WAS AUSTRALIA KNOWN? 125 



Newfoundland nearer to Ireland than to America. 1 If 

 the Portuguese discovered Australia, and considered 

 it valuable property, it is likely enough that their maps 

 would put Australia away to the West. 2 And if they wished 

 to persuade Spaniards that Java had no South coast, 

 they would have no scruple in dragging Australia North 

 as well as West. 



But my objection to Mr. Collingridge's argument about 

 the North coast is, not that there are important differences 

 in the two outlines, but that there are no important like- 

 nesses. Before we consent to the rather audacious sugges- 

 tion that Sumbava plays the part of Cape York, we must 

 at least ask that the rest of the Northern coast of Jave 

 la Grande be shown to be remarkably like the Northern 

 coast of Australia. But there seems to be no likeness 

 anywhere. If Sumbava is Cape York, where is the Gulf 

 of Carpentaria ? There seems no sign of it, unless we 

 are to identify it with the Straits East of Java, which are 

 extremely unlike the Gulf. Nor is there anything to 

 represent the great bulge of Arnhem's Land. In short, 

 the likeness of Cape York to Sumbava is the only likeness 

 in the two North coasts. And, in these circumstances, 

 there seems strong reason to suppose that, when the map- 

 maker drew Sumbava in its proper place, and called it 

 Sumbava, he meant Sumbava and did not mean Cape York. 



As for the motive of the Portugese map-maker, it seems 

 to me that if his aim had been to discourage Spanish 

 voyages, he would, like so many others, have drawn an 

 empty Pacific Qcean. The Spaniards knew perfectly 

 well that there was an ocean passage from Java to the 

 Cape, for Ribero's map showed Magellan's Victoria 

 sailing along it. These Portuguese maps would have 

 failed to convince them that that ocean-way had been 

 closed ; while, on the other hand, they might have per- 

 suaded them of the existence of a great Southern Continent, 



1 Fiske's Discovery of America, vol. ii. p. 21. 



2 It would seem to be a point in favour of this argument that Deslien's 

 map (1566) places Portuguese flags on Jave la Grande (Collingridge's 

 First Discovery, p. 62). 



