EARLY DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA. 379 



I have said that the discovery that I made of the Portuguese 

 phrase " Anda ne barcha " enabled me to establish the Portuguese 

 origin of this chart, or, better still, of its prototype, since the phrase, 

 correctly spelt, appears on this the oldest known chart of Aus- 

 tralia, having been set down mechanically by the copyist, who 

 evidently mistook it for the names of two islands in the Gulf. 



Curiously enough the same phrase appears on the other charts 

 of the same school, but the orthography is so corrupted as to 

 render the meaning of it unintelligible except to the reader of 

 the correct form on the Dauphin chart. This phrase, not having 

 been noticed by any of the critics who have for the last century 

 commented upon these curious old documents, and the other names 

 on the Dauphin chart being principally French, the conclusion 

 was that the chart was of French origin, and that the honour of 

 priority of Australian maritime discovery was due to that nation. 

 The phrase " Anda ne barcha " upsets that theory and, further- 

 more, points to the prior existence of a Portuguese prototype, 

 from which all these charts have been copied. It also shows that 

 the Dauphin chart was not copied from any of the known copies, 

 since in them the phrase is corrupted, but that, on the contrary, 

 it was copied from an original Portuguese chart, which has either 

 been destroyed or has not yet come to light. 



All the above goes to prove that the Portuguese and Spaniards 

 were the discoverers of this continent, for they could not have 

 charted it so carefully and accurately unless they had seen it. 



I come now to the sub-title of this paper, and shall endeavour 

 to give a reason for a " No Man's Land " on this continent of ours, 

 which reason will be one also that I shall venture to offer for the 

 non-occupancy of the Northern Territory — the all-important 

 question nowadays for Australians. 



Is it not strange that on a continent that has been occupied 

 by our people for over a century there should have existed right 

 down through its centre from north to south a vast tract of country, 

 presenting an open door 1200 miles wide open to the teeming 

 seafaring populations of the north ? Is it not strange that this 

 vast tract of country should have been unclaimed from the very 

 day we set foot in Australia, and is still undeveloped in its northern 

 parts ? If one looks into the matter carefully there is absolutely 

 no valid reason amongs all those that have been given from time 

 to time to account for this state of things. 



The interior of Australia was once thought to be covered with 

 water — I do not refer to pre-historical times, but to days of early 

 settlement ; a later account made it a howling desert of sand. 

 Facts have proved that these early ideas were entirely wrong, and 

 even quite recently it has been found difficult to dispel all the 

 false notions entertained anent this, the best, the healthiest, 

 richest, and most fertile of all the Australias. 



