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meant the continual passage of ships to and fro, and it is not unlikely that the prevailing winds bore many ships toward the Australian coast when endeavouring to make Java or other islands of the East.

The first actual claim to the discovery of Australia was made by the French on behalf of Paulmier de Gonneville, who sailed from Honfleur in 1503 bound for the South Seas. After passing the Cape he met with very rough weather, and was carried in a north-easterly direction by the storm to a great country to which he gave the name of Southern India. Here he remained some six months, during which he was hospitably treated by the natives, and finally returned to France, taking with him one of the native princes. Having been plundered of everything during his voyage home by an English corsair, his claim rests upon a declaration made by him to the French Admiralty in 1505, which was signed by the principal officers of the ship. The President de Brosses in 1756, after examining the account of De Gonneville, considered that the land reached was somewhere south of the Moluccas, and was in fact the first authentic discovery of the Terra Australis. An impartial investigation of the matter does not bear out this contention. De Gonneville refers to his friendly intercourse with the natives—a fact in itself sufficient in the eyes of anyone acquainted with Australia to throw great suspicion on his discovery, as the natives of our north-west coast, so far from being friendly, have a thoroughly well-deserved reputation for cruelty and treachery. We also know from De Gonneville's statement that he was driven into calm latitudes, and was so near the land that he was directed to it by the flight of birds. Further, his men rebelled and refused to proceed on their journey to the East. This latter would scarcely have happened had they been so near their destination as the north coast of Australia, so that all things considered it is much more likely that the country reached by him was really Madagascar.

Following upon De Gonneville comes Magalhaens, or Magellan, who, after vainly endeavouring to secure Portuguese support to a voyage round the world, finally sailed away in 1520 with a small Spanish fleet. When approaching the East Indies after doubling Cape Horn he describes having sighted a large continent to the south of Java to which the name Magellanica was given. A close examination of Magellan's description of that coast, however, leads one to feel sure that it refers to the northern coast of New Guinea, with the known features of which it has much in common. The claim of the Portuguese to the discovery cannot therefore be allowed to rest upon the statement of this navigator. A more reasonable argument may be advanced by that nation. Considering the evidence of six Portuguese maps of the sixteenth century there is every reason to believe that the mystery surrounding the discovery of Australia was set at rest between 1512 and 1542. Upon these maps there is shown a large coastline to the south and south-east of Java, separated from the island by a narrow strait, and to which the name Java la Grande (Great Java) is applied. It is permissible to suppose that the prevailing winds and the ease of sailing consequent upon taking advantage of them had carried the Portuguese mariners within sight of Australia. That they did not at the time make use of that discovery is not hard to understand. They were busily engaged in trading to the East, and had little or no opportunity of turning their knowledge to account. They were, however, anxious that no other nation should derive any benefit, and so far was this idea carried that Humboldt informs us that the Portuguese were forbidden upon pain of death to export marine charts showing the course to the East Indies. According to Sir William Temple the Dutch also, when trading largely with the East and too busily employed to open up the continent, were guilty of the same fault.

In the maps mentioned some islands are shown lying off the west coast, and in one map the name Abrolhos is appended to these. They are said to have been discovered by Don Jorge de Meneses in 1527 and to have been given their appellation, which in Portuguese signifies "keep your eyes open," by that voyager. The aptness of the designation no one acquainted with the treacherous nature of the coastline will doubt. The importance of the statement, however, lies in the fact that we have here what is probably the first discovery of Western Australia.

At any rate, that parts of Australia were known to the Portuguese during the first half of the sixteenth century is practically certain, and Major, after considering the documents available, makes the following deliberate statement:—

"Our surmises, therefore, lead us to regard it as highly probable that Australia was discovered by the Portuguese between the years 1511 and 1529, and almost to a demonstrable certainty that it was discovered before the year 1542."

Further evidence conclusively proving that it was known prior to what we may term authenticated accounts may be found in Cornelis Wyfliet's "Descriptions Ptolemaicæ Augmentum" published in 1598. It is there stated that

"The Australis Terra is the most modern of all lands, and is separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait. Its shores are hitherto but little known, since after one voyage and another that route has been deserted, and seldom is the country visited except when sailors are driven there by storms. The Australis Terra begins at 2° or 3° from the Equator, and is maintained by some to be of so great an extent that if it were thoroughly explored it would be regarded as a fifth part of the world."