Australia and Jave-la-Grande compared
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.]
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.)