thern regions, and
of opening therein fresh sources to commerce, and new ports to seamen, it
was intended, that the voyage should contribute to the advancement of
natural knowledge in various branches; and that some parts of the
neighbouring seas should he visited, wherein geography and navigation had
still much to desire.

The vast regions to which this voyage was principally directed,
comprehend, in the western part, the early discoveries of the Dutch,
under the name of NEW HOLLAND; and in the east, the coasts explored by
British navigators, and named NEW SOUTH WALES. It has not, however, been
unusual to apply the first appellation to both regions; but to continue
this, would be almost as great an injustice to the British nation, whose
seamen have had so large a share in the discovery, as it would be to the
Dutch, were New South Wales to be so extended. This appears to have been
felt by a neighbouring, and even rival, nation; whose writers commonly
speak of these countries under the general term of _Terres Australes_. In
fact, the original name, used by the Dutch themselves until some time
after Tasman's second voyage, in 1644, was _Terra Australis_, or _Great
South Land_; and when it was displaced by New Holland, the new term was
applied only to the parts lying _westward_ of a meridian line, passing
through Arnhem's Land on the north., and near the isles of St. Francis
and St. Peter, on the south: all to the eastward, including the shores of
the Gulph of Carpentaria, still remained as Terra Australis. This appears
from a chart published by THEVENOT, in 1663; which, he says, "was
originally taken from that done in inlaid work, upon the pavement of the
new Stadt-House at Amsterdam." * The same thing is to be inferred from the
notes of Burgomaster WITSEN, in 1705; of which there will be occasion to
speak in the sequel.

[* "La carte que l'on a mise icy, tire sa premiere origine de celle que
l'on a fait tailler de pieces rapportees, sur le pave de la nouvelle
Maison-de-Ville d'Amsterdam." _Relations de divers Voyages
curieux._--Avis.]

It is necessary, however, to geographical precision, that so soon as New
Holland and New South Wales were known to form one land, there should be
a general name applicable to the whole; and this essential point having
been ascertained in the present voyage, with a degree of certainty
sufficient to authorise the measure, I have, with the concurrence of
opinions entitled to deference, ven