A History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia; or, an account of the progress of geographical discovery in that continent, from the earliest period to the present day

Front matter

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA. i-.m.on: rniNTin ry w. cloves and sons, Stamford street and charing cross. A HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA ; OR, AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROGRESS OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY IN THAT CONTINENT, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT DAY. ✓ BY THE Rev. JULIAN E. TENISON WOODS, FELLOW OP THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ; OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ; OP THE LINNÆAN SOCIETY ; OP THE ROYAL SOCIETY OP VICTORIA ; HON. MEM. GAW. AND V. P. PENOLA INSTITUTES, ETC. author of "geological observations in south australia," "north australia," "not quite so old as the hills," etc., etc. IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. I. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON, 14, LUDGATE HILL. MELBOURNE: H. T. DWIGHT. 1865. [37i< rigid of Translation is reserved] DEDICATION. TO HIS EXCELLENCY SIR HENRY BARKLY, K.C.B., F.R.S., Governor of the Mauritius.

Late Oovernor-in-CMef of the Colony of Victmia, President of the Royal Society, Victoria, &c, &c, &c. My Dear Sir Henry, — In reading these volumes you will see that, during the term of your government in Victoria, more has been done for exploration in Australia than during the previous twenty years. You will remark, also, that the last and most gigantic efforts have been made under the auspices of the Royal Society, of which you were so long the President. Were it for this alone, your name should justly stand at the head of a better History than mine. But on me you have a particular claim. Throughout the whole of my researches you have con stantly rendered me valuable and ready assistauce. In paying a just tribute, therefore, to your zeal in the cause of Australian exploration, let me add my own grateful acknowledgments by dedicatingthese volumes to you. Very faithfully yours, Julian E. Tenison Woods.

Preface

. I need trouble my readers with but a very few words in explanation of the object for which this history has been written. My greatest difficulty has been to give a good view of the geographical features of the colony, and while recordingthe manner in which they have been explored, to try to avoid tiresome repetition. In treating of so uniform a country as Australia, this has been no easy task. My first intention was to do no more than compile all the most important discoveries, and to let each explorer speak for himself. This would have made a very accurate, but a most unreadable book. The later explorations, especially, are recorded with a minuteness tedious beyond all conception. Those who have not tried to wade through them can form no idea how such important and interesting journeys have been made dry and repulsive by minuteness of detail.

This, of course, is valuable enough to a settler, but must close everything but the results to the general public. My endeavour has been to give a clear and condensed narrative, with TREFACE. VIII such descriptions and illustrations as I could gather from other sources. If I have succeeded, I believe that my labours will be found valuable as well as interesting beyond the limits of Australia. Certain observations and conclusions which occur from time to time I should wish to make no one responsible for but myself. Readers will easily perceive which they are, and they are left upon their own merits. If alone for the sake of apologizing for the execution of its pages, I might wish to explain the difficult circumstances under which the work has been written ; but I have no desire to obtrude purely personal matters upon the public.

I would not, however, wish my readers to think that the collection of the necessary materials for these volumes has been without trouble, or that much labour and difficulty has not been experienced in obtain ing useful details. Were I to do so, I should under rate labours not my own. I have been living in the Australian bush while writing the work, and have been obliged entirely to rely on the exertions of others to get every paper which I wanted. To the untiring, disin terested labours of a few friends, therefore, I owe every thing. Need I say how glad I am to have an opportunity of acknowledging my obligations ; and I only wish the public could know how great they are ! I have spoken of one in the dedication of the preceding page. For the rest, let me express my earnest thanks, first, to Sir D. Daly, Governor of South Australia ; secondly, to Mr. Alexander Burkitt, late of the Williamstown Obser-

PREFACE.

