Vlamingh, Willem de, voyage, cviii, 111;
inscription on the plate on Dirk Hartog’s island, lxxxi
Volckersen, Samuel, captain of the Waeckende Boey, account, 89
Vossenbosch Bay, on the coast of New Holland, 172
Vossenbosch, fluyt, discoveries, 165 seqq.
Waeckende Boey, sent in search of the wreck of the Vergulde Draeck, cv,
80;
loses boat, schuyt, and fourteen men, 84
Water serpents, seen by Dampier, 148
Wesel, yacht, expedition to New Guinea, 46
Weseltje, galiot, unsuccessful expedition to the island of Mony, 116
Weasel, shallop, 75
Weybehays, fighting against Cornelis, 70;
takes him prisoner, 71
Wielingen, the, on the Zeeland Bank, 182
Witsen, Burgomaster, his notes the only account of Tasman’s voyage,
xcviii;
extract from his “Noord en Oost Tartarye,” 91
Witte Valck, sent to the rescue of the men and specie of the Vergulde
Draeck, 78
Wytfliet, Cornelius, on “Australis Terra,” lxix
Wijck J. Roelandszoon, van, _v._ Roelandszoon
Zeachen, (ship Zeehaen), supposed native of Arnheim made discoverer of
Arnheim’s Land, lxxxv
Zebu, Spanish colony founded at, lxx
Zeehaen, ship, lxxxv
Zeemeuw, yacht, destined for the discovery of New Guinea, 43, 47
Zeewijck, wreck, 176;
remains found, 179;
communication respecting the wreck, 179
Zeewijk, channel, 179
Zuysdorp, wreck, 178
T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET.
[Illustration:
Outline Chart
of
TERRA AUSTRALIS
or
AUSTRALIA.
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ON THE
DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA BY THE PORTUGUESE IN 1601.
BY
R. H. MAJOR, ESQ., F.S.A.
BEING
A SUPPLEMENT TO THE VOLUME OF “EARLY VOYAGES TO TERRA AUSTRALIS.”
_Extract from a letter addressed to_ SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H., “_On the
Discovery of Australia by the Portuguese in 1601, five years before
the earliest discovery hitherto recorded; communicated to the
Society of Antiquaries, by_ RICHARD HENRY MAJOR, ESQ., F.S.A.,” _now
distributed to the Members of the Hakluyt Society for insertion as a
Supplement to the Volume of “Early Voyages to Terra Australis,” by
the same author_.
_From the_ ARCHÆOLOGIA. VOL. XXXVIII.
Discovery of Australia by the Portuguese
IN 1601.
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H.
_British Museum,
March 1st, 1861._
MY DEAR SIR HENRY,
* * * * *
Of the discoveries made by the Dutch on the coasts of Australia, our
ancestors of a hundred years ago, and even the Dutch themselves, knew
but little. That which was known was preserved in the “Relations de
divers Voyages Curieux” of Melchisedech Thevenot (Paris, 1663–72, fol.);
in the “Noord en Oost Tartarye” of Nicholas Witsen, (Amst. 1692–1705,
fol.); in Valentyn’s “Oud en Nieuw Oost Indien” (Amst. 1724–26, fol.);
and in the “Inleiding tot de algemeen Geographie” of Nicolas Struyk,
(Amst. 1740, 4to.). We have, however, since gained a variety of
information, through a document which fell into the possession of Sir
Joseph Banks, and was published by Alexander Dalrymple (at that time
hydrographer to the Admiralty and the East India Company), in his
collection concerning Papua. This curious and interesting document is a
copy of the instructions to Commodore Abel Jansz Tasman for his second
voyage of discovery. That distinguished commander had already, in 1642,
discovered not only the island now named after him Tasmania, but New
Zealand also; and, passing round the east side of Australia, but without
seeing it, sailed on his return voyage along the northern shores of New
Guinea. In January, 1644, he was despatched on his second voyage; and
his instructions, signed by Governor-General Antonio Van Diemen and the
members of the council, are prefaced by a recital, in chronological
order, of the previous discoveries of the Dutch.
