The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea

"And the New South rose with her forehead bare--

Her forehead hare to meet the smiling sun--

Australia in her golden panoply;

And far off Empires see her work begun,

And her large hope has compassed every sea."

--SIR GILBERT PARKER.

Statue of Prince Henry

What was the relative position of European nations in the arena of maritime discovery at the beginning of the sixteenth century?

Portugal was then mistress of the sea.

Spain, too, indulging in an awakening yawn, was clutching with her outstretched hands at the shadowy treasure-islands of an unfinished dream.

England had not yet launched her navy; Holland had not built hers.

Portugal had already buried a king--the great grandson of Edward III. of England--whose enterprise had won for him the name of Henry the Navigator.

Portuguese Hemisphere and Spanish Hemisphere

Slowly and sadly--slowly always, sadly often--his vessels had crept down the west coast of Africa; little by little one captain had overstepped the distance traversed by his predecessor, until at last in 1497 a successful voyager actually rounded the Cape.

Portuguese Fleet

Then Portugal, clear of the long wall that had fenced her in on one side for so many thousands of miles, trod the vast expanse of waters to the east, and soon began to plant her flag in various ports of the Indian Ocean. [See Portuguese flags on Desliens' Map.]

Pushing on further east in search of the Spice Islands, she found Sumatra, Borneo, the Celebes, Java, Timor, Ceram, the Aru Islands and Gilolo; she had reached the famous and much coveted Moluccas, or Spice Islands, and set to work building forts and establishing trading stations in the same way as England is doing nowadays in South Africa and elsewhere.*

[* In a chart of the East Indian Archipelago, drawn probably during the first Portuguese voyages to the Spice Islands (1511-1513), the island of Gilolo is called Papoia. Many of the islands situated on the west and north-west coast of New Guinea became known to the Portuguese at an early date, and were named collectively OS PAPUAS. The name was subsequently given to the western parts of New Guinea. Menezes, a Portuguese navigator, is said to have been driven by a storm to some of these islands, where he remained awaiting the monsoonal change.]

Meanwhile the Spaniards, after the discovery of America by Columbus, were pursuing their navigations and explorations westward with the same object in view, and it soon dawned upon them that a vast ocean separated them from the islands discovered by the Portuguese.

Magellan was then sent out in search of a westerly passage; he reached the regions where the Portuguese had established themselves, and disputes arose as to the limits of the Portuguese and Spanish boundaries.

Pope Alexander VI. had generously bestowed one-half of the undiscovered world upon the Spanish, and the other half upon the Portuguese, charging each nation with the conversion of the heathen within its prospective domains.

Merely as a fact this is interesting enough, but viewed in the light of subsequent events it assumes a specific importance.

The actual size of the earth was not known at the time, and this division of Pope Alexander's, measured from the other side of the world, resulted in an overlapping and duplicate charting of the Portuguese and Spanish boundaries in the longitudes of the Spice Islands,* an overlapping due, no doubt, principally to the desire of each contending party to include the Spice Islands within its own hemisphere, but also to the fact that the point of departure which had been fixed in the vicinity of the Azores, was subsequently removed westward as far as the mouth of the Amazons.

If Portugal and Spain had remained to the present day in possession of their respective hemispheres, the first arrangement would have given Australia and New Guinea to Portugal; whereas the second arrangement would have limited her possessions at the longitude that separates Western Australia from her sister States to the east, which States would have fallen to the lot of Spain. Strange to say, this line of demarcation still separates Western Australia from South Australia so that those two States derive their boundary demarcation from Pope Alexander's line. A few years after the discovery of the New World the Spanish Government found it necessary, in order to regulate her navigations, and ascertain what new discoveries were being made, to order the creation of an official map of the world, in the composition of which the skill and knowledge of all her pilots and captains were sought. Curiously enough, as it may appear, there is an open sea where the Australian continent should be marked on this official map.

Majellan

Are we to infer that no land had been sighted in that region?

Such a conclusion may be correct, but we must bear in mind that prior to the year 1529, when this map was made,* the Spaniards had sailed along 250 leagues of the northern shores of an island which they called the Island of Gold, afterwards named New Guinea, and yet there are no signs of that discovery to be found on the Spanish official map. It is evident, therefore, that this part of the world could not have been charted up to date. This is not extraordinary, for it was not uncommon in those days, nor was it deemed strange that many years should elapse before the results of an expedition could be known at head-quarters. In order to realise the nature of the delays and difficulties to be encountered, nay, the disasters and sufferings to be endured and the determination required for the distant voyages of the period, we have but to recall the fate of Magellan's and Loaysa's expeditions.