. IX vatory, not only for the maps and sketches which illustrate the followingpages, but also for a really terrible amount of copying, and a zeal for the success of the whole work, to which I can scarcely do justice here. To the Hon. G. M. Waterhouse ; my brother, Mr. J. D. Woods; and Mr. J. Howard Clark, of Adelaide, I owe the next debt of thanks, since, without the assistance they have rendered the volumes would not perhaps have been written. Finally, to Mr. Tulk, Curator of the Melbourne Public Library ; Rev. W. H. Clarke, F.G.S., &c, of Sydney ; Major Warburton ; B. H. Babbage, Esq., of Adelaide ; Lieut. J. S. Roe, Surveyor-General, Western Australia ; and S. P. Winter, Esq., Murndale, Wannon River, Victoria, for valuable assistance during the course of my literary labours. C 0 N T E N T S.

Chapter I. Early Voyages

PAGE Various claims to first discovery — Early voyages of the Portuguese — Discovery of Australia before 1 540 — Manoel Godina de Heredia in 1601 — The Dutch explorers — The Duyphen in 1606 — Torres later in the same year — Early Dutch voyages— Dirk Hartog in 1616 — Houtman's Abrolhos — Prevost's errors — Edells in 1619 — The Leuicin in 1622— The Pera and Arnhem in 1623— Nuyts in 1627— De Witt and Pelsart in 1628— Pool, 1636— Tasman, 1642 —The Vergulde Draeck in 1656— Dampier in 1688— Vlamingh in 1696 — Dampier again — Other Dutch navigators . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter II

cook's voyages. Cook's discoveries in 1770 — Point Hicks — Cook's observations on the east coast — Botany Bay — Encounter with the natives — Port Jackson — Broken Bay — Moreton Bay — Bustard Bay — Bay of Islets — Eockingham Bay — Cape Tribulation— Shipwreck of Cook — Endeavour Biver — The first kangaroo— Repair of the ship — Passage of the Barrier Reef — Weymouth Bay — Torres Straits ....

Chapter III. Settlement Of Sydney

French expedition under Captain Marion in 1772— Furneaux in 1 773— Cook in 1777— Settlement of Sydney by Governor Phillip in 1788 — Examination of Botany Bay — La Perouse Sydney Cove — Broken Bay — Discovery of Pittwater — Lansdown, Carmarthen, and Richmond Hills— Head of CONTENTS. XII PAGE OS 105 Sydney Harbour— Belle Vue— The Hawkesbury—Lieu tenant Dawes tries to reach the Blue Mountains — Other attempts — Vancouver discovers King George's Sound in 1791 . 54

Chapter IV

Explorations in Tasmania — Bligh — D'Entrecasteaux — The West Coast — Hayes in Tasmania — Sydney — Hacking's attempt to cross the Blue Mountains — .Bass and Flinders — The exploration of the Tom Tliumb — Bass's attempt to cross the Blue Mountains — River Grose — Mount Hunter— Bass's Strait discovered — Flinders and Bass sail round Tasmania

Chapter V

Flinders' explorations in Moreton Bay — Harvey's Bay — Grant's discoveries in the Lady Nelson — Mounts Gambler and Schanck — Cape Northumberland — Cape Bridgewater — Portland Bay — Cape Otway — Islands in Bass's Straits — Hunter's River . . . . . . . .91

Chapter VI. Flinders At The South Coast

Flinders' explorations in the Investigator — The Australian Bight — Fowler's, Streak}', and Coffin's Bays — Port Lincoln — Spencer's Gulf — Mounts Brown and Arden — Yorke's Peninsula — Kangaroo Island — Gulf St. Vincent — Mount Lofty — Cape Jervis — Encounter Bay — Flinders and Baudin's expedition — Laeepede, Guichen, and Rivoli Bays — Port Phillip ' .

