206 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



" Signs of saw to the South very extensive and thick banks of clouds 

 in a 26 and -" n ^e nor i zon > an d other well-known signs of mainland." x 

 But the stress is laid on the religious argument : on the 

 duty of Spain to fulfil the prophecies which foretell, so 

 it is argued, that Spaniards shall redeem the sheep of 

 the "other" or Southern fold; and above all on the 

 urgent need to undertake this work at once. " For the 

 Dutch and English and Dutch heretics, whom the Devil unites for 

 heretics in ^ s purpose by every means in his power, most diligently 

 West and continue the exploration, discovery, and colonisation 

 of the principal ports of this large part of the world in 

 the Pacific Ocean, and sow in it the most pernicious poison 

 of their apostasy, which they put forth with the most 

 anxiety in advance of us, who should put forth the sover- 

 eign light of the Gospel." Heretics were raging in East 

 and in West. They were trading and fighting in the 

 Moluccas. They were actually settling in Virginia and 

 in Bermuda, infecting " millions upon millions " with their 

 " infernal poison," depriving the Church of "an infinite 

 number of souls," seeking to found an empire that " will 

 at length possess much better and richer Indies than our 

 own, and from which they will be able to lord it absolutely 

 over all our territories, and all our navigations and com- 

 merce with the West Indies." As in the West, so in the 

 East. Drake and Cavendish had surveyed the Spanish 

 world from Peru to the Moluccas, laughing at Spanish 

 claims, trampling on Spanish pride, sacking Spanish cities 

 in the West, smashing the fence of Spanish monopoly in 

 the East. Meanwhile the Dutch the despised Dutch ! 

 were trading from the Cape to the Moluccas, and from 

 the Straits to the Moluccas. " We have reached such 

 a point that the most inconsiderable nations of Europe, 



1 These statements about the voyage of Juan Fernandez, and the 

 " signs of mainland " in 26, were used by Dalrymple in his endeavour 

 to prove the existence of the Continent. It seems likely that the 

 land which Fernandez discovered was either the island that bears 

 his name, or possibly Easter Island. The documents of the voyagers 

 of 1606 do not seem to mention " signs of mainland " in 26. Possibly 

 Arias had received information by word of mouth, or possibly he has 

 in mind the " signs of land on both sides of us," which Torres mentions 

 at a later stage in the voyage. 



