Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/15

 PREFACE, xi priority among the discoverers in order to see the existing state of confusion. There are at least five such theories still in exist- ence : one sets up the Malays and the Chinese as the first dis- coverers j another the French ; a third, the Portuguefse j a fourth, the Spaniards ; and a fifth, the Dutch. Each of these theories is supported by a great deal of argument and some evidence ; but nothing seems to come of either but doubt and despair. To show how unsettled the question still remains, it is enough to mention that Major, in 1859, considered it highly probable that the Portuguese discovered the country between 1511 and 1529, and almost certain that they discovered it before 1542; but having found a mappemonde in the British Museum two years afterwards, he came to the conclusion that the country was positively discovered by the Portuguese in 1001 — ^the Dutch being thus summarily dispossessed of an honour they had enjoyed for more than two centuries. Further researches enabled the lucky discoverer of the map to satisfy himself that it was ^^ an abominable imposture,^^ and the laurel crown was thereupon handed back to the Dutch.* Unfortunately, how- ever, the detection of the imposture escaped the notice of many who had read the account of the map — among them being the author of a valuable work on the History of Australian Explor- ation, in whose pages it appears as unquestioned evidence of " a Portuguese discovery of Australia immediately preceding the Dutch one.'^t However interesting the point of priority may be, it is a matter of little importance compared with a reasonably accurate knowledge of the whole subject — for which we must wait until it is treated, like any other branch of inquiry, accord- ing to the critical methods of the present day. • Early Voyages to Terra Australia, p. Ixiv ; ArchcDologia, toI. xxxviii, p. 439 ; Discoveries of Prince Henry the Navigat-or, p. 296 n. t Favenc, History of Australian Exploration (Sydney, 1888), p. 21. Digitized by Google