8 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



of 1494 cut through the globe by the meridians of 46 9' W. and 



133 Si' E. 



It must be remembered that COLUMBUS had just discovered 

 the West Indian Islands a year before the issue of the papal bull. 

 The mainland of America was discovered in 1497 by SEBASTIAN 

 CABOT, a Venetian in the service of Henry VII of England. Then 

 the passage of the SPANISH MAIN, the sphere of influence granted 

 to Spain, became, for Europe, a question of very practical politics, 

 over which much blood was to be shed, as other nations claimed 

 the freedom of the sea. It was not till 1588 that the question was 

 settled by the decisive defeat of the Spanish armada by the English 

 fleet. 



Had the nations outside of Spain and Portugal admitted the 

 validity of the bull, the greater part of Australia would have 

 belonged to Portugal, and a slice of the eastern coast, covering 

 Sydney, Brisbane and Rockhampton, would have been Spanish. 

 By the treaty (which was a sort of reciprocal Monroe doctrine), 

 the western half of Australia would have been Portuguese and the 

 eastern half Spanish. 



It is needless to say that no other maritime powers ever assented 

 to the partition between Spain and Portugal of all lands to be 

 discovered in the future. The title of the two Powers was soon 

 to be disputed by the rising maritime nations England and Holland. 

 Moreover, the definition of the treaty line in the Pacific raised, 

 between Spain and Portugal themselves, questions which brought 

 them to the verge of war. 



Here, then, was an excellent reason why Spaniards and Portuguese 

 should preserve secrecy or practise deceit regarding the location 

 of discoveries in the vicinity of the boundary line, whether by 

 bull or treaty. The interest of a Portuguese tempted him, some- 

 times beyond his strength, to place his discovery west, while a 

 Spaniard was tempted to place his discovery east of the boundary 

 line in the Pacific. Secret instructions must have been issued to 

 navigators by the authorities of both countries, in consequence of 

 which they would systematically misrepresent their longitudes, 

 and the truth would be arrived at by the authorities on reading 

 the reports and charts with the aid of a " key." 



Granting that the " Dauphin Chart " was compiled in parts 

 from Spanish or Portuguese originals and that the land shown to 

 the south of Java really represents the northern portion of Australia, 

 which was already, early in the sixteenth century, vaguely known 

 to both Spanish and Portuguese, the westward-moving of the new 

 continent was clearly in the interest of Portugal, and the warning 

 or danger signal " ships do not (or cannot or must not) come 

 here" in other words, " not navigable" was|clearly a " bluff." 

 It was, therefore, probably a Portuguese mapjwhich was drawn 

 upon for the information given in the Dauphin chart. 



