Conformably to this plan, no attempt will be made to investigate the claims of the Chinese to the earliest knowledge of Terra Australis; which some, from the chart of Marco Polo, have thought they possessed.  Nor yet will much be said upon the plea advanced by the Abbe PREVOST,* and after him by the President DEBROSSES,** in favour of Paulmier de Gonneville, a French captain; for whom they claim the honour of having discovered Terra Australis, in 1504.  It is evident from the proofs they adduce, that it was not to any part of this country, but to Madagascar, that Gonneville was driven; and from whence he brought his prince Essomeric, to Normandy.

[* Histoire generale des Voyages.  Tome XVI. (a la Haye) p. 7-14.]

[** Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes.  Tome I. p. 102-120.]

Within these few years, however, two curious manuscript charts have been brought to light; which have favoured an opinion, that Terra Australis had really been visited by Europeans, nearly a century before any authentic accounts speak of its discovery.  One of these charts is in French, without date; and from its almost exact similitude, is probably either the original, or a copy of the other, which is in English; and bears, with the date 1542, a dedication to the KING OF ENGLAND.* In it, an extensive country is marked to the southward of the Moluccas, under the name of GREAT JAVA; which agrees nearer with the position and extent of Terra Australis, than with any other land; and the direction given to some parts of the coast, approaches too near to the truth, for the whole to have been marked from conjecture alone.  But, combining this with the exaggerated extent of Great Java in a southern direction, and the animals and houses painted upon the shores, such as have not been any where seen in Terra Australis, it should appear to have been partly formed from vague information, collected, probably, by the early Portuguese navigators, from the eastern nations; and that conjecture has done the rest.  It may, at the same time, be admitted, that a part of the west and north-west coasts, where the coincidence of form is most striking, might have been seen by the Portuguese themselves, before the year 1540, in their voyages to, and from, India.

[* A more particular account of these charts, now in the British Museum, will be found in Captain Burney’s “History of Discoveries in the South Sea.”  Vol.  I. p. 379-383.  An opinion is there expressed concerning the early discoveries in these regions, which is entitled to respectful attention.]

But quitting those claims to original discovery, in which conjecture bears so large a share, we come to such as are supported by undeniable documents.  Before entering upon these, it is proper to premise, that, instead of following precisely the order of time, these discoveries will be classed under the heads of the different coasts upon which they were made:  an arrangement which will obviate the confusion that would arise from being carried back from one coast to another, as must, of necessity, be the case, were the chronological order to be strictly followed.