From this recital, combined with a passage from Saris, given in Purchas,
vol. i, p. 385, we learn that, “On the 18th of November, 1605, the Dutch
yacht, the Duyfhen (the Dove), was despatched from Bantam to explore the
island of New Guinea, and that she sailed along what was thought to be
the west side of that country, to 19¾ degrees of south latitude.” This
extensive country was found, for the greatest part, desert; but in some
places inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages, by whom some of the crew
were murdered; for which reason they could not learn anything of the
land or waters, as had been desired of them; and for want of provisions,
and other necessaries, they were obliged to leave the discovery
unfinished. The furthest point of the land, in their maps, was called
Cape Keer Weer, or “Turn again.” As Flinders observes, “The course of
the Duyfhen from New Guinea was southward, along the islands on the west
side of Torres Strait, to that part of Terra Australis a little to the
west and south of Cape York. But all these lands were thought to be
connected, and to form the west coast of New Guinea.” Thus, without
being conscious of it, the commander of the Duyfhen made the first
authenticated discovery of any part of the great Southern Land about the
month of March, 1606; for it appears that he had returned to Banda in or
before the beginning of June of that year.
The honour of that first authenticated discovery, as hitherto accepted
in history, I am now prepared to dispute. Within the last few days I
have discovered a MS. Mappemonde in the British Museum, in which on the
north-west corner of a country, which I shall presently show beyond all
question to be Australia, occurs the following legend: “Nuca antara foi
descuberta o anno 1601 por mano (_sic_) el godhino de Evedia (_sic_) por
mandado de (_sic_) Vico Rey Aives (_sic_) de Saldaha,” (_sic_) which I
scarcely need translate, “Nuca Antara was discovered in the year 1601,
by Manoel Godinho de Eredia, by command of the Viceroy Ayres de
Saldanha.”
The misfortune is that this map is only a copy, but I think I shall be
able to answer from internal evidence any doubt that might be thrown
upon the authenticity of the information which it contains. The original
was made about 1620, after the discovery of Eendraght’s Land, on the
west coast of Australia, by the Dutch in 1616, but before the discovery
of the south coast by Pieter Nuyts in 1627. So far from its author
suspecting the existence of a south coast, he continues the old error
which had obtained throughout the sixteenth century, of representing the
Terra Australis as one vast continent, of which the parts that had been
really discovered were made to protrude to the north as far as the
parallel in which these discoveries respectively lay. Thus in this map
we have Australia, as already described, on the right side of the map;
and the _Island of Santa Cruz_ in the New Hebrides, there called Nova
Jerusalem, discovered by Quiros, on the left side; but both connected
and forming part of the one great Southern Continent.
Now, it may be objected that this map, being only a copy made at the
beginning of the present or close of the last century, the statement
which forms the subject of the present paper may have been fraudulently
inserted. But to give such a suggestion weight, a motive must be shown,
the most reasonable one being that of assigning the honour of the first
authenticated discovery to Portugal instead of to Holland. For this
purpose we must suppose the falsifier to have been a Portuguese. To this
I reply, that while all the writing of the map is in Portuguese, the
copy was made by a person who was not only not a Portuguese himself, but
who was ignorant of the Portuguese language. For example, the very
legend in question, short as it is, contains no less than five blunders,
all showing ignorance of the language: thus, the words “por Manoel” are
written “por mano el,” “Eredia” is written “Evedia,” “do” is written
“de,” “Ayres” is written “Aives,” “Saldanha” is written “Saldaha”
without the circumflex to imply an abbreviation.
But further, if we attribute to such supposed falsification, the
ulterior object of claiming for the Portuguese the honour of a prior
discovery, whence comes it that that object has never been carried out?
It is not till now that the fact is made known, and those most
interested in the ancient glory of the Portuguese nation are ignorant of
the discovery which this map declares to have been made. That it never
became matter of history, may be explained by the comparatively little
importance which would at the time be attached to such a discovery, and
also by the fact that the Portuguese, being then no longer in the
fulness of their prosperity, were not keeping the subject before their
attention by repeated expeditions to that country, as the Dutch shortly
afterwards really began to do.
