Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/699

 OF TERRA AUSTRAUS. 575 of Dijon, who collected in two quarto volumes the accounts of all Biblio- the voyages which had been made to lea Terres Austrcdes. De fiprapliy* Brosses divided his work into three sections, viz. : Australasia, Polynesia, and Magellanica. De Brosses: — Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes. Oontenant ce que Ton s^ait des moeurs et des productions des Cen- tres decouvertes jusqu' k ce jour ; et ou il est traite de V utility d'y faire de plus ample decouvertes, et des moyens d*y former un ^tablissement. 4to., 2 vols. Paris, 1756. In his preface, de Brosses explains the origin of his work by saying that, shortly after the publication of the letters of de Maupertuis, he was present at a private meeting of literary men at which the letters were discussed ; that he spoke for hidf-an-hour on the proposal for making further discoveries in the Terres Australes ; and that, finding himself au fait on the subject, he was led to undertake the task of collecting the Voyages. Spea.king of the discoveries in the southern seas made subse- quent to the publication of his work, the Biographie UniverseUe, in its notice of de Brosses, says — Ou ne sait pas assez en France que de Brosses a eu, pour ainsi dire, Tinitiative de ces decouvertes ; qu'il les a pressenties et pro- voquees ; que la lecture de son livre, en donnant Bougainville k la marine Francais, a donne Teveil k Tamiraute britannique, et k Cook lui-m6me. Bumey, referring to the work of de Brosses, preface to vol. i, p. X, says — It is very evident that the principal object of de Brosses was to explain the advantages of distant colonies, and to recommend the settlement of land discovered in the southern hemisphere. His volumes were preceded and followed by others dealing with the subject See especially — Harris's Voyages. Edited by Dr. Campbell (2 vols.), vol xi, sect. 20. London, 1744. Terra Australis ; or a History of the Southern Continent [Book xiv, chap, xii, of Universal History], being vol. ii of Modern His- tory, pp. 273-553. London, 1759. The writer (probably Harris's Editor) suggested that the African Company should be invested witihi the exclusive right of making discoveries and settle- ments in the Southern Continent. If neither the African nor the East India Company should think it expedient or consistent with their interests to estabUsh such settlements, he thought the duty should then devolve upon the South Sea Company, who by their charter had the power to do so. Harris : — Navigantium atque Itinerantium Biblotheca. A Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels, <fec. New edition, revised and continued [by John Campbell, LL.D.J. Maps and Plates. 2 vols., folio. • London, 1764. Digitized by Google