WAS AUSTRALIA KNOWN ? 99 



"Lower Brazil" in the map of 1520. He had 

 obtained his information, it seems, from Portuguese 

 seamen chiefly interested in the New World as a source 

 of supply of the very useful dye-wood called brazil, which 

 had long been one of the recognized precious commo- 

 dities of the Far East, and of which Marco Polo had made 

 honourable mention in his account of Locac and Java 

 Minor. This lower Brazilian region, Schoner explains, 

 extends nearly to Malacca, and is not far off the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 1 And he draws the outline of this great 

 Austral Continent with a detail that suggests he was well 

 acquainted with every bay and headland, both on its 

 Northern and its Southern coasts. He is also able to 

 tell you of its snowy mountains, its excellent fruits, precious 

 metals, splendid birds, and its gigantic plants. 2 At 

 a later date (1533), he is able to add that the in- 

 habitants of this region, " the very great Southern 

 Region of Brazil," live a good honest life, are not canni- 

 bals, reverence the older men, and call their children 

 Thomas. 3 All these interesting facts the thoughtful 

 Schoner, with head full of the marvels of Amerigo's letter, 

 and reminiscences of earlier travel-books, was able, 

 it seems, to gather from information given by Portuguese 

 brazil-wood cutters of what they had seen on the Southern 

 side of some bay or estuary in Patagonia. 



It seems likely that when Magellan sailed in 1519 he Map-makers 

 had seen Schoner's map or some other map of this type. 4 ^ h f ved 

 He was, at least, confident that a strait did exist, and Magellan 

 he was determined - to find it, he said, even if he had to ^ t a r ^ ound a 

 sail as far South as 75. He found the strait in 52, and between 

 sailed through it. To the South was a land which he called SJJjSSf" 

 Tierra del Fuego. And what was Tierra del Fuego ? Terra 

 Was it an island ? Or was it the tip of a great continent ? andtha"' 

 The voyagers thought that it was an island or a collec- Tierra del 

 tion of islands. They "thought," says an enterprising atip^^ 



Terra 



" A capite bonae spei parum distat. Insuper modica distantia Incognita. 

 est ab hoc Brasiliae regione ad Mallaquam " (Guillemard, p. 193 note). 



2 Rainaud, p. 250. Rainaud, p. 297. 



4 Guillemard's Magellan, p. 192. 



