N ew H olland
.
Mineralogy.
Firft Difcovery.
As the interior mountains cff this immenfe region Have not been< explored,
little can be faid concerning the mineralogy, which is probably
rjcheft in the northern, o r hottbft parfci. g l a 17.97 a ihip from Bengal
being wrecked o p th e fouthern fhore, o f feventeen-men only,. ^iy;ee
reached the fettlement, after a journey p f eighty days,, and on their
way difcovered immenfe ftrata 'of coal, which may prove far .more
valuable than mines o f gold^10 Perhaps the veffels recently fent to Explore
the fouthern parts m ay make other important difcoVeries, befides
completing the geography o f the fhores.*
I f this a ccount thould feem rather too extenfive,J let it be cdprfidqred
th a t it defcribes a new continent, a. Teal T e rra Auftralis, how l'iftle
known, b u t which in the y e ar-i g o o ,' or 2o6pJ may'be found to 'p re -
fent fuch great and Angular topics, th a t a learned a'n'd'prec-ile pen may
dedicate a large volume o f geography to ‘ this one- 'portion sof -the
globe.
II. P a p u a , o r N e w G u i n e a . &
Th is country“ is one o f the moft interefting ip Auftralafla, as partaking
o f the opulence o f the Moluccas, and their Angular, vafietie& of
plants and animals. T h e land o f Papua is ‘faid to have been’Aril difcovered
by Saavedra, a Spanith Captain, in 1528, who had failed from
Mexico by the command o f C ortez, to explore the Spice Iflands from
that quarter.” I t is afferted tha t Saavedra impofed the name o f New
Guinea, as believing th a t this region was under the fame meridian with
the African Guinea ; b ut as it is fcardely poffible that a mariner lhould
be fo much deceived, it is more likely th a t this appellation, which
fome fay was only given by Le Maire near a century after, was merely
conAdered as fynonymous with another, th a t o f the “ Ifles o f Gold.”
Other Spanilh navigators enlarged this difcovery; and the ftrait-between
this country and New Holland was explored by Cook, while the
*• Collins, 617.
* The fouthern fliores are faid to have been explored by Peter van Nuitz, in Jan. 16*7. Dc
BroiTes, i. 433. They feem to recede in the middle: and towards the £• a vaft bay, with an
iile, is faid to hare been recently difcovered.
1 De Brofles, i. 159.
IO learned
learned Prefident De Brofles, and even Bougainville the French circumnavigator,
had-'doubted whether fi^ch^a paffage exifted.*M This ex-
itenlivs, ifland; is*'ffül fa r from being\yompjejtely fnveftigat’ed. Ö a the
-north* what was fo rm e r ly jc ^ ||l'|e ^ to -beta ftr a i^ i| delineated with the
_foilndi-ng^;,in. -Mri-'Arrowfmith’I J h a r F o f .the. Pacific, under , the name
of Matlure’iiiq le f^ - a n d an* oppofit-e l a r g e l y ; »bnrtbei, E. was alfo
conceived ’ to inMÜte! A n o t h e r i i l n .the; S.,E. Dampier’s ffrait
■‘dftftffes Papua ©dan New B rita in ; but it i s nod improbable that in this
dife&ion thelLëuifiad ;.öf«Bougain^ilkj may be difcovered to be joined,
at’ièaft in paft, . with Papua, < while' "other parts m ay^qnfift o f detached
It isTndughtThat the Unfóftunatfe La Pefoufe-’was; completing
this, difcovery when, Taje minated ,M§ ^lalflours. Amidft* thTs'bncer-
tlm ty Papua isToncèived tOr be a vaft ifland, extending krom the Cape,
’aBfterdly ftylëd p f Good Hope, in the mariner’s very Confined vocabulary,
b u t 'm ore" properly Whitq TolntV in the *N. W ., probably to Gape
Rodney in the S. E., a length’ o f 'more than 120Ö' miles^ by a medial
breadth' o f perhaps'* W V and thus far’lupeyfor in fizefto Borneo^ formerly
reputed the largeft o f iflands;
On th is ;extenfive te rrito ry ,'in a Atuation fo" highly favoured by
nature, and probably enriched with th é choiceft produdtibns, theré-is
rio. European fettlement. T h e 'in h ab itan ts o f t h e ’northern part are
called Papous, whence the name o f the country. T h e traditions bear
that they are brethren o f the Moluccans, and the language feems to have
n.o, affinity with that of New South Wales, b u t is probably connected
■with, that of Borneo, &c. on the weft, and that o f New Britain and
the ifles on the other Ade, being part of th e wide Malay’ diffufion.
The inhabitants are black, and even faid to have the woolly hair of
, 14 Itopduttlon to Cook’s, laft Voyage (by Biftiop Douglas, p. xvi.). The reader who
willies for more particular details concerning the progrefs ofdifcovenesm the Pacific may be
referred to ;the work of De Brofles, often, quoted ;• and to Mr. Dalrympfets colleAlou of voyages
in the Pacific, 1770, '410, The learned French publication was tranflatedby, John Callander,-
Edin. i K M M s f S'vo,' whs feefos difpofed to pafs it as an original under the title of T erra
ifijftrq lk Cogtrita*
' 11 See Vocabularies in De Brofles, i. 410. .
-Pa p u a .
Original
Population,
negroes;