It has been the habit, for the most part, of editors of works for the Hakluyt Society, to endeavour to elucidate their text by introductions, which have often reached to a considerable length. A very slight consideration of the nature of the subjects which the Society professes to deal with, will show the reasonableness, nay, even the necessity of such introductions. When the attention of a reader is invited to the narrative of a voyage, however interesting and curious in itself, which carries him back to a remote period, it is but reasonable that he should have explained to him the position which such a narrative, arbitrarily selected, holds in the history of the exploration of the country treated of. To do this satisfactorily is clearly a task requiring no little labour, and although it may necessarily involve a somewhat lengthy dissertation, certainly calls for no apology. Nevertheless, the simple fact of an introduction bearing a length at all approaching to that of the text itself, as is the case in the present volume, does, beyond question, at the first blush, justly require an explanation. All the publications of our Society consist of previously unpublished documents, or are reprints or translations of narratives of early voyages become exceedingly rare. But it is evidently matter of accident to what length the text may extend, while it is equally evident that the introductory matter illustrative of a small amount of text may be, of necessity, longer than that required to illustrate documents of greater extent. This is strikingly the case with the subject of the present volume. It has been matter of good fortune that the editor has been enabled to bring together even so many documents as are here produced, in connection with the early discoveries of Australia, while the enigmatical suggestions of early maps, unaccompanied by any descriptive matter to be found after diligent research, has necessitated an inquiry into their merits, which, though lengthy, it is hoped will not be deemed unnecessary. This so called introduction in fact, in a great measure, consists of matter, which, if supplied by original documents, would form a component part of the text itself. The editor cannot close his labours on this most puzzling subject of the “Early Indications of Australia,” without expressing an earnest hope that further researches may yet result in the production of documents, as yet undiscovered, which may throw a light upon the history of the exploration of this interesting country in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and, if possible, solve the great mystery which still hangs over the origin of the early manuscript maps so fully treated of, and it is hoped not without some advance towards elucidation, in this introduction. INDICATIONS OF AUSTRALIA, ETC.