rowing its original splendour from his own character, should reflect upon him an untarnished lustre.

The epithet Augustus . . . had never been borne by any man before. But the adjunct, though never given to a man, had been applied to things most noble, most venerable and most divine. The rites of the gods were called august, the temples were august; the word itself was derived from the holy auguries by which the divine will was revealed; it was connected with the favour and authority of Jove himself. The illustrious title was bestowed upon the heir of the Caesarian Empire in the middle of the month of January, 727 [B. C. 27], and thenceforth it is by the name of Augustus that he is recognized in Roman history."-C. Merivale, History of the Romans, ch. 30.-"When Octavianus had firmly established his power and was now left without a rival, the Senate, being desirous of distinguishing him by some peculiar and emphatic title, decreed, in B. C. 27, that he should be styled Augustus, an epithet properly applicable to some object demanding respect and veneration beyond what is bestowed upon human things.

This being an honorary appellation . . . it would, as a matter of course, have been transmitted by inheritance to his immediate descendants. . . . Claudius, although he could not be regarded as a descendant of Octavianus, assumed on his accession the title of Augustus, and his example was followed by all succeeding rulers

who communicated the title of Augusta to their consorts."-W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman antiquities, ch. 5.-See also RELIGION: B. C. 750A. D. 30; ROME: Empire: B. C. 31-A. D. 14; and SEVASTOS.

Augustus I (1526-1586), became elector of Saxony at the death of his brother Maurice (1553); encouraged the Flemish people to immigrate and settle the country; was an enlightened although sometimes cruel ruler.

Augustus II (1670-1733), king of Poland, and, under the name Frederick Augustus I, elector of Saxony. See SWEDEN: 1707-1718; 1719-1721.

Augustus III (1696-1763), king of Poland, and, as Frederick August II, elector of Saxony. See POLAND: 1732-1733.

AULA, (1) an open yard, or court; (2) Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, founded by Bishop Bateman in 1350, referred to as "aula," denoting the building inhabited by the scholars.

AULA REGIA, ancient court of England. See CURIA REGIS OF THE NORMAN KINGS; EQUITY LAW: 1330.

AULARD, François Victor Alphonse (1849- ), French historian. He is regarded as one of the greatest authorities on the history of the French Revolution, of which subject he was appointed professor at the Sorbonne. His long and fruitful researches are embodied in his "Political history of the French Revolution." See HISTORY: 32.

AULDEARN, Battle of (1645). See SCOTLAND: 1644-1645.

AULERCI.-The Aulerci were an extensive nation in ancient Gaul which occupied the country from the lower course of the Seine to the Mayenne. It was subdivided into three great tribes -the Aulerci Cenomanni, Aulerci Diablintes and Aulerci Eburovices.-Napoleon III, History of Cæsar, bk. 3, ch. 2.-See also VENETI OF WESTERN GAUL.

AULETES, or Ptolemy XIII of Egypt. See EGYPT: B. C. 80-48.

AULIATA, Turkestan, Fall of (1864). See RUSSIA: 1859-1876.

AULIC COUNCIL, a judicial and to a slight

extent executive body of the Holy Roman empire from 1497 to 1806. It consisted of about twenty members, held its meetings at Vienna and was under the influence of the emperor. See FRANCE: 1700 (August-December); and GERMANY: 14931519.

AULICK, Commodore, Hungarian officer who carried on negotiations with Japan. See JAPAN: 1797-1854.

AUMALE, Henri Eugène Philippe Louis d'Orleans, duc d' (1822-1897), French prince and statesman. Distinguished himself in the campaign in Algeria 1843; governor of that colony 1847 After the Franco-Prussian War was elected deputy; presided over the military council that condemned Marshal Bazaine for the surrender of Metz. See also BARBARY STATES: 1830-1846.

AUMALE, Battle of (1591). See FRANCE: 1591-1593.

AUMETZ, town in the northwestern part of Lorraine; occupied by Americans after armistice See WORLD WAR: 1918: XI. End of the war: c.

