GBOdRArtllCAl. 
Discoveries op 
THE ShTMTHIXTH 
A XI* Kiuhtkrstii 
CbXTTRIK'* 
Amcxcr op 
Votaobi or 
I>|«ryjTK|IT HU M 
164 * TM 1764 
48 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
\ sited during th • sixteenth century; isolated points of the island-continent which was 
soon to receive the name of New Holland or Australia were seen, but out of the 
immense number of scattered Polynesian islands very few had been discovered, and 
their identification was most uncertain. 
The geographical work of the sixteenth century was continued, but with less vigour, 
- ■ triii 4 the seventeenth century. The only considerable result of the investigations made 
: n the Croat Ocean during the seventeenth century was the discovery by the Dutch navy 
of th western half of New Holland, from the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north to 
about the middle of the south coast. Abel Tasman in 1642 showed that Australia and 
\ in Diemans Land were surrounded by the ocean to the south, but the west coast of 
Now / aland, which he visited, was believed to be a part of the Great Southern Continent. 
In the north, hydrographic explorations were continued, always with a view of 
discovering a shorter route to India. Hudson, in his last voj T age in 1610, found near 
the 60th parallel the strait now bearing his name; the current coming from the west 
n i h him suspect the existence of a great inner sea, which was explored by himself, 
n ’ in the following years (1612-1613) by Thomas Button. William Baffin (1616) 
hugged the western coast of Greenland as far as lat. 74° N., about 14 degrees higher 
than the spot reached by Davis, and, continuing to sail northwards in an open sea, he 
r* ichcd the strait which he named Smith’s Sound, in lat. 78° N. He was unable to 
proceed further in this direction. Turning south-west, he discovered on the coast, in lat. 
7 ; to 76 N. two wide openings, Jones’ Sound and Lancaster Sound, the latter of 
w 1 h n - played an important part in modern explorations. The name of Baffin’s Bay 
bi- deservedly been retained for the enclosed sea to which Davis’ Strait leads, and into 
which open important passages to the Polar Sea, 
1; tic middle of the seventeenth century the relations of land and water had been 
<>L rved directly on two-thirds of the earth’s surface. In the Pacific, the Sandwich 
I dun b. the Society Islands, the principal islands of the Navigator Archipelago, and the 
Pit. Wands had been discovered, while the Marquesas, Santa Cruz Islands, and the New 
II brides hud P cn discovered but lost sight of. The explorations in southern latitudes 
wer P- numerous, and many people still believed in the existence of a vast continent 
- unwinding the South Pole, and extending into low latitudes. Half of the south-eastern 
coast of Australia was not yet known. 
Wlc n, in 1728, the Russian expedition under Bering passed through the straits which 
Ik u hi- name, the discovery of the continent of America may be said to have been 
‘•'•ropb ‘ ! and the new world stood revealed in its broad and general outlines. Bering 
m . ; f rtber explorations in the same direction, but after the numerous voyages in the 
pf<< ding centuries the absence of discoveries for over a century before Cook is surprising. 
Kv. ry i:c > nti v< cmed to be v. anting among maritime nations at that time. All the regions 
Prii [ immediate profit to the explorer had been discovered, commercial relations had 
