ntageous offers, which, however, I scorned to accept."--In
_Ramusio_.]

They could not have believed that Timor was situated to the east of the
peninsula, now known as York Peninsula, and clearly shown in these
charts, nor that there was not an open sea to the south of Java since the
first circumnavigators, returning to Spain from Timor, with the last ship
of Magellan's fleet, sailed through it. (See track of their ship on map
of Timor, p. 40.)

But the secret was so well kept, that seventy-eight years after
Magellan's voyage round the world, Java and Australia were still believed
to be one and the same continent by certain otherwise well-informed
navigators, as will be seen by Linschoten's "Discours of Voyages into ye
East and West Indies," published in London, in the year 1598, in which
the following description, from Portuguese sources, occurs:

"South, south-east, right over against the last point or corner of the
Isle of Sumatra, on the south, side of the equinoctial line, lyeth the
island called JAUA MAIOR, or Great Java, where there is a strait or
narrow passage, called the strait of Sunda, of a place so called, lying
not far from thence within the Isle of Java. The island beginneth under 7
degrees on the south side, and runneth east and by south 150 miles long;
but touching the breadth it is not found, because as yet it is not
discovered, nor by the inhabitants themselves well known."

"Some think it to be firme land* and parcel of the countrie called TERRA
INCOGNITA, which, being so, should reach from that place to the _Cape de
Bova Sperace_ [Cape of Good Hope]; but as [?] it is not certainly known,
and, therefore, it is accounted an island."

[* The term implies continental land]

The above passage [shows?] that the author was uncertain as to whether
Australia, which he calls the Great Java, was connected or not with
ANTARCTICA, which he terms TERRA INCOGNITA; and his hesitation may be
readily understood when we consider that some maps of the period
disconnected Java-la-Grande from the TERRE AUSTRALLE INCOGNEUE; whereas
others connected it with Kerguelen and Tierra del Fuego.

THE ILLUMINATIONS.

I shall say a few words now about the illuminations. They form a
conspicuous feature in these old maps, and lend a great charm to such
productions of a bygone age; it would be a useless task, however, to seek
in these quaint devices a strict pourtrayal of the scenes appertaining to
the countries they might be