AUMONT, the name of an important French family. One Jean, sire d' Aumont, accompanied Louis IX on a crusade. Fought for the dukes of Burgundy, later returning to the support of the crown. Jean d'Aumont (d. 1595), marshal of France, fought against the Huguenots, but recognized Henry IV and was made governor of Champagne and Brittany. Louis Marie Céleste d' Aumont, duc de Piennes, emigrated during the Revolution. During the Hundred Days captured Bayeux and Caen.

ÁUNEAU, Battle of (1587). See FRANCE: 15841589.

AURANGZEB (1618-1707), one of the greatest and most unscrupulous of the Mogul emperors; imprisoned his father, Shah Jahan, and disposed of his brothers by means of assassination in order to gain the throne, which he ascended in 1658 See INDIA: 1605-1658; 1662-1748.

AURAY, Battle of (1365). See BRITTANY: 1341-1365.

AURELIAN (Lucius Domitius Aurelianus) (c. 212-275), a soldier emperor of Rome. Made vigorous war on the invading barbarians (see ALEMANNI: 270; CHALONS, Battle at (271)); began the construction of the fortified walls around Rome; overcame Zenobia, queen of Palmyra (ser PALMYRA: Rise and fall); instituted strict discipline and reforms in Rome. See ROME: Empire 192-284.

AURELIAN ROAD, one of the great Roman roads of antiquity, which ran from Rome to Pisa and Luna.-T. Mommsen, History of Rome bk. 4, ch. II.

AURELIANUS. See AURELIAN.

AUREOLUS. (d. 268), leader of the Roman army of the Upper Danube and rival claimant for the Imperial throne; sought refuge in Milan after revolt against Gallienus. See MILAN: 268.

AURELIUS, Marcus. See ANTONIUS, MARCUS AURELIUS.

AURELLE de Paladines, Louis Jean Baptiste d' (1804-1877), French general. Served in Algeria and in the Crimean War; commanded the army of the Loire in the Franco-Prussian War; member of the National Assembly, assisted in the peace negotiations. As life senator, supported the monarchial majority of 1876. See FRANCE: 1870-1871; 1871 (March-May).

AURICULAR CONFESSION. See CONTES

SION.

AURIGNACIANS: Ancient tribe.-Industry and art. See EUROPE: Prehistoric period: Stone age; and PAINTING: Pre-classical.

AURUM TOLOSANUM. See TOULOUSE.

AURUNCI, Auruncans or Ausones, a tribe of the ancient Volscians, who dwelt in the lower valley of the Liris, and who are said to have been exterminated by the Romans, B. C. 314.W. Ihne, History of Rome, bk. 3, ch. 10.-See also OSCANS.

AUS, Southwest Africa, taken by British. See WORLD WAR: 1915: VIII. África: a, 1.

AUSCI. See AQUITAINE: Ancient tribes. AUSGLEICH (agreement), the written statement by which Austria and Hungary united their governments and formed the dual monarchy in 1867. (See AUSTRIA: 1866-1867.) The Emperor Francis Joseph assumed the title of Emperor of Austria and King of Hungaria, although the two autonomous divisions were to manage all their local affairs. Questions of common interest were to be managed by a joint ministry, and a joint parliament made up of an Austrian legislature and an Hungarian legislature, termed "Delegations" which were to meet alternately in Vienna and Budapest. See AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: 1866; HUNGARY: 1856-1868; also AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: 1900-1903; and 1907.

AUSHAR, ancient name of Kileh-Sherghat. See ASSYRIA: The land.

AUSPICES, Taking the.-"The Romans, in the earlier ages of their history, never entered upon any important business whatsoever, whether public or private, without endeavouring, by means of divination, to ascertain the will of the gods in reference to the undertaking.... This operation was termed 'sumere auspicia;' and if the omens proved unfavourable the business was abandoned or deferred. . . . No meeting of the Comitia Curiata nor of the Comitia Centuriata could be held unless the auspices had been previously taken. . . . As far as public proceedings were concerned, no private individual, even among the patricians, had the right of taking auspices. This duty devolved upon the supreme magistrate alone. . . . In an army this power belonged exclusively to the commander-in-chief; and hence all achievements were said to be performed under his auspices, even although he were not present... The objects observed in taking these auspices were birds, the class of animals from which the word is derived ('Auspicium ab ave spicienda'). Of these, some were believed to give indications by their flight .. others by their notes or cries . . . while a third class consisted of chickens ('pulli') kept in cages. When it was desired to obtain an omen from these last, food was placed before them, and the manner in which they comported themselves was closely watched.... The manner of taking the auspices previous to the Comitia was as follows:-The magistrate who was to preside at the assembly arose immediately after midnight on the day for which it had been summoned, and called upon an augur to assist him. . . . With his aid a region of the sky and a space of ground, within which the auspices were observed, were marked out by the divining staff ('lituus') of the augur. . . . This operation was performed with the greatest care. ... In making the necessary observations, the president was guided entirely by the augur, who reported to him the result."-W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman antiquities, ch. 4.—See also AUGUR. ALSO IN: W. Ihne, History of Rome, bk. 6, ch. 13.

AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817), English novelist. Her pictures, in an ironic vein, of provincial society in the upper middle class went far to establish the realistic novel. Her best-known

works are "Pride and Prejudice" (1796, published 1813), "Sense and Sensibility" (1797-1798), "Emma" (1816), and "Northanger Abbey" (1818). -See also ENGLISH LITERATURE: 1660-1780.

AUSTERLITZ, a town in Moravia in what was formerly Austrian territory but now forms part of Czecho-Slovakia; situated some fifteen miles east of Brünn; the scene of the great battle of Austerlitz (Dec. 2, 1805), where Napoleon decisively defeated the Austrian and Russian forces. -See also AUSTRIA: 1798-1806; and FRANCE: 1805.

AUSTIN, Stephen Fuller (1793-1836), American pioneer. Upon a grant obtained by his father, Moses Austin, he colonized Texas, and assisted in establishing the republic in 1835; was defeated in its first presidential election. TEXAS: 1819-1835; 1824-1835.

See

AUSTIN CANONS, or Canons of St. Augustine. "About the middle of the 11th century an attempt had been made to redress the balance between the regular and secular clergy, and restore to the latter the influence and consideration in spiritual matters which they had, partly by their own fault, already to a great extent lost. Some earnest and thoughtful spirits, distressed at once by the abuse of monastic privileges and by the general decay of ecclesiastical order, sought to effect a reform by the establishment of a stricter and better organized discipline in those cathedral and other churches which were served by colleges of secular priests. . . . Towards the beginning of the twelfth century the attempts at canonical reform issued in the form of what was virtually a new religious order, that of the Augustinians, or Canons Regular of the order of S. Augustine. Like the monks and unlike the secular canons, from whom they were carefully distinguished, they had not only their table and dwelling but all things in common, and were bound by vow to the observance of their rule, grounded upon a passage in one of the letters of that great father of the Latin Church from whom they took their name. Their scheme was a compromise between the old-fashioned system of canons and that of the monastic confraternities; but a compromise leaning strongly towards the monastic side. . . . The Austin canons, as they were commonly called, made their way across the channel in Henry's reign."-K. Norgate, England under the Angevin kings, v. 1, ch. 1. -See also MONASTICISM: 11th-13th centuries.

ALSO IN: E. L. Cutts, Scenes and characters of the middle ages, ch. 3.

AUSTIN FRIARS. See AUSTIN CANONS. AUSTRAL ISLANDS: Annexation to France.-The Austral or Tubuai islands were formally annexed to France by the governor of Tahiti, on August 21, 1900.

AUSTRALASIA, a term applied by English geographers to all Oceanic, but usually taken to include only Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Tasmania and nearby islands. Some restrict the name to Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.

Baptists. Growth in nineteenth century. See BAPTISTS: Development in Europe, Canada and Australasia.

Charities, History of. See CHARITIES: Australasia.

Exploration of. See ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. French colonies. See FRANCE: Colonial empire.

Masonic societies. See MASONIC SOCIETIES: Australasia.

Missionary work. See MISSIONS, CHRISTIAN: Islands of the Pacific.

Location and physical features.-Population and area. Australia is the island continent lying southeast of Asia and the East Indies and is the only continent entirely south of the equator. Its area is approximately 2,946,691 square miles; its coast line is about 8,850 miles, giving it a smaller proportion of coast line than that of any other continent. The estimated population in 1919 was 5,247,019. The commonwealth of Australia includes the original states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania (island) (see also BRITISH EMPIRE: Extent; NEW ZEALAND; TASMANIA).

