Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/34

 xxviii AN mTRODUCTORY about them."* But unless he had satisfied himself on the subject, why did he construct his maps of New Holland and New Gruinea in such a manner as to show the straits ? This is one of the many little puzzles connected with Australian geo- graphy of the last century which deserve the attention of those who are interested in it. The only answer to the question seems to be that de Brosses looked upon New Holland as an island, probably considering that fact established ; but not having seen the Relation written by Torres of his passage through the straits, he thought that there was just room for a doubt on the subject. Nothing was known about Tasman's second voyage in his time. Dalrymple^s Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean was another work of great authority at the time it was published — 1770. It contained a chart of the South Pacific, "pointing out the discoveries made therein pre- vious to 1764," which showed Torres' track in 1606 through the straits. The work made its appearance too late to form part of the Endeavour's library ; but its influence on the geographical speculation of the age may be seen at a glance if we compare the introduction and the chapter entitled '^Investigation of what may be farther expected in the South Sea," with the introduction to Cook's Voyage towards the South Pole. Dalrymple was an enthusiast on this subject, but he was not entitled to any credit for originality in his speculations; he merely revived the old theory of the southern continent, but he did it with so much force of argument and illustration that an expedition to determine the question was a natural result. It was perhaps unfortunate for us that his work was not published before the Endeavour sailed ; because we may be allowed to suppose that if Cook had had an opportunity of reading it, his attention would have been directed to the name Austealia, from its frequent appearance in capital letters — suggesting the idea that the author intended to • Cook stated in 1776 that " Torres seems to have been the first who sailed between New Holland and New Guinea" — Voyage towards the South Pole, introduction, p. xii ; but he made no reference to him when he gave the name Endeayour Streight« to the passage between the Prince of Wales's Islands and the mainland in 1770 ; Hawkesworth, toI. iii, p. 619. Digitized by Google