They could not have believed that Timor was situated to the east of the peninsula, now known as York Peninsula, and clearly shown in these charts, nor that there was not an open sea to the south of Java since the first circumnavigators, returning to Spain from Timor, with the last ship of Magellan’s fleet, sailed through it. (See track of their ship on map of Timor, p. 40.)

But the secret was so well kept, that seventy-eight years after Magellan’s voyage round the world, Java and Australia were still believed to be one and the same continent by certain otherwise well-informed navigators, as will be seen by Linschoten’s “Discours of Voyages into ye East and West Indies,” published in London, in the year 1598, in which the following description, from Portuguese sources, occurs: 

“South, south-east, right over against the last point or corner of the Isle of Sumatra, on the south, side of the equinoctial line, lyeth the island called JAUA MAIOR, or Great Java, where there is a strait or narrow passage, called the strait of Sunda, of a place so called, lying not far from thence within the Isle of Java.  The island beginneth under 7 degrees on the south side, and runneth east and by south 150 miles long; but touching the breadth it is not found, because as yet it is not discovered, nor by the inhabitants themselves well known.”

“Some think it to be firme land* and parcel of the countrie called TERRA INCOGNITA, which, being so, should reach from that place to the Cape de Bova Sperace [Cape of Good Hope]; but as [?] it is not certainly known, and, therefore, it is accounted an island.”

[* The term implies continental land]

The above passage [shows?] that the author was uncertain as to whether Australia, which he calls the Great Java, was connected or not with ANTARCTICA, which he terms TERRA INCOGNITA; and his hesitation may be readily understood when we consider that some maps of the period disconnected Java-la-Grande from the TERRE AUSTRALLE INCOGNEUE; whereas others connected it with Kerguelen and Tierra del Fuego.

THE ILLUMINATIONS.

I shall say a few words now about the illuminations.  They form a conspicuous feature in these old maps, and lend a great charm to such productions of a bygone age; it would be a useless task, however, to seek in these quaint devices a strict pourtrayal of the scenes appertaining to the countries they might be supposed to illustrate; to do so would be to forget their chief purpose, the decorative.  But, allowing for the liberty usually granted to the artist, nay, often exacted by him, the scenes depicted are not borrowed from the realms of “Idealism” to the extent that has been supposed by certain commentators.

The kangaroo is not represented; no, nor the gum-tree either, perhaps!  But that clump of bamboos* on the top of a hill is not a volcano in full eruption, as a learned critic once ventured to assert.

[* Bamboos are plentiful on the north-western coasts of Australia, planted, no doubt, by Malay fishermen in search of trepang, who from time immemorial frequented those shores.]