Vll) 
INTRODUCTION. [Prior Discoveries. 
TteDuyfken. and that she sailed along, what was thought to be, the west side of 
1606 ' that country, to 13* 0 of south latitude. « This extensive country 
« was found, for the greatest part, desart ; but, in some places, 
« inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages ; by whom some of the 
. « crew were murdered. For which reason they could not learn 
« anything of the land, or waters, as had been desired of them ; 
« and, from want of provisions and other necessaries, they were 
« obliged to leave the discovery unfinished : The furthest point of the 
« land, in their map, was called Cape Keer-Weer," or Turn-again. 
(Atlas,PU.) The course of the Duyfhen, from New Guinea, was southward, 
along the islands on the west side of Torres' Strait, to that part of 
Terra Australis, a little to the west and south of Cape York ; but 
all these lands were thought to be connected, and to form the west 
coast of New Guinea. Thus, without being conscious of it, the 
commander of the Duyfhen made the first authenticated discovery 
of any part of the great South Land, about the month of March 
1606 ; for it appears, that he had returned to Banda in, or before, 
the beginning of June, of that year. 
Torres. Luis Vaes de Torres, a Spanish navigator, was the next person 
1606, who saw Terra Australis ; and it is remarkable, that it was near 
the same place, and in the same year; and that he had as little 
knowledge of the nature of his discovery, as had the Duyfhen. 
Torres was second in command to Pedro Fernandez de Quiros ; 
when he sailed with three vessels, from the port of Callao in Peru, 
in the year 1605. One of the purposes of their expedition was to 
search for the Tierra Austral ; a continent which was supposed 
to occupy a considerable portion of that part of the southern 
hemisphere lying westward of America. 
After the discovery of several islands, Ouiros came to a land 
which he named Australia del Espiritu Santo, supposing it to 
be a part of the great Southern Continent ; but this, on his separa- 
tion from the admiral, Torres found could be no other than an 
