314 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



you may probably touch somewhere on Nova Hollandia, 

 and so make some profitable discovery without going 

 out of your way." And, apart from Nova Hollandia, 

 as Tasman had shown, " all that vast tract of Terra 

 Australis which bounds the South Sea, is as yet undis- 

 covered." And Dampier can himself add an interesting 

 bit of information about Terra Australis. For Captain 

 Davis, one of his pirate friends, had told him lately that, 

 sailing in Latitude 27 S., about five hundred leagues 

 from Chili, he saw a small sandy island, and that Westward 

 of it was " a long tract of pretty high land, tending away 

 towards the North- West out of sight." " This," comments 

 Dampier, " might probably be the coast of Terra Australis 

 Incognita." 



Dampier thought that Captain Swan might easily have 

 managed this excellent design of a Factory, for at sea he 

 " had his men as much under command as if he had been 

 in a King's ship." But at the island they were getting 

 out of hand. Those who had money lived ashore with 

 their Delilahs, buying them a ring or a wristband or an 

 armlet with half an ounce of gold at a time. Those who 

 had no money lived on board, and sent ashore for " rack 

 and honey to make punch, wherewith they grew drunk 

 and quarrelsome." Then, by chance, some of them came 

 across the Captain's journal, in which he had " inveighed 

 bitterly against most of his men." Thereupon they sailed 

 away, leaving Swan and thirty-six men ashore. Dampier 

 chanced to be on board. 



The plan now was " to cruise before Manila." They 

 took some ships, and Dampier wrote greatly about canes, 

 and tar-trees, and mangoes, and turtles, and bats as big 

 as ducks. He was weary of " business," and longed 

 " to give them the slip." But they sailed to Tonquin 



1 Dampier writes very curiously about the relations of Nova Hollandia 

 and Terra Australis. His map shows knowledge of Tasman's voyage. 

 Yet he writes, " New Holland a part of Terra Australis " (vol. i. p. 450) ; 

 and also, " New Holland is a very large tract of land. It is not yet 

 determined whether it is an island or a main continent ; but I am 

 certain that it joins neither Asia, Africa, nor America." (!) Sometimes 

 he uses Terra Australis as equivalent to Nova Hollandia. 



