INTRODUCTION. 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS UPON THE DISCOVERY OF THE 
TERRA AUSTRALIS INCOGNITA — INSTRUCTIONS FOR 
THE EXECUTION OF THE VOYAGE— PASSAGE TO NEW 
SOUTH WALES— PURCHASE AND EQUIPMENT OF THE 
MERMAID. 
Nearly three centuries* have now elapsed 
since our first knowledge of the Great South 
Land) the Terra Australis Incognita of an- 
cient geographers; and, until within the 
last century, comparatively little had been 
done towards making a minute exploration 
# The late Rear-Admiral Burney, in his History of 
Discoveries in the South Sea , (vol. i. p. 880,) describes 
a chart, dated 1542, drawn by Rotz, in which a coast is 
continued to the 28th degree of south latitude ; and im- 
mediately below the 80th degree, there is the name of 
Coste des Herbaiges, answering by an extraordinary 
coincidence both in climate and in name to Botany 
Bay. 
Vol. L 
b 