Chapter VII. Flinders' Explorations

(CONCLUDED). Flinders on the North-west Coast — Broad Sound — The Barrier Eeef — Torres Straits — Carpentaria — Wellesley Islands — Sir Edward Pellew's Group — Cape Maria — Bickerton Island — Groote Eylandt — North-west Bay — Bustard Islands — Blue Mud Bay — Caledon Bay — Arnhem's Land — Melville Bay — Cape \Vilberforce — Flinders meets with Malay fishermen — Malay Boad — Return to Sydney — Flinders sails for England — Shipwreck — Imprisonment— Death — First settlement of Port Phillip, Jlobart Town, and Launcoston — Buckley the wild man — The explorations of Admiral Baudin's expedition . . . . .137 CONTENTS. XIII 191 219 246

Chapter VIII. The Blue Mountains Crossed

PAGE Barreiller and Caley fail in their attempts to cross the Blue Mountains — Description of them — Mitchell — Darwin — Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth at length cross — Evans discovers Bathurst — Campbell River — The Macquarrie River — Governor Macquarrie's journey— Evans discovers the Lachlan ........ 179

Chapter IX

oxley's explorations. The course of the Lachlan — Mount Amyot — Level Plains — Mount Cunningham — The country flooded — Explorations of the south-west — Peel's Range — Gloomy predictions of Oxley — Regains the Lachlan, and again proceeds down it — Is again stopped by marshes — Tries to reach the Macquarrie — Campbell's Lake— Emmeline's Valley — Harvey's Range — Mary's Valley— Bell's River — The Macquarrie — Wellington Valley . .......

Chapter X

oxley's second journey. Down the Macquarrie — Mount Harris — Mount Foster — Arbuthnot Range — River overflows — Immense reedy lake — Boat journey — Proceeds eastward — The Castlereagh — Floods — Mount Exmouth — llardwicke's Range — Wilsden Valley — Quicksands — Lushington's Valley — Liverpool Plains — Peel's River — Passage of the Di viding Range — Apsley River — The Hastings — Port Macquarrie — The Manning .

Chapter XI. Captain

KIlNG'S explorations. North-west Capo — Exmouth Gulf — Curlew River — Dampier's Archipelago — Goulburn Islands — Mountnorris and Raffles Bay — Port Essington — Popham Bay — Visit from the Malays — Van Diemen's Gulf — Alligator River — Melville Island — Apsley Strait — Port Hurd — Clarence Strait

Chapter XII

king's second voyage. Macquarrie Harbour and Port j\I acquarrie— Endeavour River — Cross Carpentaria — Weasel's Island — Castlereagh Bay — Livorpool River — Paterson Bay — Point Pearce — Cambridge Gulf— Cape Londonderry — Vansittart Bay — Cape Voltaire — Admiralty Gulf ...... CONTENTS. XIV PAGE 283 294 322

Chapter XIII

king's third voyage. Resumption of the survey— Montagu Sound— York Sound- Prince Frederick's Harbour — Roe's River — Coronation Islands — Port Nelson — Careening Bay — Brunswick Bay — Prince Regent's River — Mounts Trafalgar and Waterloo — The Mermaid springs a leak and returns

Chapter XIV

king's last voyage. New Ship— Bathurst Bay— Encounter with the Natives— Hanover Bay — Port George the Fourth — Cockerill Islands — Cape Leveque — Point Emerieau — Cape Baskerville — King- George's Sound — Swan River — The West Coast — Establishment at Port Cockburn .....

Chapter XV. The First Overlanders

Hume at Lake Bathurst — Stirling and Ovens discover the Maneiro Downs — Hovell and Hume — Difficult Ranges — The Murray or Hume — The Ovens — The Australian Alps — The Goulburn or Hovell — Great Dividing Range — Port Phillip 305

Chapter XVI

Cunningham's discoveries. Cunningham's discoveries — Oxley discovers the Brisbane River — Cunningham discovers the Darling Downs — The colony of Western Australia established — Consequent explorations — Stirling — Roe — Preston — Dale — Wilson — Hilton — Bannister — Moore, &c. — Visitors to the south coast

