The Council of the Dutch East India Company thought proper, in 1642, to order a complete and precise survey of the lands accidentally discovered during the previous fifty years by vessels trading between Holland and Batavia, in Java. These had touched, at intervals, at numerous points upon the continental island of New Holland,--Hertog at Endracht's Land in 1616, and De Witt, Van Nuyts, and Carpenter at other points, somewhat later. It was eminently desirable that a scientific navigator should visit and render an account of this region, of which only casual glimpses had thus far been obtained. Captain Abel Jansen Tasman was intrusted with this duty by Van Diemen, Governor-General of the Company. He left Batavia in August with two vessels, the Zeehaan and the Heemskirk, and proceeded towards the south and southeast. During this portion of the voyage the needle was in such continual agitation, unwilling to remain in any of the eight points and boxing the whole compass in twenty-four hours, that Tasman was led to believe large mines of loadstone to exist in the vicinity. On the 24th of November he discovered land, and gave to it the name of Van Diemen's Land,--a name which it has retained, though in honor of its discoverer it is often, of late years, called Tasmania. He saw no inhabitants, though he fancied he heard human voices. He noticed two trees, fifteen feet in girth and sixty feet in height from the ground to the branches. Up the trunks of these trees steps, five feet apart, had been cut in the bark. By these the natives, apparently of prodigious size, had climbed into the foliage and robbed the birds' nests of their eggs. Though a sound resembling that of a trumpet had been heard, though tracks of wild beasts were fresh in the sand, and though smoke ascended from the interior in several places, no living creature was seen. Tasman set up a post, upon which every man of the company cut his name, and upon the top of which a flag was hoisted, and then set out in quest of the Solomon Islands, which he supposed to lie to the east. On the 13th of September he discovered a high, mountainous country, to which he gave the name of Staten Land,--Land of the States, [of Holland.] Its present name is New Zealand. He coasted along the shore to the northeast, and anchored in a fine bay, though he did not disembark. The savages, who were shy at first, at last ventured on board the Heemskirk, in order to trade. Tasman, suspicious of their intentions, sent a boat with seven men from the Zeehaan, to put the crew of his consort upon their guard. These seven men, being without arms, were attacked: three of them were killed, and the other four forced to swim for their lives. The two vessels opened their fire upon the canoes of the islanders, and Tasman branded the spot with a name which still exists upon the charts,--Murderers' Bay. [Illustration: MURDERERS' BAY.]