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.
Major, Richard Henry
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Discoveries in geography -- Portuguese; Voyages and travels
This termination of the quarrel on the part of Portugal was a
justification of the claims of the Spaniards, and an acknowledgment
in some sort that the Moluccas were in their hemisphere. After such
an arrangement, the Portuguese could not show any discoveries made
to the eastward, or even under the meridian of these islands. The
greatest part of New Holland is more to the east than the Moluccas;
hence it is to be believed that for this reason the Portuguese have
kept silence respecting their discovery of it.
This discovery, as we have said, must be comprised between the years
1512 and 1542. There is, however, no mention made of it in the
voyages of the time, which would sufficiently prove that the
Portuguese had suppressed, or at least concealed, the account of it.
But I propose to endeavour to supply this defect from the narrative
of two of their historians.
Castanheda, a Portuguese author, who had been in India, tells us
that in the beginning of July, 1525, the Portuguese of Ternate, one
of the Moluccas, dispatched a vessel to the island of Celebes to
traffic there; that this vessel on its return was driven by violent
winds and currents into an open sea, between the Straits of Magellan
and the Moluccas; that the Portuguese found themselves thrown more
than three hundred leagues out of their route, and were several
times nearly lost. One night their rudder was carried away, and they
beat about till the morning, when they discovered an island thirty
leagues in circumference, on which they landed, with thanks to God
for affording them this asylum. The islanders gave them an excellent
reception; they were of a tawny colour, but well made and good
looking, both men and women. The men had long black beards. The
Portuguese remained four months in this island, not only for the
purpose of refitting, but because the winds were contrary for the
return to the Moluccas. At length they departed, and reached Ternate
on the 20th of January, 1526.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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