The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea eBook

George Collingridge
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 97 pages of information about The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea.

The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea eBook

George Collingridge
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 97 pages of information about The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea.

This clue led me to make a special study of every word on the chart that had proved so interesting, the result being that I came to the conclusion that the western coasts of Australia had been chartered by the Portuguese, whereas the eastern coasts, which fell within the hemisphere allotted to the Spaniards, had been discovered and charted by them.

If we take for granted—­and I think we may—­that these charts are unquestionably of Portuguese and Spanish origin, the next point of importance that calls for our attention relates to the peculiar configuration, or, to be more precise, the strange distortion which all these specimens have undergone.  This distortion is so great that one might fail to recognise Australia within the coast line set down, were it not for the general fitness of the terms used as descriptive of this coast line, terms which have been handed down to us in the course of the geographical evolution, and some of which are recorded in the very maps we use every day.

Moreover, we have the equally important fact that within the latitudes and longitudes charted, Australia does actually hold its place in the vast ocean around.  See map of Australia and Jave-la-Grande compared, given here.

We must make great allowance for the measurement of longitudes as computed in the days when the first circumnavigators were called upon to determine whether the Moluccas fell within the Spanish or the Portuguese territory, for, after their return, the matter was as unsettled as ever.

Albeit, the errors of these charts are far more suggestive of deliberate distortion than, of inaccurate charting.

In describing Ribero’s chart, I made some remark about Spanish distortions.  I come now to the Portuguese ones, which refer to this subject.

For instance, the Portuguese, who were the first to make discoveries in these seas, must have been perfectly aware that the coasts they had charted lay more to the east, and if they dragged them out of position and placed them under Java as shown in these maps, it was in order to secure to themselves the lion’s share, for their line of demarcation, as fixed by Pope Alexander, did not extend much beyond the east coast of Timor.*

[* A contemporaneous Spanish pilot named Juan Gaetan, of whom we have already heard in connection with the Spanish voyages on the north coast of New Guinea [see pages 25, 26, 28], and who aboard Portuguese ships navigated all the seas to the north of Australia, has put the following remarks on record with reference to Portuguese charts.

He says:  “I saw and knew all their charts.  They were all cunningly falsified, with longitudes and latitudes distorted, and land-features drawn in at places and stretched out at others to suit their purposes, etc., etc., and when they found out that I understood their little pranks they made strenuous efforts to get me to enlist in their service, and made me advantageous offers, which, however, I scorned to accept.”—­In Ramusio.]

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The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.