362 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



discovery. He hoped to obtain command of a South Sea 

 expedition. And meanwhile he busied himself in preparing 

 for the press his Collection of Voyages to the South Seas, 

 a work which was published in/ 1770. But Dalrymple 

 wrote not primarily for the student of History. His main 

 purpose was to point out, not how much had been done, 

 but how much remained to do. And already in 1767 

 he had in print a tiny volume, not published till 1769, 

 Discoveries in entitled Discoveries in the South Pacific to 1764., in which 

 Padfic to ^ e summe d up once more the argument which claimed 

 776.5*. to prove that the Southern Continent exists, and that 



it is well worth finding. The volume, which was to play 

 an important part in the voyage of the Endeavour, had 

 a map which marked Torres' route through his Strait, 

 and which illustrated the argument of the text that a 

 continent must occupy the unknown South. 1 



A Southern Once more it is urged that the existence of the continent 

 * s based on nothing less than physical necessity. Land 

 in the South must balance land in the North. Now, within 

 the Tropics, it is true, the lands to the South do fairly 

 balance those to the North. But in the temperate regions 

 there is nothing in the known South to balance the great 

 mass of land in the North. Therefore, in the unknown 

 South a continent must exist. Dalrymple's conclusion 

 is that " the space unknown from the Tropics to 5 S. 

 Lat. must be nearly all land." 2 And, though this fact 

 has not been proved by " absolute experience," proof 

 has been given sufficiently convincing to the eye of faith. 

 Again and again land had been seen exactly where, according 

 to laws of physical necessity, land must be. In the late 

 sixteenth century, Juan Fernandez had found West of 

 Chili in 40 a very " fertile and agreeable continent, in- 

 habited by a white and well-proportioned people." 

 In 1599 Gerrards in 64 had seen mountains which seemed 

 to extend to the Solomons. In 1606 Ouiros had seen 

 indications of land in 26, and again in 17. In 1616 

 Le Maire had seen the same in 51, in 1624 the crew of the 

 Orange Tree had seen the continent in 50, and again in 41. 

 1 See map, p. 363. 2 P. 94. 