[* See the Ribero Map.]

The Victoria

Those navigators were sent out in search of a western passage to the Spice Islands, and with the object of determining their situation.

Of the five vessels which composed Magellan's squadron, one alone, the Victoria, performed the voyage round the world.

The S. Antonio deserted in the Straits which received Magellan's name, seventy odd of the crew returning to Spain with her.

The Santiago was lost on the coast of Patagonia.

The Concepcion, becoming unfit for navigation, was abandoned and burnt off the island of Bohol, in the St. Lazarus Group, afterwards called the Philippines.

The Trinidad was lost in a heavy squall in Ternate Roads, and all hands made prisoners by the Portuguese. Many of them died, and, years after, only four of the survivors reached their native shores.

The Trinidad in a Squall

The Victoria, after an absence of three years all but twelve days, returned to Spain with thirty-one survivors out of a total crew of two hundred and eighty. The remaining one hundred and sixty or seventy had perished. It is true that some of those shared the fate of Magellan, and were killed in the war undertaken in the Philippines to help their allies.

The fate of Loaysa's armada was still more disastrous. A short description of it will be given in the next chapter.

Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the period was one of great maritime activity, and many unauthorised and clandestine voyages were also performed, in the course of which Australia may have been discovered, for the western and eastern coasts were charted before the year 1530, as we shall see by and by.

Flying Fish (From an Old Map)

Sebastian del Cano

Whilst the Portuguese and Spaniards were fighting for the possession of the "Spicery," as they sometimes called the Moluccas, the old dispute about the line of demarcation was resumed in Spain and Portugal. It was referred to a convocation of learned geographers and pilots, held at Badajoz, on the shores of the Guadiana.

Those learned men talked and argued, and their animated discussions extended over many months; but no decision was arrived at.

Sebastian del Cano, who had been appointed commander after Magellan's death at the Philippines, and had returned to Spain with the remnant of the expedition, had been called upon to report his views at the meetings, but he, also, had not been able to prove under what longitude the Spice Islands were situated; and now another fleet was ordered to be fitted out to make further investigations.

It was entrusted to Garcia Jofre de Loaysa, with del Cano as pilot-major, and other survivors of Magellan's armada.

They sailed from Coruna in July, 1525, with an armament of seven ships. Every precaution was taken to ensure the success of the voyage, but the expedition proved a most disastrous one notwithstanding. During a fearful storm del Cano's vessel was wrecked at the entrance to Magellan's Straits, and the captain-general was separated from the fleet.

Francisco de Hoces, who commanded one of the ships, is reported to have been driven by the same storm to 55 deg. of south latitude, where he sighted the group of islands which became known at a later date under the name of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.

It was April before the rest of the fleet entered Magellan's Straits, and the passage was tedious and dismal, several of the sailors dying from the extreme cold. At last, on the 25th of May, 1526, they entered the Pacific Ocean, where they were met by another storm, which dispersed the fleet right and left.

On this occasion an extraordinary piece of good luck befel one of the small vessels of the fleet--a pinnace or row boat, of the kind called pataca, in command of Joam de Resaga, who steered it along the coast of Peru, unknown at the time, and reached New Spain, where they gave an account to the famous conquerer of Mexico, Fernand Cortez, telling him that Loaysa was on his way to the islands of cloves.*

[* It is strange that this voyage, along the coasts of an hitherto unexplored country, preceding as it did, not only the conquest of Peru by Pizarro, but even the arrival of that conquistadore in the South Pacific Ocean, should have remained unknown by Prescott and all other historians of the conquest of the Land of the Incas.]

The remnant of the fleet steered a north-westerly course when once in the Pacific Ocean.

They were in a sore plight. Both commanders were sick, and, nearing the Line, on the 30th of July, Loaysa died. Four days after, Sebastian del Cano, who had escaped and weathered so many storms and dangers, expired also, leaving the command of the expedition to Alonzo de Salazar.

Salazar steered for the Ladrones. On the 4th of September he arrived at that group, where he met Gonzalo de Vigo, one of the seamen of the Trinidad.

From the Ladrones the expedition sailed for the Philippines, and on the way Alonzo de Salazar, the third commander, died.

Martin de Iniquez was now appointed to the command, and it was November before they came to anchor at Zamofo, a port in an island belonging to the King of Tidor, who had become their ally during their previous voyage.

Disputes immediately arose between the Spaniards and the Portuguese commander settled at Ternate. A war ensued, which lasted for several years, with various degrees of success and activity, the people of Tidor supporting the Spaniards and those of Ternate the Portuguese settlers.