Chapter XVII. Sturt Discovers The River Darling

The Inland Lake theory — Sturt sent to explore the Macquarrie — Mount Harris — Is unable to trace the river — The Darling — Return to Mount Harris — Explores the Castlereagh — Return ........ 340

Chapter XVIII. Sturt Traces Down The Murray River

The Murrumbidgee — Junction of the Murray — The junction of the Lachlan and Darling- — Hostility of the natives — Lake Alexandrina — The Murray mouth — Great sufferings 395 402 CONTENTS. . PAGE on the return— Captain Barker — Mount Lofty— Melancholy fate of Barker — Further explorations .... 352

Chapter XIX. Mitchell On The Darling

Barber's story — Mitchell's first expedition — The Peel River — The Nammoy — Bullabalakit — The Nundawar Range — The Darling— The Gwyder — Murder by the natives — An-. other expedition — The Bogan — The Darling — Attempt to explore it in a boat — Fort Bourke — Course of the Darling — Encounter with the natives — Return .... 366

Chapter XX. Mitchell Discovers Australia Felix

Expedition to the Murray — Junction with the Darling — Hostility of the natives — Return to the Murray — The Avoca — The Grampians — Mount Arapiles — The Wimmera — The Glenelg — Portland Bay — Sierra and Victoria Ranges — Mount Sturgeon — The Pyrenees —Return to Sydney .

Chapter XXI. Early Explorations Round Adelaide And Melbourne

Settlement of Melbourne — Establishment of 4South Australia — Early explorations there — Lake Alexandrina and the Murray Mouth — Hawdon overland from Sydney to Adelaide — Eyre traces down the Wimmera — Bonney from Portland to Adelaide — Henty to Mount Gambier

Chapter XXII. Grey Upon The North-west Coast

Expedition to Hanover Bay — Landing upon the coast — Terrible adventures — Fresh survey of the interior — Arrival of the ponies — Dreadful weather — Animals begin to die — Commencement of the journey — Encounter with the natives — Grey wounded — River Glenelg — Basaltic tableland — Painted caves — Failure of the expedition — Return

Chapter XXIII. Grey Upon The West Coast

Grey starts again — Sharks Bay — Dreadful storm — The Gascoyne River — The West Coast — Detention by bad weather — Return to the depot — Robber}7 by the natives — Return to the Swan — Shipwreck of the crew — The Murchison River — The Arrowsmith — Other western streams — Dreadful sufferings — Arrival at Perth . . . . .414 CONTENTS. PAGE 426

Chapter XXIV. Stokes And Wickham's Discoveries

The Fitzroy River — The Adelaide River — The Victoria — The Fitzmaurice — The Albert — The Flinders — Discoveries by the Cedar Sawyers — The M'Leay — The Clarence — Other rivers .........

Chapter XXV. The Flinders Range And Gippsland

Eyre's exploration near Adelaide — The Flinders Range — The Broughton — The Rocky River — Mount Remarkable — Mount Eyre — Port Lincoln — Overland route to Mount Arden — Gawler Range — Baxter Range — Governor Gawler's explorations — Fate of Mr. Bryan — McMillan in Gippsland — Strzelecki in the Alps — Mount Kosciusko — Terrible journey overland to Western Port . . . REDUCED CHART OF AUSTRALIA BY VANCONOY DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA.

Chapter I. Early Voyages

Various claims to first discovery — Early voyages of the Portuguese — Discovery of Australia before the year 1540 — Manoel Godina de Heredia in 1601 — The Dutch explorers— The Duyphen in 1606 — Torres later in the same year — Early Dutch voyages — Dirk Hartog in 1616 — Houtman's Abrolhos— Pre'vost's errors— Edels in 1619— -The Leuwin in 1622— The Pera and. Arnhem in 1623 — Nuyts in 1627 — De Witt and Pelsart in 1628— Pool, 1636— Tasman, 1642— The Vergulde Dmech in 1656— Dampier in 1688 — Vlamingh in 1696 — Dampier again — Other Dutch navigators. What we designate the continent of Australia has not always been known by so euphonious and appropriate a name. To our forefathers of the last century it was spoken of as New Holland. Before that, the Dutch called it Terra Australis. The Spaniards had had a share in its nomenclature previously, and had called it Terra Australis del Espiritu Sanoto ; and in the earliest known maps it has the name of Jave la Grande.

