112 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



which contains it, have been used as an argument to show 



that the coast of Australia was visited during this period. 



What It is a map published by Wytfliet in I597- 1 It represents 



meantby a Terra Australis that has very much the same features 



Terra as are represented in the earlier maps we have noticed. 



J ' The source of much of the information represented in the 



map may be partly guessed from the fact that the 



PART OF WYTFLIET'S MAP, 1597. (From Nordenskiold's Facsimile Atlas, p. 134.) 



author is able to draw you a deep creek which pierces 

 the Southern Land to its very heart, and has its origin 

 apparently a few miles away from the South Pole ! 



But the argument as to the knowledge of Australia 

 is mainly founded not on the map, but on the following 

 passage in the treatise : " The Australis Terra is the most 

 Southern of all lands. It is separated from New Guinea 

 by a narrow strait. Its shores are hitherto but little 

 known, since, after one voyage and another, that route 

 has been deserted, and seldom is the country visited, 

 unless when sailors are driven there by storms. The 

 Australis Terra begins at two or three degrees from the 

 Equator, and is maintained by some to be of so great an 



1 See map on this page. 



