XVI 



8. Mappemonde by Nicholas Desliens, of Dieppe, 1506. In the 

 Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. 



" All of these agree in the main in their representations of a vast 

 country separated by a narrow strait from the Island of Java, and on 

 which is inscribed the name ' The Londe of Java,' or ' Jave la Grande.' 



" Mr. Major suggests three questions in connection with these maps of 

 Java. First — Are their points of resemblance to the maps of Australia 

 sufficiently striking to justify us in believing that the originals whence 

 they were taken were based on actual discoveries ? Secondly — If so, 

 who were the discoverers? And, thirdly, at what date were the 

 discoveries made ? 



" Had we only the map of Deseeliers to guide us we would hardly be 

 justified in saying that anything further was represented than the Terra 

 Auslralisoi the myths, for in that map we find the fictitious Southern Con- 

 tinent shown in very much the same way as in the engraved maps of which 

 I have been speaking, and in it the western coast line of what might be 

 supposed to denote Australia, is carried so far to the south as to suggest a 

 merely hypothetical country. Turning, however, to the Dauphin map 

 and that of Rotz in hemispheres, the mat'er assumes a different aspect. 

 In the former it is true the coast lines of Jave la Grande are produced 

 far south of the latitude of Australia, but they cease to be definite or 

 suggestive of actual physical features on the west side at a latitude 

 exactly corresponding with that of the south-western limit of Australia 

 proper. In the map of Rotz they cease entirely in that latitude. 

 The eastern coasts are much more perplexing. I will only say at 

 present that the utmost recognisable limit towards the south is in 45°, 

 or nearly the latitude of the south of Tasmania. Both coasts reach 

 to about 10° S., in the northern direction. 



" As might be expected, the longtitude is much less exact. Maury 

 tells us, in his chapter on the influence of the gulf stream upon climates 

 and commerce, that it was not unusual at the end of the last century 

 for sailors crossing the Atlantic to be 6°, 8°, or 10° out of their 

 reckoning in regard of longitude in as many days at sea. It 

 can hardly then be matter of wonder if those navigators of the sixteenth 

 century were as many degrees out as they had been months at sea. On 

 the west side there is a deficiency of about 11°, — 12G° E. of the 

 Cape Verde Islands instead of 137°. On the east side is an excess of 

 about 9°, — 187° E. of these islands instead of 178". Adding the two 

 errors we find that Jave la Grande is credited with 20" too many of 

 longitudinal extent. 



" It may be noted here that all this coast line cannot have resulted 

 from one voyage. Hence the fact of an error of excess on one side of 

 the map being supplemented by an error of the opposite character on 

 the other side need excite no surprise. The maximum error is one of 

 11°, which, in regard to longitude, must be considered as trifling for 

 that period. 



" We have next to consider the contour of these coasts as compared 

 with that of Australia. It should be remembered that, in all pro- 

 bability, the originals were mere flying sketches of what was seen of 

 the coast from weather-beaten ships, and made no pretension to accurate 

 survey. It is very much as if two of us, never having seen a map of 

 Tasmania and ignorant of its insular character, were to be cast, the one 

 on its east, the other on its west coast ; were, in passing along, to jot 

 down its outlines as they appeared to us ; and as if these sketches 

 were to fall into the hands of some mapmaker on the other side of the 

 world to be elaborated into a map, and placed in proper position 

 relatively to tho other countries of the globe. We may safely say that 

 these outlines of Jave la Grande bear as great a resemblance to the 

 Australian coasts as our hypothetical map of Tasmania would do to the 



