Resuming his voyage in an easterly direction, Tasman sighted the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand on the 13th of December of the same year, and describes the coast-line as consisting of " high mountainous country."
Grande Terre or South Island forms three-fifths of the circumference.
Australia possesses fields of great value, principally in the south-east (New South Wales and Victoria), and in New Zealand considerable quantities of coal and lignite are raised, chiefly in South Island.
In South Island there are hot pools and a state sanatorium at Hanmer Plains.
To pass Cook Strait and land in the middle province of South Island is to pass from Portugal to Switzerland, a Switzerland, however, with a seacoast that in the east centre is a dull fringe of monotonous sand dunes or low cliffs.