Again, the speculation might be hazarded that, as this map is a copy,
the date of the discovery may have been carelessly transcribed; as, for
example, 1601 may easily have been written in the original 1610 and
erroneously copied. Fortunately, the correctness of the date can be
proved beyond dispute. It is distinctly stated that the voyage was made
by order of the Viceroy Ayres de Saldanha, the period of whose
viceroyalty extended only from 1600 to 1604, thus precluding the
possibility of the error suggested, and terminating before the period of
the earliest of the Dutch discoveries.
But yet, again, it may be objected that a country so vaguely and
incorrectly laid down may not have been Australia. The answer is equally
as indisputable as that which fixes the date. Immediately below the
legend in question is another to the following effect: “Terra descuberta
pelos Holandeses a que chamaraō, Enduacht, (_sic_) au Cōcordia” (land
discovered by the Dutch, which they called Endracht or Concord).
Eendraghtsland, as we all know, was the name given to a large tract on
the western coast of Australia, discovered by the Dutch ship the
Eendraght, in 1616.
Moreover, if the legend in question were not a genuine copy from a
genuine ancient map, how came the modern falsifier to be acquainted with
the name of a real cosmographer who lived at Goa at a period which
tallies with the state of geographical discovery represented on the map,
but none of whose manuscript productions had been put into print at the
time when the supposed fictitious map was made or the legend
fictitiously inserted?
I think these arguments are conclusive in establishing the legitimacy of
the modern copy from the ancient map. As regards the discoverer, Manoel
Godinho de Eredia (or rather Heredia, as written by Barbosa Machado and
by Figaniere), I find the following work by him; “Historia do Martyrio
de Luiz Monteiro Coutinho que padeceo por ordem do Rey Achem Raiamancor
no anno de 1588, e dedicada ao illustrissimo D. Aleixo de Menezes,
Arcebispo de Braga;” which dedication was dated Goa, 11th of November,
1615; fol. MS. with various illustrations.
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.
“Indeed it seems to be a providential act of Almighty God, that Manoel
Godinho de Eredia, the cosmographer, has received commission from the
Lord Count-Admiral, the Viceroy of India within and beyond the Ganges,
that the said Eredia may be a means of adding new patrimonies to the
Crown of Portugal, and of enriching the said Lord Count and the
Portuguese nation. And therefore all, and especially the said Lord,
ought to recognise with gratitude this signal service, which, if
successful, will deserve to be regarded as one of the most happy and
fortunate events in the world for the glory of Portugal. In any case,
therefore, the discoverer ought for many reasons to be well provided for
the gold enterprize. First, On account of the first possession of the
gold by the crown of Portugal. Secondly, For the facility of discovering
the gold. Thirdly, Because of the gold mines being the greatest in the
world. Fourthly, Because the discoverer is a learned cosmographer.
Fifthly, That he may at the same time verify the descriptions of the
Southern Islands. Sixthly, On account of the new Christianity.
Seventhly, Because the discoverer is a skilful captain who proposes to
render very great services to the King of Portugal, and to the most
happy Dom Francisco de Gama, Count of Vidigueira, Admiral and Viceroy of
the Indies within and beyond the Ganges, and possessor of the gold,
carbuncle, and spices of the Eastern Sea belonging to Portugal.”
Short of an actual narrative of the voyage in which the discovery, which
is the main subject of this paper, was made, we could scarcely ask for
fuller confirmation of the truth of that discovery than that which is
supplied by the above extract. Manoel Godinho de Eredia is there
described as a learned cosmographer and skilful captain, who had
received a special commission to make explorations for gold mines, and
at the same time to verify the descriptions of the Southern Islands. The
Island of Gold itself is described “as on the opposite coast, or coast
outside of Timor, which properly is called the Southern Coast.” It is
highly probable from this description that it is the very Nuca Antara of
our MS. map, which does lie on the southern coast opposite to Timor. It
is still further most remarkable that, by the mere force of facts, the
period of the commission here given to Eredia is brought into proximity
with the date of his asserted discovery of Australia. The viceroy
Francisco de Gama, who gave that commission, was the immediate
predecessor of Ayres de Saldanha. His viceroyalty extended only from
1597 to 1600, and the asserted discovery was made in 1601, though we
know not in what month. A more happy confirmation of a discovery,
unrecorded except in a probably unique map, could scarcely have been
hoped for.
