A Voyage to Terra Australis. Matthew Flinders

been marked from conjecture alone. But, combining this with the exaggerated extent of Great Java in a southern direction, and the animals and houses painted upon the shores, such as have not been any where seen in Terra Australis, it should appear to have been partly formed from vague information, collected, probably, by the early Portuguese navigators, from the eastern nations; and that conjecture has done the rest. It may, at the same time, be admitted, that a part of the west and north-west coasts, where the coincidence of form is most striking, might have been seen by the Portuguese themselves, before the year 1540, in their voyages to, and from, India.

      [* A more particular account of these charts, now in the British Museum, will be found in Captain Burney's "History of Discoveries in the South Sea." Vol. I. p. 379-383. An opinion is there expressed concerning the early discoveries in these regions, which is entitled to respectful attention.]

      But quitting those claims to original discovery, in which conjecture bears so large a share, we come to such as are supported by undeniable documents. Before entering upon these, it is proper to premise, that, instead of following precisely the order of time, these discoveries will be classed under the heads of the different coasts upon which they were made: an arrangement which will obviate the confusion that would arise from being carried back from one coast to another, as must, of necessity, be the case, were the chronological order to be strictly followed.

      The discoveries made in Terra Australis, prior to the Investigator's voyage, will, therefore, be divided into four Sections, under the following heads: 1. The NORTH COAST; 2. The WESTERN COASTS; 3. The SOUTH COAST; and, 4. The EAST COAST with VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. But the articles in the fourth Section, being numerous and more extensive, will be divided into two parts: PART I. will contain the early discoveries, and such of the later, as were made independently of the British colony in New South Wales; and PART II. those which were made in vessels sent from that colony; and which may be considered as a consequence of its establishment.

      PRIOR DISCOVERIES IN TERRA AUSTRALIS.

       Table of Contents

SECTION I. NORTH COAST.

       Table of Contents

      Preliminary Remarks:

      Discoveries of the Duyfhen; of

      Torres;

      Carstens;

      Pool;

      Pietersen;

      Tasman; and of

      three Dutch vessels.

      Of Cook;

      M'Cluer;

      Bligh;

      Edwards;

      Bligh and Portlock; and

      Bampton and Alt.

      Conclusive Remarks.

      PRELIMINARY REMARKS

      The late Hydrographer to the Admiralty, ALEXANDER DALRYMPLE, Esq., in his curious Collection concerning PAPUA, published, with a translation, a paper which furnishes more regular and authentic accounts of the early Dutch discoveries in the East, than any thing with which the public was before acquainted. This interesting paper was procured by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks; and is a copy of the instructions to commodore ABEL JANSZ TASMAN, for his second voyage of discovery: It is dated January 29, 1644, from the Castle of Batavia, and signed by the governor-general ANTONIO VAN DIEMEN, and by Vander Lyn, Maatsuyker, Schouten, and Sweers, members of the council. The instructions are prefaced with a recital, in chronological order, of the previous discoveries of the Dutch, whether made from accident or design, in NOVA GUINEA, and the Great SOUTH LAND; and from this account, combined with a passage from Saris,* it appears, that--

      THE DUYFHEN. 1606.

      On the 18th of November 1605, the Dutch yacht, the Duyfhen, was dispatched from Bantam to explore the islands of New Guinea; and that she sailed along, what was thought to be, the west side of that country, to 13¾° of south latitude. "This extensive country was found, for the greatest part, desert; but, in some places, inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages; by whom some of the crew were murdered. For which reason they could not learn anything of the land, or waters, as had been desired of them; and, from want of provisions and other necessaries, they were obliged to leave the discovery unfinished: The furthest point of the land, in their map, was called Cape KEER-WEER," or Turn-again.

      (ATLAS, Pl. I.)

      The course of the Duyfhen, from New Guinea, was southward, along the islands on the west side of Torres' Strait, to that part of Terra Australis, a little to the west and south of Cape York; but all these lands were thought to be connected, and to form the west coast of New Guinea. Thus, without being conscious of it, the commander of the Duyfhen made the first authenticated discovery of any part of the great South Land, about the month of March 1606; for it appears, that he had returned to Banda in, or before, the beginning of June, of that year.

      TORRES 1606

      LUIS VAES DE TORRES, a Spanish navigator, was the next person who saw Terra Australis; and it is remarkable, that it was near the same place, and in the same year; and that he had as little knowledge of the nature of his discovery, as had the Duyfhen.

      Torres was second in command to Pedro Fernandez de Quiros; when he sailed with three vessels, from the port of Callao in Peru, in the year 1605. One of the purposes of their expedition was to search for the TIERRA AUSTRAL; a continent which was supposed to occupy a considerable portion of that part of the southern hemisphere lying westward of America.

      After the discovery of several islands, Quiros came to a land which he named AUSTRALIA DEL ESPIRITU SANTO, supposing it to be a part of the great Southern Continent; but this, on his separation from the admiral, Torres found could be no other than an island; and then continued his course westward, in prosecution of the research.

      About the month of August 1606, and in latitude 11½° south, he fell in with a coast, which he calls "the beginning of New Guinea;" and which appears to have been the south-eastern part of the land, afterwards named Louisiade, by Mons. DE BOUGAINVILLE, and now known to be a chain of islands. Unable to pass to windward of this land, Torres bore away along its south side; and gives, himself, the following account of his subsequent proceedings.

      "We went along 300 leagues of coast, as I have mentioned, and diminished the latitude 2½°, which brought us into 9°. From hence we fell in with a bank of from 3 to 9 fathoms, which extends along the coast above 180 leagues. We went over it along the coast to 7½ S. latitude, and the end of it is in 5°. We could not go further on for the many shoals and great currents, so we were obliged to sail S. W. in that depth to 11°. S. latitude. There is all over it an archipelago of islands without number, by which we passed, and at the end of the 11th degree, the bank became shoaler. Here were very large islands, and there appeared more to the southward: they were inhabited by black people, very corpulent, and naked: their arms were lances, arrows, and clubs of stone ill fashioned. We could not get any of their arms. We caught in all this land 20 persons of different nations, that with them we might be able to give a better account to Your Majesty. They give much notice of other people, although as yet they do not make themselves well understood.

      "We were upon this bank two months, at the end of which time we found ourselves in 25 fathoms, and in 5° S. latitude, and 10 leagues from the coast. And having gone 480 leagues, here the coast goes to the N. E. I did not reach it, for the bank became very shallow. So we stood to the north."*

      [* See the letter of Torres, dated Manila, July 12, 1607, in Vol. II. Appendix, No I. to Burney's "History of Discoveries in the South Sea;" from which interesting work this sketch of Torres' voyage is extracted.]

      It cannot be doubted, that the