Galvano, the Portuguese historian of the Moluccas, and a resident there for many years, informs us that only one vessel of Loaysa's fleet reached the Spice Islands. The fourth commander, Martin de Iniquez, died some time after, poisoned, it is said, and the command of the remnant of the expedition was entrusted to Hernando de la Torre. But the only vessel left was found to be so much damaged in repeated actions with the Portuguese that it had become unfit for the homeward voyage.

About this time, 1527, Fernand Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, sent from New Spain his kinsman, Alvaro de Saavedra, in search of Loaysa's expedition.

Saavedra set out from the Pacific coast with three armed vessels and one hundred and ten men.

Two of the vessels were almost immediately separated from the commander, and their destiny remains a mystery to the present day.

Saavedra, however, in command of the Santiago pursued his course alone and reached the Spice Islands, after a voyage of a little over two months.

His countrymen were delighted to see him, but remembering their own sad experiences, would hardly credit that he had come from New Spain in so short a time.

He was immediately attacked by the Portuguese, and various engagements took place in which he was supported by the survivors of Loaysa's armada, who had now built a brigantine out of the planks of their famous fleet of seven vessels.

Meanwhile Saavedra, during the intervals of peace, did not neglect to load up his good ship with spices, and, in the beginning of June, 1528, he set sail for New Spain. The prevailing winds that had favored his outward passage were now against him. He tried to avoid them by taking a southerly course, and, in doing so, he fell in with the northern coast of New Guinea, the shores of which, as I have intimated, he followed for no less than 250 leagues.

Scene from the Spice Islands.

The Spaniards found traces of gold all along this part of the country, and Saavedra named the island Isla del Oro, the Island of Gold; but his description of the natives, whom he found to be black, with short crisped hair or wool, similar to those of the coast of Guinea in Africa, gave rise, no doubt, to the alteration in the name, for at a later date the island became known as Nova Guinea, or New Guinea.

Upon leaving the shores of New Guinea, Saavedra hoped to be able to reach New Spain, but the head winds which still prevailed compelled him to return to the Spice Islands.

The following year, in May, 1529, in another attempt to reach New Spain, he again coasted along the northern shores of New Guinea; he then sailed to the north-east, as in his previous voyage, and discovered some islands which he called Los Pintados, from the natives being painted or tattooed.

The people were fierce and warlike, and from a canoe boldly attacked the ships with showers of stones thrown from slings.

To the north-east of Los Pintados several low inhabited islands or atolls were discovered, and named Los Buenos Jardines, "The Good Gardens."

Saavedra cast anchor here, and the natives came to the shore, waving a flag of peace; they were light-complexioned and tattooed. The females were beautiful, with agreeable features and long black hair; they wore dresses of fine matting. When the Spaniards landed, they were met by men and women in procession, with tambourines and festal songs. These islands abounded in cocoanuts and other vegetable productions.

From the Good Gardens Islands they set out again towards New Spain.

On the 9th of October, 1529, Saavedra died; and the next in command, vainly attempting to make headway in an easterly direction, returned once more to the Spice Islands.

The remnant of Saavedra's expedition reached Spain, by way of the Cape of Good Hope and Lisbon, seven years later, in 1536.

According to Galvano, the Portuguese historian, Saavedra's discoveries in 1529 were more extensive than in 1528. He says the Spaniards coasted along the country of the Papuas for five hundred leagues, and found the coast clean and of good anchorage.

The year that witnessed the return from the Spice Islands of the survivors of Saavedra's expedition, 1536, witnessed also the sailing of another fleet sent out from New Spain by Fernand Cortez to discover in the same waters.

It consisted of two ships commanded by Grijalva and Alvarado.

The account of this voyage of discovery is very vague, and the various writers on the subject do not entirely agree. This is due, perhaps, to the fact that Alvarado abandoned the enterprise from the start, and went to the conquest of Quito, in Peru, leaving the sole command to Grijalva.

Tidor Volcano, seen from Ternate.

It appears certain, however, that Grijalva visited many islands on the north coast of New Guinea, and one, in particular, called Isla de los Crespos, Island of the Frizzly Heads, at the entrance of Geelvinck Bay, near which a mutiny occurred, and Grijalva was murdered by his revolted crew.

His ship was wrecked, and the expedition came to an end, a few of the survivors reaching the Spice Islands in 1539.

Most of the names given during the course of the exploration are difficult to locate.

