Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/27

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INTRODUCTION.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS UPON THE—DISCOVERY OF THE TERRA AUSTRALIS INCOGNITA—INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE EXECUTION OF THE VOYAGE—PASSAGE TO NEW SOUTH WALES—PURCHASE AND EQUIPMENT OF THE MERMAID.

Nearly three centuries^[1] have now elapsed since our first knowledge of the Great South Land, the Terra Australis Incognito of ancient geographers; and, until within the last century, comparatively little had been done towards making a minute exploration

↑ The late Rear-Admiral Burney, in his History of Discoveries in the South Sea, (vol. i. p. 380,) describes a chart, dated 1542, drawn by Rotz, in which a coast is continued to the 28th degree of south latitude; and immediately below the 30th degree, there is the name of Coste des Herbaiges, answering by an extraordinary coincidence both in climate and in name to Botany Bay.

Vol. I. b

[1] The late Rear-Admiral Burney, in his History of Discoveries in the South Sea, (vol. i. p. 380,) describes a chart, dated 1542, drawn by Rotz, in which a coast is continued to the 28th degree of south latitude; and immediately below the 30th degree, there is the name of Coste des Herbaiges, answering by an extraordinary coincidence both in climate and in name to Botany Bay.

[1]