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mighty power consequent upon it had made her in the sixteenth century a successful rival of Portugal in the eastern trade. With the new era, however, the glory of Spain was rapidly to wane, and the nation so long trodden under the Spanish heel was not only to become free but to challenge both her naval and commercial supremacy.

The long-striven-for and hardly-won independence of the Netherlands had roused all the strength and energy of the people, and the dogged determination that had ended Spanish oppression found continued opportunity in the desire to lift Holland to a proud position among the nations. The northern provinces were free, but Spain had for the time regained control of the southern, and had made her implacable hatred felt by repeated acts of cruelty, from which many of the inhabitants sought relief in flight. Among these were a number of Antwerp merchants who had for many years been indirectly connected with the trade to the Indies. The opposition of these men was strengthened by two of the most potent of human passions—the bitter hatred of exiles and the fanatic attachment to religious faith. They saw that Spain could best be crippled by curtailing her overseas trade or by depriving her of it altogether, and that in the result the southern provinces might be freed and the Protestant faith strengthened.

This, at first the idea of a few, gained general support when the Spaniards forbade Dutch traffic with Spain, which even during the wars had never altogether ceased. Geography, hydrography, and navigation became subjects of earnest study, and schools were formed with the express purpose of endeavouring to find a way to India and other Spanish possessions. The outcome of this movement was the foundation in 1602 of the Dutch East India Company, under whose flag many important voyages and discoveries were to be made.

Of the Dutch voyages prior to this time no certain information is available. The English Ambassador at the Hague in the time of Charles 11., Sir William Temple, gave it as his opinion that "a southern continent has long since been found out," which he said was "as long as Java and is marked on the maps by the name of New Holland, but to what extent the land extends, either to the south, the east, or the west, we do not know." To the same authority we are indebted for the declaration that the Dutch East India Company "have long since forbidden, and under the greatest penalties, any further attempts at discovering that continent, having already more trade than they can turn to account, and fearing some more populous nation of Europe might make great establishments of trade in some of these unknown regions, which might ruin or impair what they have already in the Indies." This statement has been vigorously denied by the Dutch, but the fact remains that of the voyages made by the Company little was known until the publication of the instructions issued by the Governor-General of Batavia to Tasman on his second voyage in 1644. This curious document was found by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770 when turning over the old archives at Batavia, and was published by Sir Alexander Dalrymple in his "Collections Concerning Papua." From it we learn that in 1606 the "Duyfhen" made the first authenticated discovery of that great land which at the instance of the famous navigator, Matthew Flinders, is now designated Australia. The captain of this vessel, whose name is not known, prepared a careful chart of the voyage, showing that he sailed along the coast of New Guinea, then went southward along the coast of Cape York Peninsula to Cape Keer-Weer ("Turn again"), but was prevented from landing even for water owing to the cruel and treacherous nature of the savages, who murdered some