Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/11

 THE

OF

DISCOVERY.

ERRA AUSTRALIS INCOGNITA, the great unknown South Land, was visited by the Portuguese Menezes, first of all Europeans, in the year 1527, when exploring the Indian Seas; and the memory of this discovery is perpetuated in the name given to the group of rocky islets on the West Coast, still known as the Abrolhos, a term frequently applied by the early voyagers of that nation to dangerous outlying islets and reefs, indicating the necessity for a good look out, and being a contraction of the words which in that language mean "open your eyes."

The Portuguese were closely followed by the Dutch, who examined and gave name to the districts of the Western Coast and its most notable features. In this will be found the only interest which their discoveries now command, as their surveys and descriptions of the places they visited have been superseded by those made since Great Britain took possession of the country.