Besides the various place-names mentioned by Galvano, Ostrich Point, the Struis Hoek of later Dutch charts, is, perhaps, a reminiscence of this untimely voyage.

A casoar, or cassowary, would, of course, be called an ostrich, and here we have for the first time in history a picturesque description of that Australasian bird.

Galvano's translator says: "There is heere a bird as bigge as a crane, and bigger; he flieth not, nor hath any wings wherewith to flee; he runneth on the ground like a deere. Of their small feathers they do make haire for their idols."

The Cassowary

The Earliest Drawing of a Wallaby (Western Australia) from Péron's stuffed specimens.

The Spice Islands, from Ribero's Official Map of the World. (Portugese and Spanish hemispheres)

Nova Guinea--The First Map of New Guinea 1600. (Portugese and Spanish hemispheres)

Jave-la-Grande--The First Map of Australia, known also as the "Dauphin Chart--1530-36. (Portugese and Spanish hemispheres)

Don Diego de Prado's Map of the Bay of St Philip and St James in Espiritu Santo (New Hebrides).

Spanish Ships

I must now say a few words about the official map of the world, alluded to on page 16. It is by Ribero, and will be found on pages 28 and 29. The date of this map is 1529.

The portion reproduced shows the Spice Islands, and a glance at this part of the world brings vividly to our minds the intense desire of each contending party to possess a region that yielded the wealth that is here described.

The map is Spanish, and Spain has allotted to herself the lion's share, planting her flag in the midst of "Spice and everything nice" (see Spanish hemisphere), and relegating the Portuguese flag to the Straits of Sunda (see Portuguese hemisphere). For thousands of miles around, ships--the seas are dotted with specimens similar to the two included within our small area--fleets of them, converge towards, or sail away from these spice-bearing islands. Every quaint old craft, whether light caravel or crazy galleon, is underwritten with the legend, Vengo de Maluco, I come from the Moluccas, or, Vay a Maluco, I go to the Moluccas, as though that region were the only one on the face of the globe worthy of consideration. And all that "Province of Maluco" bears inscriptions denoting the particular product for which each island is celebrated.

These are:--

Timor, for Sandal-wood; Java, for Benzoin;* Borneo and Celebes, for Camphor; Amboyna, for Mace and Nutmegs; and last, not least, Gilolo, for Cloves.

[* Benzoin, a fragrant gum-resin obtained from Styrax Benzoin, used in pharmacy, and as incense.]

Let us now consider some other features of this map. The overlapping of territorial boundaries to which I have alluded, is apparent here in the repetition of the western coast line of Gilolo.

It will be seen that the Spanish map claims Gilolo and the other Spice Islands, such as Ternate, Tidor, Batchian, etc., since they are set down, in the western half of the world.

This is wrong, for those islands virtually fell within the Portuguese sphere. I have purposely drawn your attention to these deceptions and distortions on this Spanish map because on the first map of Australia, which we shall consider by and by, we shall see that the Portuguese made use of similar methods which they, of course, turned to their own advantage.

Nutmegs and Cloves, from an Old Chart

For instance, they blocked the sea-way to the south of Java, and, in other ways, restricted the approach to the Spice Islands to channels over which they had control. Observe that the smaller islands of the East Indian Archipelago, from Java to Flores, are not charted, although they were well-known at the time. There must have been a reason for this, for these missing islands are precisely those which we shall find grafted on to the Australian continent (Jave-la-Grande) in the charts that we are coming to.

Observe also that the south coast of Java is not marked. The reason for this is obvious, the south coast was not known. Java, indeed, was believed to be connected with the Great Southern Continent, and was called Java Major, to distinguish it from Sumatra, which was named Java Minor.

Banda Volcano

In proof of the Portuguese belief concerning the connection and size of Java, I quote here what Camo?ns, their immortal poet, says:--

"Olha a Sunda* tao larger, que huma banda

Esconde pare o Sul difficultuoso."

Os Lusiadas.

Java behold, so large that one vast end

It, covers towards the South tempestuous.

[* Another name for Java.]

Diego do Couto's Pig

Towards the year 1570, however, practical Portuguese seamen had become aware of a more accurate shape for Java, and Diego do Couto, the Portuguese historian, describes its shape in the following manner:--

"The figure of the island of Java resembles a pig couched on its fore legs, with its snout to the Channel of Balabero,* and its hind legs towards the mouth of the Straits of Sunda, which is much frequented by our ships. The southern coast, [pig's back] is not frequented by us, and its bays and ports are not known; but the northern coast [pig's stomach] is much frequented, and has many good ports."

[* Modern Straits of Bali.]

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