6o 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



Map-makers 

 had no 

 knowledge 

 of Australia, 

 but they 

 believed 

 that there 

 was a 

 Continent 

 South of 

 Java, and 

 that Marco 

 Polo and 

 Varthema 

 had written 

 of it. 



climatic zones, that there was a temperate zone to the 

 South like that of the North, that it was at least 

 possible that in this region existed inhabited lands. 

 The theological hatred of the Antipodes was in process 

 of being mitigated by the evidence gradually accumu- 

 lating that the Tropic seas were not impassable, and 

 that therefore the men of the South might well be children 

 of Adam. By the fourteenth century definite knowledge 

 had been gained of lands in the South of which ancient 

 cosmographers only knew dimly, or knew not at all of 

 India, Ceylon, Sumatra, the Spice Islands and Java, 

 Zanzibar, Sofala, Madagascar. The South Tropic Ocean 

 had been sailed through and through. Varthema had found 

 the climate of Java too cold, and had hurried back to India 

 to get warm again ! Evidently exploration in this direction 

 need not be hindered by fear of seas " cremated by the near 

 sun." And traveller after traveller had laid stress on the 

 importance of the island of Java ; on its immense size, 

 three thousand to seven thousand miles in circuit, said 

 reports and on its magnificent riches, its gold-roofed 

 palaces, its abundant spices. Beyond Java, mystery 

 reigned. There were tales of the Dead Sea, and its terrific 

 southerly current, of stormy atmosphere which prevented 

 further navigation. But who could say how far southward 

 Java itself extended ? Was it not at least conceivable 

 that this " largest island in the world " was in reality part 

 of the great continent of the South, the fourth part of the 

 world ? Marco Polo at all events had told of great and rich 

 continents far away to the South of Java. And now came 

 Varthema with what seemed trustworthy reports of 

 voyages to the furthest South, where men steered by the 

 Southern Cross, and where it was colder than in any other 

 part of the world ? Was it not becoming clear that, away 

 to the South of Java, was a huge continent, whether con- 

 tinuous with known Java, or separated from it by sea, a 

 continent rich in spices and in gold ? Such, we may imagine, 

 were the ideas in the minds of the Portuguese as they 

 listened to the Italian. 