It was Captain Flinders who settled its present appellation ; and certainly this is not the least debt the country owes him. The name is well known enough in the present day ; for the land which bears it has already had a large influence in the destinies of the world, and its future greatness is already dimly fore seen. It has even been called the empire of the antipodes. This, however, is an exaggeration. Having in all its wide extent a population of little more than a VOL. I. B DISCOVER" AND EXPLORATION OP AUSTRALIA. 2 third that of London, it is premature to call it an empire, or to look upon it, with all its rapid progress, as more than a promising colony, which administers its own laws now, and may by-and-by be able to protect itself. No one, however, can doubt that the continent is large and of immense importance in the geography of the world; and yet,* great as it is, its discoverer is unknown, and the date of the discovery only guessed at.

There are two reasons to be assigned for this. The early voyages to the continent were made by the Portuguese and Dutch. What the Spanish did was very little, and they carefully concealed it. What the Portuguese did has unaccountably become lost. It seems that the latter were most jealous of their dis coveries, probably lest other nations should monopolize them ; and it is asserted that the punishment of death was threatened against any one who should export cer tain charts from the kingdom. No wonder, then, that we can get no record from them. But with the Dutch the case is different. It used to be asserted that they most selfishly kept their geographical knowledge to themselves ; but it appears that this is untrue. Many geographical works were published, under the direction of the Dutch East India Company, in the commencement of the 17th century, and any new voyage of interest was freely made public.

Discoveries of smaller importance were not made known, probably for the same reasons that some stujud books are not published now. They would not sell. The most enthusiastic admirer of Australia must admit that all of the coast which the Dutch were likely to have seen — namely, from Sharks' Bay round to Cape Leveque — would not form a theme for any lively description. The shore is almost an uninterrupted succession of low, barren sand-hills, destitute of grass and water, without any higher land appearing over them. Neither were the natives particularly interesting. They were naked and extremely shy ; 'so that if a Dutchman did succeed in labouring over the sand hills to get a nearer view of the savages, he only got some of their rude implements of warfare, and these were thrown at him. No wonder, then, that such voyages were not published.

Many of them still remain buried in the archives of the East India Com pany, or contained in that huge mausoleum of papers which that once famous institution has left at the Hague as a monument to its memory. It will likewise want great explorers and energetic men to draw thence the record of voyages so long lost, of which it may be said, as of the Herculanean papyri : — Sed quam non motus terræ valuere nee ignes, Perdere, scriptoris pagina dira valet : En iterum tetris misere tot mersa minis, Boyardi in libro tota sepulta jacet. But sometimes Dutch captains made the discovery of Australia in a most unpleasant manner, by finding it under the ship's keel when they least expected it. In this case, the shipwreck which ensued was always of sufficient interest to secure publication, and thus we have the record of some voyages which would other wise have been lost.

They will appear as this work proceeds. Having, therefore, given some of the causes of the uncertainty on the subject, the earliest known records are submitted to the reader. Some suspicion of a southern land would seem to have existed among the ancients, from remarkable passages in the writings of Seneca, Theopompus, and Manilius. The first merely speaks of later days when Oceanus shall relax the bonds of the universe, and a new earth and new orbs shall be discovered. Theopompus relates a conversation between a demi-god and a mortal, the former of whom speaks of lands existing outside the ocean which circumscribes Europe, Asia, and Libya, where men are twice our stature, and there are big animals and mighty beasts. Manilius distinctly speaks of a habitable part of the southern hemisphere, which part, he says, lies under our feet.

