DISCOVERY OF EASTERN AUSTRALIA 411 



are drawn as parts of New Holland. On the other hand 



New Holland and New Guinea are drawn as separate 



lands with a well-defined strait between them, though 



de Brosses had said in his text, " we are not yet well assured 



if New Holland joins New Guinea " ! On this point 



Dalrymple's chart gave the strongest support to the view 



expressed in de Brosses' map. And Dalrymple's view, as Dalrymple's 



we have seen, was based on the knowledge that Torres had view - 



actually sailed through a strait between New Holland 



and New Guinea ; and he had marked Torres' track 



on the chart included in his booklet, an advance copy 



of which he had given to Banks. He had not, however, 



printed his evidence for the opinion that Torres had sailed 



on this route, viz. the Memorial of Arias ; though he had 



apparently explained his knowledge of the matter to Banks. 



Thus there must have been three geographical questions 

 in Cook's mind as he sailed West : (i) Was New Holland Three 

 one land with Van Diemen's Land ? (2) Was it one land questions, 

 with Espiritu Santo ? (3) Was it one land with New 

 Guinea ? On the first question, Cook had, for the present, 

 no material for even forming a guess. On the second 

 question, he agreed with Dalrymple's view that New 

 Holland and Espiritu Santo were not connected ; he did 

 not know that Bougainville had just proved this fact. 

 As to the third question, Cook had always understood 

 that New Holland and New Guinea w r ere one land ; but 

 he seems to have been impressed by the map of de Brosses 

 (in spite of the contradiction of de Brosses' text), and still 

 more by the map of Dalrymple, as explained by Banks. 

 He expected to find a passage between New Holland and 

 New Guinea ; but he considered that the evidence on the 

 subject was so conflicting and so ancient that it would 

 remain a " doubtful point with geographers " till the 

 passage was sailed. 



Cook's aim was to " fall in with Van Diemen's Land as Cook fails to 

 near as possible at the place where Tasman left it." In ^^ion 6 

 this way he would be able to prove that Van Diemen's whether Van 

 Land was, or was not, one land with New Holland. LaiuUs an 

 Unluckily, he got a little too far to the North. Banks island. 



