22 THE DISCOVERY OE AUSTRALIA 



Galvano, the Portuguese governor of the Moluccas in the 

 early sixteenth century, who ought to have had good 

 information about the islands, thought that in Ptolemy's 

 time there probably had been a continuous land, after- 

 wards shattered into fragments by the earthquakes which 

 are so frequent and so tremendous in these regions ; and 

 he declared that, even in his days, the islands were so close 

 together that, sailing between two of them, you could 

 at the same time touch the trees on both sides ! This, 

 no doubt, exaggerated their nearness to a ridiculous degree. 

 And yet, taking the islands as they actually are, one thinks 

 that their inhabitants must have been a race as unenter- 

 prising and as stay-at-home as the Australian blackfellows 

 themselves, if they were incapable of the hop, skip, and 

 jump that would have landed them on the Northern 

 coast of Australia. 



As a matter of fact these islands were inhabited by 

 Probably the Malays, who were far from being an unenterprising or 

 visited the stay-at-home race of men. They were a virile, energetic, 



North-West fierce people, with a civilization, barbarous indeed, yet 

 coast 



far ahead of the simple savagery of the Australian natives. 



The Javans, especially, were organized at an early date 

 under a strong, efficient monarchy, which dominated 

 the neighbouring islands, and even established an empire 

 in Asia. 1 Cavendish, the Elizabethan seaman, said that the 

 Javans were " the most valiant people in all the Southern 

 parts of the world ; for they never fear any death." 

 And especially were they famous for their navigation, 

 which made them, said Laperouse, the Phoenicians 

 of the medieval world. Again and again the Portuguese 

 writers of the sixteenth century emphasize the Javan 

 reputation for seamanship. "They have got many 

 ships, and great navigators, and many rowing galleys. 

 They are great corsairs and mariners, and make arms of 

 steel." " They navigate to every part of the Eastern 

 Archipelago, and say that formerly they used to navigate 

 the Ocean as far as Madagascar." z " They claim 



1 Beazley, vol. i. p. 438 



* Barbosa (1515) edited Hakluyt Society, p. 198. 



