4 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' 



and in latitude 26 S. he turned to the W.N.W. On this track 

 he discovered the largest of the New Hebrides group, named 

 it ' Australia del Espiritu Santo,' and, firmly believing it to be 

 part of the Southern continent, solemnly annexed it, with the 

 South Pole itself, to the crown of Spain ! 



Of the early voyages of the seventeenth century, that of the 

 Dutchmen Schouten and Le Maire in 1616 went to establish 

 Drake's discovery of the meeting of Atlantic and Pacific 

 Oceans south of Cape Horn, and to curtail the extent of the 

 Southern continent in this direction ; but more important was 

 the voyage of Tasman, who actually set forth in search of the 

 continent, and in 1642, after crossing the Indian Ocean 

 between the latitudes of 45 and 49 S., discovered Tasmania 

 and the northern island of New Zealand. This was a heavy 

 blow to the theory of a great Southern continent, because it 

 was in this region that its most northerly extension had been 

 suggested by the early cartographers, and Tasman showed that 

 it could not lie much beyond the 50th parallel either in the 

 Indian Ocean or to the south of Australia, then known as New 

 Holland. How slowly even important information of this 

 sort must have travelled in those days is shown by the fact 

 that in 1660, when Wells published his ' new set of maps,' he 

 says : ' New Holland is esteemed to be part of the Southern 

 unknown continent.' 



The result of these voyages was to give a great impetus to 

 others ; especially it encouraged ships to venture to make the 

 passage about Cape Horn, and this in turn led to a consider- 

 able increase of knowledge in this region. Voluntarily or 

 involuntarily ships attained a comparatively high latitude 

 reaching the 62nd or 63rd parallel, and, for the first time 

 encountering the great Southern icebergs, obtained some idea 

 of the severity of the Southern Regions. 



But the idea of a great and populous Southern continent, 

 though weakened, was by no means dissipated, and the 

 eighteenth century saw several expeditions despatched in 

 search of it. Of these, some of the most important were the 

 French ventures under Bouvet, Marion du Frezne, and De 



