354 



AUSTEAI.ASIA. 



unknown Liisitanian mariners in these latitudes. Even Torres' expedition of 

 1606, through the reef-studded strait separating New Guinea from Australia, was 

 forgotten, and would, perhaps, be still buried in oblivion but for the learned 

 researches of Dalrymple. 



To the Dutch navigators is due the accurate knowledge of a great part of the 

 Australian seaboard, and the name of New Holland given by its discoverers to 

 this region has not yet been quite forgotten. Towards the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century, while this appellation still prevailed in geographical nomenclature, 

 a considerable section of the coasts had already been explored. In 1606, the 

 Duyfken, equipped by the Dutch for a voyage of discovery, had probably touched 



Fig. 152. — CoMPAKATiVE Areas of Australia and the British Isles. 

 Scale 1 : -10,000,000. 



600 Miles. 



the eastern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and advanced along the coast as far 

 as Cape Keer-weer, or " Return." In 1616, the EendracM skirted the west side 

 of the continent, and till recently the name of this vessel still figured on the maps. 

 Three years later Edel discovered the south-west point of Australia, and he was 

 followed by the captain of the Leemvin, who, with Peter Nuyts, successfully 

 navigated the southern waters, while in the north and north-west, other Dutch 

 mariners sighted lands to which they gave the names of Witt and Arnhem. The 

 discovery of the western half of the continental periphery was completed in 1 644 

 by Abel Tasman, who had, two years previously, sailed round a great part of the 



