nningham, when on the west coast of Australia, at the
Bay of Rest, took occasion to measure one of these gigantic ant-hills of
that coast. He found it to be eight feet in height, and twenty-six in
girth.

Pelsart's account runs thus: "On the 16th of June, in the morning, they
returned on shore in hopes of getting more water, but were disappointed;
and having no time to observe the country it gave them no great hopes of
better success, even if they had travelled further within land, which
appeared a thirsty, barren plain, covered with ant-hills, so high that
they looked afar off like the huts of negroes..."

Dampier in his second voyage to this coast in the year 1699, but more
than one-hundred miles further south, describes again some of these
evidently very remarkable features of the western coast of Australia. He
says: "Here are a great many rocks in the large savannah we were in,
which are five or six feet high and round at the top like a haycock, very
remarkable; some red and some white." But Flinders, when on this coast,
actually came across native huts similar to those depicted on P.
Desceliers' chart of Australia.

CHAPTER VIII.

DESLIENS' MAP.

His is another planisphere, of the same school of map-makers.

I give it here in its entirety, in order to show how the Australian
portion stands, in all these maps, with reference to other countries.

It will be observed that, for accuracy, Australia compares favorably
with, for instance, North America, named on this map, La Nouvelle France.

Besides its beautiful execution there is nothing to call for special
notice unless it be that three Portuguese flags are shown as flying over
Australian shores, a sure sign of annexation. The map-maker's name,
_Nicolas Desliens_, date 1566, and Dieppe, the place where the map was
made, are marked on a scroll right across the fictitious portion of
Java-la-Grande.

In this short chapter, before leaving the subject of the old manuscript
maps of Australia, and devoting the remaining pages of my book to actual
voyages of discovery, I shall refer once more to the importance of the
Lusitano-Spanish planispheres of the Dieppese school of cartography*
because most of those documents, becoming the property of French
map-makers, were used in various endeavours which were made to induce
European sovereigns to colonize the Great South Land.

[*Most of these maps were made at Dieppe; all of them were made in the
north of France.]