In laying this letter before a Society of Antiquaries, who venerate the
past, I would not close without one word of reverent tribute to the
ancient glories of a once mighty nation. The true heroes of the world
are the initiators of great exploits, the pioneers of great discoveries.
Such were the Portuguese in days when the world was as yet but a half
known and puny thing. To Portugal, in truth, we owe not only a De Gama,
but, by example, a Columbus, without whom the majestic empire of her on
whose dominions the sun never sets might now have been a dream, instead
of a reality. England whose hardy mariners have made a thoroughfare of
every sea, knows best how to do justice to the fearlessness of their
noble predecessors, who, in frail caravels and through an unmeasured
wilderness of ocean, could cleave a pathway, not only to the glory of
their own nation but to the civilization and the prosperity of the
entire world.
I remain,
My dear Sir Henry,
Yours very truly,
R. H. MAJOR.
TO SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H.
&c. &c. &c.
-----
Footnote 1:
Reference is here made, 1stly, to that most remarkable and often
quoted passage from the _Medea_ of Seneca:
“Venient annis
Sæcula seris, quibus Oceanus
Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens
Pateat tellus, Tiphysque novos
Detegat Orbes, nec sit terris
Ultima Thule.”
2ndly, to the island of Atlantis, described by Plato, in the Timæus,
as lying in the Atlantic, opposite the Pillars of Hercules, and
exceeding in size the whole of Africa and Asia.
And 3rdly, to the imaginary island of St. Brandan, seen at intervals
far out in the Atlantic by the inhabitants of the Canary Islands.
It may not be unacceptable here to mention that there is one passage
among the writings of the ancients far more minute and affirmative in
its description than any of the foregoing, which has been thought by
various learned commentators to refer to America, but which the editor
has not found hitherto quoted, in that light, by any English author.
In a fragment of the works of Theopompus, preserved by Ælian, is the
account of a conversation between Silenus and Midas, king of Phrygia,
in which the former says that Europe, Asia, and Africa, were lands
surrounded by the sea; but that beyond this known world was another
island, of immense extent, of which he gives a description. The
account of this conversation, which is too lengthy here to give in
full, was written three centuries and a half before the Christian era.
Not to trouble the reader with Greek, we give an extract from the
English version by Abraham Fleming, printed in 1576, in the amusingly
quaint but vivid language of the time.
“THE THIRDE BOOKE OF ÆLIANUS. PAGE 37.
¶ Of the familiaritie of Midas the Phrigian, and Selenus, and of
certaine circumstances which he incredibly reported.
“Theopompus declareth that Midas the Phrygian and Selenus were knit in
familiaritie and acquaintance. This Selenus was the sonne of a nymphe
inferiour to the gods in condition and degree, but superiour to men
concerning mortalytie and death. These twaine mingled communication of
sundrye thinges. At length, in processe of talke, Selenus tolde Midas
of certaine ilandes, named Europia, Asia, and Libia, which the ocean
sea circumscribeth and compasseth round about; and that without this
worlde there is a continent or percell of dry lande, which in
greatnesse (as hee reported) was infinite and unmeasurable; that it
nourished and maintained, by the benefite of the greene medowes and
pasture plots, sundrye bigge and mighty beastes; that the men which
inhabite the same climats exceede the stature of us twise, and yet the
length of there life is not equall to ours; that there be many and
diuers great citties, manyfold orders and trades of living; that their
lawes, statutes, and ordinaunces, are different, or rather clean
contrary to ours. Such and lyke thinges dyd he rehearce.”
The remainder of this curious conversation, however apparently
fabulous, deserves attention from the thoughtful reader.
