," etc. Besides, the voyage
was apt to last very long. In 1611, however, certain ships going from the
Netherlands to India followed another route: directly after leaving the
Cape they ran on an eastern course (in about 36 deg. S. Lat.) for a
considerable time, after which they tried to navigate to Java on a
northerly course. The commander of these ships, the subsequent
Governor-General {Page xiv} Hendrik Brouwer, wrote to the Managers of the
E.I.C. about "this fairway" in highly laudatory terms. They adopted the
idea suggested by Brouwer, of henceforth prescribing this route in the
instructions for the commanders and skippers sailing for the Indies,
leaving them a certain scope certainly as regards the latitude in which
the said easterly course was to be followed, and the degree of longitude
up to which it was to be kept. As early as the beginning of 1613 such a
route was enjoined on the ships' captains by the Managers of the E.I.C.
The ship Eendracht also was directed to follow this course: she ran so
far to eastward as to come upon the west-coast of Australia, and the same
thing happened to subsequent vessels.

Although in the sense thus indicated we must here speak of _acczdental_
discoveries on the west-coast, yet the Dutch authorities were fully aware
of the importance of such discoveries. As early as 1618, the Managers of
the E.I.C. were considering the possibility of "discovering the Southern
Lands in passing," and in a letter of September 9, 1620, with reference
to "the discovery of a vast land, situated south of Java...by the ship
Eendracht", etc., they expressly enjoined the G.-G. and Counc. to
dispatch a ship for the purpose of "resuming this work with some hope of
success." The lands discovered were to be mapped out, and efforts made to
ascertain "the situation and condition of the country, its productions,
what commodities it yields, the character of the natives, their mode of
life, etc."

The Managers had not preached to deaf ears: the direction of the
Company's affairs in India was at that time in the hands of Jan
Pieternoon Coen, who, being himself strongly disposed in favour of
extending the Dutch connections with the East [*], eagerly embraced the
idea thus suggested, as is proved by the instructions, dated September
29, 1622, for the ships Haring and Hazewind, "destined for the discovery
of the South-land". [**] Thus we see that one of the projects
contemplated by the Dutch authorities certainly was