"From a physical point of view, the appearance of Australia is disappointing to any one familiar with the variety of scenery to be found in Great Britain and Ireland. Here and there, in the settled parts of the country, are mountainous districts, covered with luxurious vegetation, and watered by beautiful streams. But the general aspect of the temperate parts of the continent is one of mild undulation or absolute flatness, covered with somewhat monotonous vegetation, or (in the summer months) bare and parched; while there is neither the artificial beauty of high cultivation nor the natural beauty of primitive wildness. Except in the tropical north, there are practically no navigable rivers on the mainland; even the Murray and the Darling are apt to become impassable in the summer. The scarcity of water is, indeed, one of the most disastrous natural features of Australia; and, unless artificial means can be used to correct it, vast tracts of country must for ever remain unsettled. Tasmania, however, is a country of noble rivers and striking scenery, though the painful monotony of Australian forest or 'bush' is to be met with there also. On the other hand the climate, in the temperate regions, is, perhaps, one of the finest in the world. Except in the mountainous districts there is no severe cold, frost and snow being unknown; and, though in the summer the temperature rises very high, the air is, as a rule, so dry, that neither lassitude nor other ill effects follow, and cases of sunstroke are extremely rare. A man may be prostrated by a temperature of 80° Fahr. in London, and yet feel quite brisk in experiencing 100° in Melbourne. The soil, too, in spite of the scarcity of water, is in many parts exceedingly fertile, both for pasture and agriculture; and these conditions of climate and soil must be regarded as important factors in the history of the colonies. It is, however, in its productive aspect, that Australia occupies such an unique position. Though possessing native fauna and flora of great extent and variety, it is almost barren of native products in any way useful for the prime necessities of life. The native animals and birds are curious rather than valuable. With few exceptions, they can be used neither for food nor service. The same remark applies to the native vegetable life. The universal gum tree is now becoming famous for its sanitary qualities; but early colonists cannot live on medicine, and the gum forests of Australia furnished but little timber for building houses and making furniture, nor did her uncultivated plains yield edible roots or grain. On the other hand, the soil of Australia has shown a remarkable capacity for fostering and developing imported animal and plant life. The consequence has been that the economic side of Australian life has been almost purely European. It is simply a reproduction of British economy, slightly modified to suit new con

ditions. This feature has been intensified by the absence of competition. The aborigines of Australia (the word 'native' is now always reserved for those of European descent) have had no influence on Australian history. Absolutely barbarous and unskilled in the arts of life. dragging out, according to the accounts of all travellers, a wretched and precarious existence even before the arrival of European settlers, they could offer no resistance to the invaders, and they have, in fact, been entirely ignored (except as objects of charity or aversion) in the settlement of the country. Probably always few in numbers, they are now, at the highest estimate, considerably less than one hundred thousand In Tasmania they have entirely disappeared. and though in the barren interior of the mainland they may prolong their existence for generations, there seems to be no hope that they will improve their lot. Most of the colonies have passed laws intended to protect them from personal cruelty and fraud; but these laws serv: only still more to separate them from civilized life. The one pursuit in which they have hithert been regarded as useful is that of tracking criminals or missing travellers; but white settlers in the 'bush' are rapidly becoming more expert thar the aborigines in such matters, and the 'black trackers' are falling into discredit."-E. M. A Jenks, History of the Australasian colonies, pp. 15

17.