Footnote 2:
With respect to the essay for which the learned society referred to
(the Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen of Utrecht) had offered
a prize, it was published in that society’s _Transactions_ in 1827,
under the title of “Bennet and Van Wijck’s Verhandeling over de
Nederlandsche Ontdekkingen.” The editor, who has examined this work
carefully, can state that it supplies no information in addition to
that which we had already possessed.
Footnote 3:
See Aratus, Phœnom., 537; Strabo, l. 7, p. 130, and l. 17; Crates apud
Geminum, Elementa Astronomica, c. lxiii, in the Uranologia, p. 31.
Footnote 4:
This apparently Gallicized Portuguese name is here referred to by
Dr. Martin in allusion to its occurrence on certain early French
maps to be treated of hereafter.
Footnote 5:
Since the reading of this memoir at the Institute, M. Correa da
Serra, to whom I had previously read it, has had the goodness to
inform me of some researches which he has made upon this subject.
He discovered that Don Miguel de Sylva left the kingdom of
Portugal in 1542, that he only arrived in Italy in 1543 to receive
the cardinal’s hat, and he thinks that he could only have reached
that country by passing through France, where he had formerly
studied, and that he doubtless there left the originals from which
our charts were copied.
Footnote 6:
This name, from the Dutch form which it bears, might suggest the
idea that the visitor was a Dutchman; but it must be remembered
that the Dutch were not in those seas till the end of the
sixteenth century, and that the Synod of Dort was held in the
years 1618 and 1619, which renders the suggestion at the close of
the paragraph as to “the images to represent their divinity”
unreasonable as coming from a native of that country. It is more
probable that, from the lapse of time, a mistake was made in the
repetition of the name by a savage, and that a Portuguese, and not
a Dutchman, suggested the use of images to represent a divinity.
Footnote 7:
For the account of this voyage see a letter from Quiros to Don Antonio
de Morga, cap. vi, p. 29, of De Morga’s _Sucesos en las Islas
Filipinas_, Mexico, 1609, 4to.; and Figueroa’s _Hechos de Don Garcia
Hurtado de Mendoza, quarto Marques de Cañete_, Madrid, 1613, 4to., l.
6, p. 238.
Footnote 8:
In the collective volume in the British Museum which contains the
original of the present memorial, are several memorials to the king
from the Fray Juan de Silva, advocating the same cause on general
religious and political grounds; but the editor has been unable to
find the treatise here referred to as dedicated to the Infant Don
Ferdinand, nor is any mention made of it by Nicolas Antonio or Leon
Pinelo, both of whom speak of the memorials addressed to the king.
Footnote 9:
Dalrymple, in quoting this passage, thinks that the word “Aislada”,
here translated according to its general meaning, “encompassed with
water”, in this place rather signifies “separated into islands”. This
suggestion is, however, entirely arbitrary, and even in contradiction
to the context, which states the supposed circuit of the island. Even
in maps anterior to the voyage of Torres, as, for example, Hondius’s
Mappemonde, showing Drake’s track round the world, published in the
Hakluyt Society’s edition of Drake’s _World Encompassed_, New Guinea
is laid down as an island, although it is true that in much later maps
the point is spoken of as doubtful. Meanwhile, the editor sees no
reason to deviate from the recognized rendering of the word “Aislada”.
Footnote 10:
It is from this sentence that Dalrymple observed the passage of Torres
through these dangerous straits, and consequently gave to them the
name of that navigator.
Footnote 11:
Printed in the original thus, “Bandalaizavas”, probably misprinted for
Banda, las Zavas, or Javas.
Footnote 12:
We presume that the eccentric argument here advanced, is based upon
the inference deduced by the writer at the commencement of this
memorial, from the peculiar use in sacred writ of the word “Sepharat,”
rendered in Latin “Bosphorus,” the especial meaning is there
discussed. See page 10.
Footnote 13:
This includes the time Torres remained in the bay after the separation
from Quiros.
Footnote 14:
Cape Turn-again.
Footnote 15:
The expressive epithet both of the Dutch and the Germans for their
native country.
Footnote 16: