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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.Major, Richard Henry

History

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.

Name: 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.
Author: Major, Richard Henry

Major, Richard Henry

Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Discoveries in geography -- Portuguese; Voyages and travels

Barbosa Machado calls him a distinguished mathematician; and Figaniere,
a cosmographer resident at Goa. It follows as a most likely consequence
that the original map was made by himself. The copy came from Madrid,
and was purchased by the British Museum in 1848, from the Señor de
Michelena y Roxas. It will be matter of interest to discover at some
future day the existence of the original map, but whether that be in the
library at Madrid, or elsewhere, must be a subject for future inquiry.

In a scarce pamphlet entitled “Informacāo de Aurea Chersoneso, ou
Peninsula e das Ilhas Auriferas, Carbunculas e Aromaticas, ordenada por
Manoel Godinho de Eredia, Cosmographo,” translated from an ancient MS.
and edited by Antonio Lourenço Caminha, in a reprint of the “Ordenacōes
da India, do Senhor Rei D. Manoel,” Lisbon, Royal Press, 1807, 8vo.,
occurs a passage which may be translated as follows:—

“_Island of Gold._ While the fishermen of Lamakera in the Island of
Solor[45] were engaged in their fishing, there arose so great a tempest
that they were utterly unable to return to the shore, and thus they
yielded to the force of the storm, which was such, that, in five days,
it took them to the Island of Gold, which lies in the sea on the
opposite coast, or coast outside of Timor, which properly is called the
Southern Coast. When the fishermen reached the Land of Gold, not having
eaten during those days of the tempest, they set about seeking for
provisions. Such happy and successful good fortune had they, that, while
they were searching the country for yams and batatas, they lighted on so
much gold, that they loaded their boat so that they could carry no more.
After taking in water and the necessary supplies for returning to their
native country, they experienced another storm, which took them to the
Island of Great Ende;[46] there they landed all their gold, which
excited great jealousy amongst the Endes. These same Endes therefore
proposed, like the Lamacheres fishermen, to repeat the voyage; and, when
they were all ready to start, both the Endes and Lamacheres, there came
upon them so great a trepidation that they did not dare, on account of
their ignorance, to cross that Sea of Gold.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

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.

Major, Richard Henry

Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Discoveries in geography -- Portuguese; Voyages and travels

Barbosa Machado calls him a distinguished mathematician; and Figaniere,
a cosmographer resident at Goa. It follows as a most likely consequence
that the original map was made by himself. The copy came from Madrid,
and was purchased by the British Museum in 1848, from the Señor de
Michelena y Roxas. It will be matter of interest to discover at some
future day the existence of the original map, but whether that be in the
library at Madrid, or elsewhere, must be a subject for future inquiry.

In a scarce pamphlet entitled “Informacāo de Aurea Chersoneso, ou
Peninsula e das Ilhas Auriferas, Carbunculas e Aromaticas, ordenada por
Manoel Godinho de Eredia, Cosmographo,” translated from an ancient MS.
and edited by Antonio Lourenço Caminha, in a reprint of the “Ordenacōes
da India, do Senhor Rei D. Manoel,” Lisbon, Royal Press, 1807, 8vo.,
occurs a passage which may be translated as follows:—

“_Island of Gold._ While the fishermen of Lamakera in the Island of
Solor[45] were engaged in their fishing, there arose so great a tempest
that they were utterly unable to return to the shore, and thus they
yielded to the force of the storm, which was such, that, in five days,
it took them to the Island of Gold, which lies in the sea on the
opposite coast, or coast outside of Timor, which properly is called the
Southern Coast. When the fishermen reached the Land of Gold, not having
eaten during those days of the tempest, they set about seeking for
provisions. Such happy and successful good fortune had they, that, while
they were searching the country for yams and batatas, they lighted on so
much gold, that they loaded their boat so that they could carry no more.
After taking in water and the necessary supplies for returning to their
native country, they experienced another storm, which took them to the
Island of Great Ende;[46] there they landed all their gold, which
excited great jealousy amongst the Endes. These same Endes therefore
proposed, like the Lamacheres fishermen, to repeat the voyage; and, when
they were all ready to start, both the Endes and Lamacheres, there came
upon them so great a trepidation that they did not dare, on account of
their ignorance, to cross that Sea of Gold.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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.

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.

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