50 A PRELIMINARY CRITIQUE OF THE TERRA AUSTRALIS LEGEND. 



other countries, as well as the worship of cattle, both of which 

 cults are ascribed by him to the Javanese. 



The deer, of which numerous small species exist in South 

 America, and the peccary Dycntyles torquatus and lahiatus, are 

 both pourtrayed. Perhaps both, certainly the latter, is 

 represented as tame ; the Indians of to-day keep it as a 

 domestic animal. (Humboldt's Travels in America, ii. 

 chaj)., XX.) Two species, at least, of palms are represented, 

 one with palmate and the other with pinnate leaves ; a tree 

 of the former species, the Corypha tedorum, or roofing palm, 

 is described by Humboldt as affording the Chaymas Indians 

 the leaves with which they roof their huts. (i. chap, xx.) 



The existence in France of a MS. chart as early as 1530, 

 which shows the east coast of South America to about 

 26 deg. S., and which is derived from French sources, is thus 

 no matter of wonderment. But the possible acquaintance on 

 the part of the French with the western coast of South. 

 America, even at that date, is a matter on which we can as 

 yet throw but little light. In these circumstances a passage 

 quoted by M. Margry from the MS. Cosmographie of 

 Jean Alfonce (1646), is not without interest. " La Grande 

 Jave " says the writer, " is a land which extends to the 

 Antarctic Pole and joins the Terra Australis on the west and 

 the land of Magellan's Straits on the east. Some say that 

 it consists of islands, but as far as I have seen it, it is a 

 continent, and when all is said, the whole world consists of 

 islands, for land and water form one body. The ocean 

 encircles everything by means of arms of the sea, which are 

 in the ball (pomme) of the earth. What is called Java 

 Minor is an island ; but Jave la Grande is a continent." In 

 another place Alfonce remarks : — " There have been no 

 discoveries beyond Java on account of the great cold under 

 the Antarctic Pole. I have been in a place there where day 

 lasted for three months, allowing for the reflection of the sun ; 

 I did not wish to remain longer in case night should surprise 

 me." Margry, Navigations francaises, pp. 316-317. The 

 only continental land to which this description can approxi- 

 mately apply is the west coast of South America. That 

 coast joins the land of Magellan's Straits towards the east, 

 and although there is no Terra Australis of fact with whicli 

 it can be joined towards the west, there was a Terra Australis 

 of fiction real enough to Jean Alfonce in the position required. 

 At another part of his Gosmographie, Alfonce brings his 

 " Grand Jaive " up to 21 deg. S., or about the latitude to 

 which Desliens traces the eastern coast of " Jave la Grande." 



Besides the French names on the MS. charts, of which I 

 have spoken, there are others in Portuguese. The latter 

 generally differ from the former, inasmuch as they are rather 

 nautical than topographical, and correspond to the phrases 



