INTRODUCTION 5 



charts of the sea-adventurers. As it was, the Dutch sailors named 

 " reviers," or inlets, on the Gulf coast, and subsequent explorers 

 of the interior, almost without exception, made bad guesses at 

 the connection of their rivers with the inlets on the coast line. 

 I do not propose any reform so drastic as to restore their original 

 names to the western rivers of the Peninsula, but content myself, 

 after years of research, with distinguishing the original, or right, 

 or de jure names from the dejacto names, the product of pardon- 

 able misidentifications sanctioned, in many cases, by half a century 

 of popular and official usage. I have, I hope, succeeded in making 

 it clear that, in many instances, the de jacto names are in reality 

 not those bestowed by the earliest explorers, but rather what are 

 called " complimentary " names. 



From the preceding explanation, it will be understood that 

 this work began, so to speak, in the middle, and followed lines 

 dictated by the questions which arose during its progress. It 

 was ultimately realised that it would be advisable to arrange it in 

 chronological order, so that the tale told by each explorer might 

 be compared with the facts ascertained by his predecessors and 

 at the same time be complete in itself. Of no less importance was 

 the consideration of precisely how much knowledge each explorer 

 had of the achievements of his predecessors ; and this point has 

 exacted very careful study. I am forced to the conclusion that 

 in most instances the later explorers knew very little about their 

 predecessors, having taken what little they knew at second hand 

 and without having had access to important documents, some of 

 which, indeed, only came to light after their own time. 



While aiming at chronological order, it must be conceded that 

 it is not always possible to observe it strictly. It may be that the 

 stories of two observers overlap ; or a statement may demand 

 historical investigation into the past ; or, again, it may be con- 

 venient at once to trace the outcome of a newly discovered fact 

 downwards to the present time. Hence a certain amount of 

 repetition is inevitable, as facts or statements are viewed by one 

 observer after another from a different angle. 



It is impossible to define the exact base of the Cape York 

 Peninsula, and in writing of it one must occasionally follow its 

 pioneers beyond its southern boundary, however liberal or elastic 

 the definition of the latter may be. The historian of France 

 needs no excuse for referring to happenings in Germany or Italy. 

 In a parallel way, what was commenced as a history of the Cape 

 York Peninsula has come to include Torres Strait, the " Gulf " 

 country west to the boundary of Queensland and the Pacific country 

 as far south as Bowen. 



SYDNEY, 



$otb September, 1920. 



