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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

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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.

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

The fact that many accounts of Australian voyages which the Company
possessed were never published, may be accounted for in a much simpler
and more honourable manner. The Dutch voyages and travels that were
published were plainly intended for a large circle of readers, and were
got up as cheaply as possible. Thus, though thousands and thousands of
copies were sold, they have all now become scarce. A voyage which did
not contain strange adventures or striking scenes, had no chance of
popularity and remained unpublished. Thus, among other instances, a
picturesque account of Japan was published in the _Begin ende
Voortgangh_, whilst the extremely important account of De Vries’s voyage
to the same part of the world, which is far richer in geographical
materials than in interesting incidents, has remained in manuscript till
recently edited by Captain Leupe, of the Dutch navy.

It is with pleasure that we indulge the hope that the veil which has
thus hung over these valuable materials is likely, before very long, to
be entirely removed. The archives of the Dutch East India Company, a yet
unsifted mass of thousands of volumes, and myriads of loose papers, have
a short time since been handed over to the State Archives at the Hague,
where the greatest liberality is shown in allowing access to the
treasures they possess. Meanwhile the editor of the present volume need
hardly plead any excuse for not having attempted what no foreigner, be
his stay in Holland ever so long, could possibly accomplish; and he must
leave to those who will take up this matter after him, the satisfaction
of availing themselves of materials the importance of which he knows,
and the want of which he deeply deplores.

As has been already stated, in the earlier and more indistinct periods
of Australian discovery, even when some portions of the vast island had
been already lighted on, it remained a doubt whether New Guinea and the
newly seen lands did not form part of a great southern continent, in
which tradition in the first place, and subsequent discoveries, had
already established a belief.

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.

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