What makes this quotation more remarkable is, that in it he is speaking of the spherical form of the earth.* • For the most of the facts and quotations in this chapter I am indebted to Mr. Major's admirable and learned work, " Early Voyages to Terra Aus tralis," published by the Hakluyt Society. * B DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OP AUSTRALIA. 4 But I apprehend that no one will regard these passages as more than happy guesses, or the mere legends of poetry. It might be interesting to speculate how it would be possible for the truth of Australia's existence to percolate from the savages of one nation to another, but more than speculation it could never be. It is useless, therefore, to pursue it further. Neither need we mention other Greek and Latin authors from whom such legends have arisen. A claim is made on behalf of the Chinese for the discovery of the Australian continent at a very remote period.

Marco Polo gives a description of some large island lying to the south-east of Java, the particulars of which, it is presumed, he learned in the Celestial Empire. Mr. Marsden, the translator of Marco Polo, and after him Mr. Major, have shown that the coun tries referred to were islands in the Indian archipelago. The next claim is as easily disposed of. It is made on behalf of Binot Paulmier de Gonneville, who sailed from Honfleur in 1503, on a voyage to the South Seas. It appears that he rounded the Cape of Good Hope in safety, and was then overtaken by a storm, which caused him to lose all knowledge of where he was. When a calm returned, he steered southward. This course brought him to a land where he remained six months, and then returned to France, bringing with him one of the inhabitants.

The ship was plundered by an English corsair on its return, so that the journals were lost ; but a declaration was made by De Gonne ville and his officers as to the facts of their voyage, and sent to the Admiralty of France. Many years after, the great-grandson of the native brought to Europe on this voyage, petitioned the Pope to be allowed to form an expedition for the conversion of the natives of the country of his ancestors. The account of the voyage, printed with the peti tion, is the only narrative on the subject now extant. Many have supposed that the country thus visited was Australia ; but this view is quite untenable, for a simple reason : De Gonneville describes the inhabitants of his new country as being already far advanced in civilization ; and this could in no degree apply to any portion of Australia.

There is one more claim to be disposed of before coming to the real discoveries of the continent. It is made on behalf of Magalhaens as one of the results of his celebrated voyage round the world, made in 1520, in the ship Vittoria. The assertion was made in 1855 by Aldama Ayula, of Madrid, and he pointed for a confirmation of his views to a magnificently illuminated map, made in 1570 by Vaz Domado, and formerly preserved in the Carthusian monastery of Evora. At the request of Mr. Major, Dr. John Martin has recently examined that map. He states that it contains no land laid down to the south of New Guinea ; but that, separated from the rest of the chart by the bordering scale of parallels of latitude, there is a line of coast running from west to east, with a little southing. Supposing that the whole sheet were meant to constitute one, map, this could not be Australia, for it lies north-east of New Guinea ; neither is there any land known which would at all correspond to it in that position, especially with such large rivers as the chart represents it to have.

It is supposed, therefore, to be a marginal map of the coast of the Magellan Straits, and some of the names correspond with that locality. Subsequent chartographers mistook it for a chart of the north coast of New Guinea, and hence, in all subsequent maps, the latter island has upon its north side all the names of Magalhaens' chart.* For a long time the world was accustomed to believe that the continent was first seen by Abel Tasman in 1642, and this is asserted in nearly every work upon the subject, published up to the time of Flinders. A better acquaintance with geographical writers made the public aware that the date of the discovery was some years earlier. At last it seemed to be agreed that the Gulf of Carpentaria was the first part of Australia seen by the Dutch, sometime about * Msigalhaens was a Portuguese.

