Page:Tasman A Forgotten Navigator.djvu/12

 This, although rather a circular course for the South land, and if imitated would not be approved of by the modern shipowner, was under the conditions, the best track that could have been followed. It enabled Tasman to take a great sweep of the Southern Ocean, and gave him fair winds shortly after leaving Mauritius.

On his run from Batavia across the Indian Ocean, he had apparently no means of knowing his longitude, unless by what is termed dead reckoning, and which can never be depended on after a few days' run. He therefore adopted the usual plan of that time, and also of long afterwards, of getting into the latitude of his destination, and then running on that parallel until arrival.

Tasman's longitudes, as might be expected, were very far from being correct. In his journal he says, "By our reckoning, we were still 200 miles east of Mauritius when we saw it," That is, he had over-run his distance, by dead reckoning, an average of 9 miles every 24 hours, but his ships, for the greater part of the way, were under the favouring influence of the Equatorial current, the extent and influence of which he was probably ignorant.

The island of Mauritius was at this time a Dutch possession. When discovered, in 1507, by the Portuguese, it was uninhabited, and showed no traces of ever having been the abode of man. Its fauna was meagre, for it only contained one mammal, a large fruit-eating bat.

It is interesting to know that this small island was the home of that celebrated but now extinct bird, the Dodo. This curious bird is described by naturalists as a massive, clumsy, and defenceless creature; about as large as a swan; covered with downy feathers; having a very strong hooked bill; short, stout legs; a short tail, and wings too small for flight. Intimacy with Europeans has not been favourable to many of the native races, human or otherwise. The Dodo was no exception to this rule, for about forty years after Tasman’s visit it became extinct.

Forests of ebony were then plentiful in the island. Since then it has been largely cleared, to make room for the more profitable sugar-cane. Tasman tells us that while lying here he received news of a certain French vessel being in the neighbourhood. Thereupon certain of his crew were despatched to the north-west of the island, being suspicious that the Frenchman intended to cut ebony, which would not be allowed. Evidently freetrade was not a popular belief in those days. We read in Tasman's journal that during his stay here every preparation was made for their great voyage to the unknown land.

The crews were sent on shore to assist the huntsmen in catching game for present and future use. The position and rating of