kingdoms.

In the case of penetrating the interior of Terra Australis, whether by a
great river, or a strait leading to an inland sea, a superior country,
and perhaps a different people, might be found, the knowledge of which
could not fail to be very interesting, and might prove advantageous to
the nation making the discovery.

PRIOR DISCOVERIES IN TERRA AUSTRALIS.

SECTION III.

SOUTH COAST.

Discovery of Nuyts.
Examination of Vancouver:
of D'Entrecasteaux.
Conclusive Remarks.

NUYTS. 1627. (Atl. Pl. I.)

No historical fact seems to be less disputed, than that the South Coast
of New Holland was first discovered in January 1627: whether it were the
26th, according to _De Hondt_, or the 16th, as is expressed on
_Thevenot's_ chart, is of very little import. It is generally said, that
the ship was commanded by PIETER NUYTS; but as Nuyts, on his arrival at
Batavia, was sent ambassador to Japan, and afterwards made governor of
Formosa, it seems more probable that he was a civilian, perhaps Company's
first merchant on board, rather than captain of the ship: the land
discovered has, however, always borne his name.

The Dutch recital says--"In the year 1627, the South Coast of the
_Great_ SOUTH LAND was accidentally discovered by the ship the _Gulde
Zeepaard_, outward-bound from Fatherland, for the space of a thousand
miles."

This discovery has always been considered as of importance. A memoir was
published at Amsterdam in 1718, "to prove, that NUYTS' LAND, being in the
fifth climate, between 34 deg. and 36 deg. of latitude; it ought to be, like all
other countries so situated, one of the most habitable, most rich, and
most fertile parts of the world." * The journal of this discovery seems to
have been lost; or possibly was either suppressed or destroyed, according
to what is thought to have been the Dutch policy of that time. It was,
therefore, from the chart, and the above passage in the recital, alone,
that any particulars could be drawn. If the extent of a _thousand miles_
were taken to be in a straight line, and to commence at Cape Leeuwin, the
end of Nuyts' Land would reach nearly to the longitude of 135 deg. east of
Greenwich; but if, as was probable, the windings of the shore were
included, and a deduction made of one-sixth to one-seventh in the
distance, then the Isles of St. Francis and St. Peter might be expected
to be found between the 132nd and 133rd degrees of east longitude.

[* _Hist. des Nav.