onstantly in search
of certain more or less fictitious islands, among which, the "Island of
Men" and the "Island of Women," had been sought for in vain.

Could this be one of the lost islands? The old-fashioned letter s,
resembling an f, made _Hame de sille_ look like _Hame de fille_, and a
French geographer jumped at the conclusion that the word was _fille_, and
that he had found the long lost island.

He called it accordingly _I. des Filles_,* Island of Girls. The Dutch
translated the name on their charts where a _Meisje Eylandt_ may be seen;
but, instead of the girls that they expected to see the island peopled
with, they found it overrun by beautiful creatures, it is true, but,
alas! of the small wallaby kind, peculiar to the outlying islands of
Western Australia.

[* See Vangondy's map of Australia (1756).]

It goes without saying that they did not know of the term _wallaby_, and
taking those pretty creatures for overgrown rats, they called the island
Rat Island or Rat's Nest, and Rottnest is the Dutch form thereof,
preserved to this day.

Let us now turn to the eastern shores of Australia, for we need not
trouble about the southern shores as they are connected with the
Antarctic continent.

We notice first, _Simbana_, one of the original names of the island of
Sumbawa.

You will remember that there are several islands left out in Ribero's map
[see pp. 28-29]. Now the principal one between Java and Timor is Sumbawa,
and, strangely enough, we find that island grafted on here, and thus
forming the northernmost part of York Peninsula, with Timor to the east
of it in its actual position with reference to Sumbawa and smaller
islands around, although out of place with reference to Australia. We
next come to _Coste Dangereuse_, Dangerous Coast. It is situated in the
locality of the Great Barrier Reef, not far from the spot where, nearly
three hundred years later, Lieutenant Cook, in the _Endeavour_, was
almost wrecked. The name speaks for itself; it appears along a coast
lined with reefs, clearly shown on this map. _Baye Perdue_, Lost Bay, a
broad bay with an island in mid-channel, the modern Broad Sound and Long
Island. This name suggests a double voyage, a bay that was once
discovered and could not be found again.*

[* Many years ago an old cannon, supposed to be of Spanish origin, was
dug out of the sand a little to the south of Broad Sound, and near Port
Curtis. It may be connected with this Lost Bay.]

_R