The Spaniards call him Mag-ilhanes, and the French. M-igellan, which latter name is always used with reference to the Straits discovered by him. See " Hawksworth's Coll. Voy." Lond., 1773. the month of March, 1606, beating the Spaniard Torres (of Quiros' expedition) by five months only. Then the inquiry was thought to be set at rest. Probably it would have ended there but for Mr. Major, whose investigations have placed the discovery still further back, and given the honour to the Portuguese. The facts are briefly as follow : — Six very ancient maps are in existence, on which, immediately below Java, and separated from it by a narrow strait (evidently an imaginary and not a surveyed line), a large continent is laid down, whose general outline in some degree corresponds with the coast of Australia.

The earliest of these maps is in the British Museum, presented thereto by Sir Joseph Banks. It formerly belonged to Harley, Earl of Oxford. Two of the others are also in the British Museum, and all the six seem to be copies of a French one ; but the names of the geographical features where they are marked are, with few exceptions, Portuguese. Some of the charts bear the clearest internal evi dence of having been made prior to the year 1540, and therefore the discovery of the land referred to must have preceded that time. The names of the geo graphical features being in Portuguese, leaves very little doubt as to the country of the discoverers, but it has not been clearly ascertained why all the maps extant on the subject should have come from French sources. No one, however, can look at the maps without being struck with the discrepancy between the Aus tralia there depicted and what we know it to be in fact.

The explanation of this is best given by Mr. Major, who says : " With respect to longitude, it may be advanced, that with all the discrepancies observed in the maps here presented, there is no other country but Australia, lying between the same parallel and of the same extent, between the east coast of Africa and the west coast of America, and that Australia does in reality lie between the same meridians, as the great mass of the country here laid down." * * " Early Voyages to Terra Australis." It may therefore be considered established that Australia was discovered by the Portuguese prior to 1540, and was known among them as Great Java or Terra Australis. Lest any doubt should remain upon this head, Mr. Major cites also the following passage from C. Wytfliet's " Descriptions Ptolemaicæ Augmen tum Louain," 1598 : — " The Australis Terra is the most southern of all lands, and is separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait.

Its shores are hitherto but little known, since after one voyage and another that route has been deserted, and seldom is the country visited, unless when sailors are driven there by storms. The Australis Terra begins at two or three degrees from the equator, and is ascertained by some to be of so great an extent, that if it were thoroughly explored, it would be regarded as a fifth part of the world." But who was the discoverer ? This has not been ascertained, but many ingenious theories have been suggested. It should be remarked that Mr. Major was not the first to draw attention to these maps as furnish ing information of an earlier discovery of Australia. They were alluded to by Flinders, and in 1807 they formed the subject of a paper read before the French Institute by M. Barbie du Bocage.

On this occasion he pointed out ' that the charts were known to exist in England, and probably furnished some hints to Captain Cook as to the direction in which he was to steer. He then enters into an elaborate essay ; first, to show why the discovery of the continent remained a secret, and secondly, to prove that Gomez de Sequiera, a Spaniard, was the person who made it. The second point of the argument is very ably disposed of by Mr. Major, who shows that Gomez never was near the locality in question. But the first part is more probable. M. du Bocage undertakes to show why the Portuguese kept their discovery a secret. He says that an arbitrary line had been agreed upon between the Spanish and Portuguese governments to prevent the discoveries of either nation entrenching upon the limits of what they considered their respective properties.

The Portuguese had recently obtained the Moluccas from the Spanish Crown,_ thereby tacitly acknowledging the right of the Spaniards to the area in which Australia lies. When the latter was dis covered, they were anxious, of course, to make use of it for themselves ; but as this was impossible just then, they kept its existence a secret. Probably also they feared that in such a large extent of country a settlement might be made for trading purposes by another nation, and thereby considerably injure their recent acquisition in the Moluccas. This is the only explana tion that has been offered. Certainly it is not quite satisfactory, but the circumstance is hardly of considerable importance. It is singular that one of these maps should contain French equivalents for three names given by Cook to the same places on the east coast.