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Early Voyages to Terra Australis

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Early Voyages to Terra Australis (1859)
by Richard Henry Major
140849Early Voyages to Terra Australis1859Richard Henry Major

WORKS ISSUED BY


The Hakluyt Society.



EARLY VOYAGES TO TERRA AUSTRALIS,

NOW CALLED AUSTRALIA.


M DCCC.LIX.



EARLY VOYAGES

TO

TERRA AUSTRALIS,

NOW CALLED

AUSTRALIA:


A COLLECTION OF DOCUMENTS, AND EXTRACTS FROM EARLY MANUSCRIPT MAPS,
ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HISTORY OF DISCOVERY
ON THE COASTS OF THAT VAST ISLAND.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
TO THE TIME OF CAPTAIN COOK.


Edited, with an introduction, by

R. H. MAJOR, Esq., F.S.A.


"Austrinis pars est habitabilis oris,
Sub pedibusque jacet nostris."
Manilius, Astronomicon, lib. i, lin. 257-8.


LONDON:

PRINTED FOR THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.


M.DCCC.LIX.



LONDON:
T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET.



THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.


SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, G.C.St.S., F.R.S., D.C.L., Corr. Mem. Inst. F.,

Hon. Mem. Imp. Acad. Sc. St. Petersburg, &c., &c., President.
The MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE. }Vice-Presidents.
Rear-Admiral C. R. DRINKWATER BETHUNE, C.B.

JOHN BARROW, Esq.

Rt. Hon. LORD BROUGHTON.

The LORD ALFRED SPENCER CHURCHILL.

CHARLES WENTWORTH DILKE, Esq., F.S.A.

Rt. Hon. Sir DAVID DUNDAS.

Sir HENRY ELLIS, K.H., F.R.S.

JOHN FORSTER, Esq.

Lieut.-Gen. CHARLES RICHARD FOX.

R. W. GREY, Esq., M.P.

EGERTON HARCOURT, Esq.

JOHN WINTER JONES, Esq , F.S.A.

His Excellency the COUNT DE LAVRADIO.

R. H. MAJOR, Esq., F.S.A.

The EARL OF SHEFFIELD.

Rt. Hon. LORD TAUNTON.


CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, Esq., Honorary Secretary.



TO

SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON,

G.C.St.S, D.C.L., F.R.S.,

ETC., ETC., ETC.


Dear Sir Roderick,

You have kindly permitted me to dedicate to you this result of my investigations respecting the early explorations of Australia. To none can a book on such a subject be more appropriately offered than to yourself. To you geographers are pre-eminently indebted for the promotion of Australian exploration in recent times, while your ever-memorable scientific anticipation of the discovery of the Australian gold fields must connect your name inseparably with the history of a country, whose future greatness can be foreseen, but cannot be estimated.

I remain,

Dear Sir Roderick,

With much respect,

Yours very faithfully,

R H. MAJOR.

British Museum,

August, 1859.



Not listed on the contents page:

Introduction

i


CONTENTS.


A Memorial Addressed to his Catholic Majesty Philip the Third, King of Spain by Dr. Juan Luis Arias, respecting the exploration, colonization, and conversion of the Southern Land, translated from the Spanish original 1
Relation of Luis Vaez de Torres, concerning the discoveries of Quiros, as his Almirante. Dated Manila, July 12, 1607, a translation, nearly literal, by Alexander Dalrymple, Esq., from a Spanish manuscript copy in his possession, reprinted from App. to vol. ii of Burney's "Discoveries in the South Sea" 31
Extract from the Book of Dispatches from Batavia; commencing January the 15th, 1644, and ending November the 29th following, reprinted from Dalrymple's "Collections Concerning Papua" 43
The Voyage and Shipwreck of Captain Francis Pelsart, in the "Batavia," on the coast of New Holland, and his succeeding adventures, translated from Thevenot's "Recueil de Voyages Curieux" 59
Voyage of Gerrit Thomasz Pool to the South Land. Translated from Valentyn's "Beschryvinge van Banda" 75
Account of the Wreck of the Ship "De Vergulde Draeck" on the South Land, and the expeditions undertaken, both from Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope, in search of the survivors and money and goods which might be found on the wreck, and of the small success which attended them. Extracted from MS. documents at the Hague, and translated from the Dutch 77
Description of the West Coast of the South Land by Captain Samuel Volkersen, of the pink "Waeckende Boey," which sailed from Batavia on the 1st of January 1658, and returned on the 19th of April of the same year. Extracted from MS. Documents at the Hague and translated from the Dutch 89
Extract translated from Burgomaster Witsen's "Noord En Oost Tartarye" 91
Account of the Observations of Captain William Dampier on the coast of New Holland, in 1687-88, being an extract from his "New Voyage round the World" 99
Extract from Sloan MS., 3235, entitled "The Adventures of William Dampier, with others (1686-87), who left Captain Sherpe in the South Seas, and travaled back over land through the country of Darien" 108
Some Particulars Relating to the Voyage of Willem de Vlamingh to New Holland in 1696. Extracted from. MS. Documents at the Hague and translated from the Dutch 112
Extract from the Journal of a Voyage Made to the Unexplored South Land, by order of the Dutch East India Company, in the years 1696 and 1697, by the hooker "De Nyptang," the ship "De Geelvink," and the galiot "De Wesel," and the return to Batavia. From MS. Documents at the Hague: translated from the Dutch 120
Account of the Observations of Captain William Dampier on the coast of New Holland, in 1699, being an extract from "a Voyage to New Holland, etc., in the year 1699" 134
A Written Detail of the Discoveries and Noticeable Occurrences in the voyage of the fluyt "Vossenbosch," the sloop "D'Waijer," and the patsjallang "Nova Hollandia," despatched by the government of India, anno 1705, from Batavia by way of Timor to New Holland. From MS. Documents at the Hague: translated from the Dutch 165
The Houtman's Abrolhos in 1727, translated from a publication entitled "De Houtman's Abrolhos", by Captain P. A. Loupe, of the Dutch Navy 176


Not listed on the contents page:

Supplement: On the discovery of Australia by the Portuguese

205



INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BINDER.




The Maps to be placed in the following order.

Jave la Grande to face page xxvii.
The Londe of Java " page xxix.
Tasman's Track " page xcvii.
Coast visited by the Waeckende Boey and Emeloort, two maps " page 81.
Terra Australis " page 200.