The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea: Being The Narrative of Portuguese and Spanish Discoveries in the Australasian Regions, between the Years 1492-1606, with Descriptions of their Old Charts.Collingridge, George
History
The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea: Being The Narrative of Portuguese and Spanish Discoveries in the Australasian Regions, between the Years 1492-1606, with Descriptions of their Old Charts.
Collingridge, George
Australia -- Discovery and exploration -- Portuguese; Australia -- Discovery and exploration -- Spanish; Oceania -- Discovery and exploration -- Portuguese; Oceania -- Discovery and exploration -- Spanish
The account of this voyage of discovery is very vague, and the various
writers on the subject do not entirely agree. This is due, perhaps, to
the fact that Alvarado abandoned the enterprise from the start, and went
to the conquest of Quito, in Peru, leaving the sole command to Grijalva.
It appears certain, however, that Grijalva visited many islands on the
north coast of New Guinea, and one, in particular, called _Isla de los
Crespos_, Island of the Frizzly Heads, at the entrance of Geelvinck Bay,
near which a mutiny occurred, and Grijalva was murdered by his revolted
crew.
His ship was wrecked, and the expedition came to an end, a few of the
survivors reaching the Spice Islands in 1539.
Most of the names given during the course of the exploration are
difficult to locate.
Besides the various place-names mentioned by Galvano, _Ostrich Point_,
the _Struis Hoek_ of later Dutch charts, is, perhaps, a reminiscence of
this untimely voyage.
A casoar, or cassowary, would, of course, be called an ostrich, and here
we have for the first time in history a picturesque description of that
Australasian bird.
Galvano's translator says: "There is heere a bird as bigge as a crane,
and bigger; he flieth not, nor hath any wings wherewith to flee; he
runneth on the ground like a deere. Of their small feathers they do make
haire for their idols."
CHAPTER III.
THE SPICE ISLANDS, IN RIBERO'S MAP.
I must now say a few words about the official map of the world, alluded
to on page 16. It is by Ribero, and will be found on pages 28 and 29. The
date of this map is 1529.
The portion reproduced shows the Spice Islands, and a glance at this part
of the world brings vividly to our minds the intense desire of each
contending party to possess a region that yielded the wealth that is here
described.
The map is Spanish, and Spain has allotted to herself the lion's share,
planting her flag in the midst of "Spice and everything nice" (see
Spanish hemisphere), and relegating the Portuguese flag to the Straits of
Sunda (see Portuguese hemisphere). For thousands of miles around,
ships--the seas are dotted with specimens similar to the two included
within our small area--fleets of them, converge towards, or sail away
from these spice-bearing islands. Every quaint old craft, whether light
caravel or crazy galleon, is underwritten with the legend, _Vengo de
Maluco_, I come from the Moluccas, or, _Vay a Maluco_, I go to the
Moluccas, as though that region were the only one on the face of the
globe worthy of consideration. And all that "Province of Maluco" bears
inscriptions denoting the particular product for which each island is
celebrated.
These are:--
Timor, for Sandal-wood; Java, for Benzoin;* Borneo and Celebes, for
Camphor; Amboyna, for Mace and Nutmegs; and last, not least, Gilolo, for
Cloves.
[* Benzoin, a fragrant gum-resin obtained from Styrax Benzoin, used in
pharmacy, and as incense.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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