neither do nor ever will think of settling New Guinea, Carpentaria, New Holland, or any of the adjacent islands, till either their trade declines in the East Indies, or they are obliged to exert themselves on this side to prevent other nations from reaping the benefits that might accrue to them by their planting those countries. But this is not all; for as the Dutch have no thoughts of settling these countries themselves, they have taken all imaginable pains to prevent any relations from being published which might invite or encourage any other nation to make attempts this way; and I am thoroughly persuaded that this very account of Captain Pelsart's shipwreck would never have come into the world if it had not been thought it would contribute to this end, or, in other words, would serve to frighten other nations from approaching such an inhospitable coast, everywhere beset with rocks absolutely void of water, and inhabited by a race of savages more barbarous, and, at the same time, more miserable than any other creatures in the world.

The author of this voyage remarks, for the use of seamen, that in the little island occupied by Weybhays, after digging two pits, they were for a considerable time afraid to use the water, having found that these pits ebbed and flowed with the sea; but necessity at last constraining them to drink it, they found it did them no hurt. The reason of the ebbing and flowing of these pits was their nearness to the sea, the water of which percolated through the sand, lost its saltness, and so became potable, though it followed the motions of the ocean whence it came.