[ Ixviii ] 
PRIOR DISCOVERIES IN TERRA A U STRAUS. 
SECTION III. 
SOUTH COAST. 
Discovery of Nuyts. Examination of Vancouver : of D' Entrecasteaux. 
Conclusive Remarks. 
Nuyts. No historical fact seems to be less disputed, than that the South 
At!, pi. i.) Coast of New Holland was first discovered in January 1627 : whe- 
ther it were the 26th, according to De Hondt, or the 16th, as is 
expressed on Thevenot's chart, is of very little import. It is generally 
said, that the ship was commanded by Pieter Nuyts ; but as Nuyts, 
on his arrival at Batavia, was sent ambassador to Japan, and after- 
wards made governor of Formosa, it seems more probable that he 
was a civilian, perhaps Company's first merchant on board, rather 
than captain of the ship : the land discovered has, however, always 
borne his name. 
The Dutch recital says, — " In the year 1627, the South Coast of 
" the Great South Land was accidentally discovered by the ship the 
« Guide Zeepaard, outward-bound from Fatherland, for the space of 
" a thousand miles." 
This discovery has always been considered as of importance. A 
memoir was published at Amsterdam in 1718, " to prove, that Nuyts' 
" Land, being in the fifth climate, between 34° and 36° of latitude ; 
" " ought to be, like all other countries so situated, one of the most 
" habitable, most rich, and most fertile parts of the world."* The 
* Hist, des Nav. aux Terres Auslrales. Tome I. page 429. 
