“On a closer and more minute examination of Dourado’s map, and others, I think it may now be made evident that the coast said to have been discovered by Magalhaéns, in 1520, and mistaken by Sa de Bandeira and others, for part of the coast of New Holland, is no other than the northern coast of New Guinea.
“Now New Guinea, or part of it, as laid down by Dourado, appears under the name of Os Papuos, and extends to the eastward as far as the scale of latitude is marked, but beyond that scale there is about half an inch of space, and there the coast in question commences, and runs a long way towards the east, with a little southing, and has many islands bordering upon it; whether this be either a continuation or a repetition more extended of Papua, it is much in the same latitude, and runs in the same direction. Again, on referring to an old map of Mercator, I found some names upon New Guinea, similar to those on the coast in question; there I found C. de las Virgines; I. de los Cresbos; R. de Bolcados; Buen Puerto, answering to C. de las Virgines; I. de los Crespos: Bullcones Puerto Bueno, as found among the names on the coast in question; but what places the matter still more beyond a doubt is, that the names in both run in the same consecutive order from west to east, upon several of the islands which border the main land.
| Names of Islands as laid down in Dourado’s map along the coast said to be New Holland, in consecutive order from W. to E. | Names of Islands as laid down in Mercator’s map on the coast of New Guinea, in consecutive order from W. to E. |
|---|---|
| I. de los Martiles | Y. de los Martyres |
| I. dellos Crespos | Y. de Crespos |
| I. Duarati | Y. Dearti |
| I. de Armo | No such name |
| I. de Malagrate | Y. de Malagente |
| I. Dombres brancos | Y. de Hombres brancos |
| Llabasbuda | La barbade |
| Llacuimana | No such name |
| Bullcones (is laid down on the main land) | Los Bulcones. |
“Seeing then that the coast in question, and that of New Guinea are in the same latitude, that they greatly resemble each other in position, that several names upon them are similar, and that the similar names follow each other in both cases in the like consecutive order, and the same direction from west to east, I think we may safely come to the conclusion that the coast in question is identically that of New Guinea, and that the assumption of Viscount Sa de Bandeira and others following him, or whom he has followed, is an error.”
From these observations of Dr. Martin, the editor forms the following conclusions; that the tract laid down on Vaz Dourado’s map as discovered by Magalhaens, is in fact a memorandum or cartographical side-note of the real discovery by Magalhaens of Terra del Fuego, and that from its adopted false position on the vellum it was subsequently applied erroneously to New Guinea by Mercator. But even if this surmise be incorrect, the only alternative that remains is that the tract laid down is New Guinea, and clearly not Australia, as assumed by the claimants to whom we have referred. The editor submits that this claim is alike untenable from the account of Magalhaens’ voyage and from the evidence of the map itself on which that claim is founded.
But we now pass to a more plausible indication of a discovery of Australia by the Portuguese in the early part of the sixteenth century, which ranges between the years of 1512 and 1542. It occurs in similar form on six maps, four of them in England and two in France, on which, immediately below Java, and separated from that island only by a narrow strait, is drawn a large country stretching southward to the verge of the several maps. The earliest in all probability, and the most fully detailed of these maps, is the one from which we give the annexed reduction of that portion immediately under consideration. It is a large chart of the world, on a plane scale, on vellum, 8 ft. 2 in. by 3 ft. 10 in., highly ornamented, with figures, etc., and with the names in French. At the upper corner, on the left hand, is a shield of the arms of France, with the collar of St. Michael; and on the right, another shield of France and Dauphiny, quarterly. It was probably executed in the time of Francis I. of France, for his son the Dauphin, afterwards Henry II. This chart formerly belonged to Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, after whose death it was taken away by one of his servants. It was subsequently purchased by Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., and presented by him to the British Museum in 1790.
The second, in all probability, of these, is contained in an atlas drawn at Dieppe in 1547, at present in the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., of Middle Hill, Worcestershire. It contains the name of Nicholas Vallard, of Dieppe. The editor has been unsuccessful in his efforts to gain a sight of this atlas, or even of a fac-simile lithograph made by Sir Thomas Phillipps of the map supposed to contain the representation of Australia. Hence he has been compelled to rely upon the memory of Sir Frederick Madden, who had an opportunity of examining the atlas some years since, and who recollects that though it bore the name of Vallard and the date of 1547, it was not made by him, and that its date, though probably earlier than 1547, could be shown from internal evidence to be not earlier than 1539. A coat of arms appears in the margin of the volume, argent, on a saltire, gules, five besants, a mullet, sable, in the fess point. This may lead a future investigator to the discovery of an earlier possessor of the map than Vallard, although it should be remarked that the borders on the margin appear to be of a later date than the maps themselves. It fell into the possession of Prince Talleyrand at the beginning of this century, and attracting the attention of the celebrated geographer M. Barbié du Bocage, drew from him a notice in the Magasin Encyclopédique, douzième année, tom. iv, 107, which, though lengthy, bears so directly upon the subject of the present work, that it is proposed in simple justice both to the writer and the reader, presently to give it in full.