Agriculture.-Effect of drought.-Main crops. -Cultivated area.-Artesian water supply.Pastoral industry.-"Though much has been said and written about the recurrence and the evil etfects of droughts in Australia in past years, wher the agriculturists suffered loss chiefly in consequence of their having been too speculative and not sutficiently provident, the beneficial influences of the droughts have been to a large extent overlooked In nearly all countries in the Northern Hemispher the harvesting of crops for fodder has to be undertaken every year, so that the stock may be fe: during the winter months, when the soil is resting and regaining its fertility and chemical constituents In Australia the droughts will probably recur, but with reasonable care and the proper conservation of water and fodder by the experienced agricultur ist in the years when there is a superabundance of rain and herbage, they will be looked upon in future as by no means an unmixed evil, but rather as one of the provisions by which nature enables the so.. to regain those properties which have been exhausted during a succession of bountiful seasons The beneficial effect of resting the soil in times of drought is shewn by the very rapid recovery, by the increased fertility, and by the abundance of the harvests, in the seasons immediately following the droughts. . . . Wheat is the main crop in the Commonwealth, the cereal occupying over 63 per cent. of the total cultivated area in 1913-14. . . . [In 185 the acreage under wheat was 1,422,614 with a production of 18,712,051 bushels, while in 1913-14 the acreage had increased to 9,295,256 and a production of 103,517,725 bushels.] Despite the checks to progress due to the vagaries of the season, [there is] evidence of solid advancement.. cording to the returns for 1913-14, the yield was equivalent to over 21 bushels per head of popula tion. The estimated value of the Commonwealth wheat crop in that year was over $92,464.716 For some years [prior to 1913-1914] Australia [was] in a position to export a fair quantity of wheat and flour to other countries. . . . Other ce

Ac

real crops grown to fair extent in Australia are oats, barley, and maize. . . . Oats and barley are grown throughout [the Commonwealth] although Queensland grows very little oats, and only 8826 and 7723 acres were under barley in the States of Queensland and Tasmania and respectively during the latest season under review."-Australian Commonwealth, its resources and production (Commonwealth bureau of census and statistics, Melbourne, 1915, PP. 23, 27-28, 36).-In 1918-1919, the total area under cultivation was 13,332,393 acres, which produced crops of a total value of £58,080,000. Wheat, the most important grain crop yielded in 1919-1920 45,753,298 bushels from a total acreage of 6,379,560. Production from pastoral activities, in 1918-1919 included a total of 657,911,710 lbs. of wool, valued at £42,490,000. 181,802,675 lbs. of butter, of which 41,114,800 lbs. valued at £3,193,086 were exported. In addition exports of tallow and sheepskins brought a return of £4,117,699, and frozen meat, a growing industry, was exported to the value of £4,471,942. Praiseworthy efforts to overcome [the] handicap of unsuitable natural conditions mark the economic development of Australia. The scanty rainfall has been supplemented by a certain amount of water conservation, mainly tapping the vast reservoir of artesian water which underlies 576,000 square miles of the arid regions of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, where the pastoral industry is supreme. . . . Adverse conditions have called for improvement in the breed of sheep so as to fit them to their environment. . . . This has been achieved. Merino sheep do best in New South Wales where they form 83 per cent of the whole. In order to suit other climates, to obtain a hardier sheep which would be more useful for mixed farming, the merino has been crossed with other sheep, without loss to its wool-bearing powers. The fleece cut from each sheep has risen [1918-1920] to an average of eight pounds at the present day. In addition, the quality of the wool has improved, and the weight of the original sheep nearly doubled. (3) The State has pursued a railway and land policy which has led to an increase of productivity. The large areas, as a result, are being replaced by small holdings. Yet all these efforts have not fully succeeded in putting the pastoral industry in a condition of continuous increase. The number of sheep in Australia has declined in recent years. The pastoral industry is limited, through climatic conditions, to about 28 per cent of the country, though an area embracing another 191⁄2 per cent would be available, if provision could be made for the transport of stock to wetter areas in dry seasons. . . . As in the case of the pastoral industry, the progress of agriculture has involved the overcoming of great difficulties. The land laws favored large estates, and thus restricted settlement. A scanty rainfall led men to consider large areas of land in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia unsuitable for wheat growing. Scarcity of labour threatened to make the cost of production too high for the average yield of wheat to repay the farmer. Most of these obstacles are being overcome. Legislation has diminished the number of large holdings, at the same time increasing the number of settlers. The use of scientific methods of cultivation has tended to overcome the other difficulties. . . . Ploughing is done by multiple ploughs, which throw six to eight furrows at one time. . . . Harvesting is done by the combined stripper and harvester, an Australian invention. As a result of this economy so low an average production as ten bushels of wheat per acre is profitable. Again, the [farmer] has had to guard against insufficient rainfall, and, as dry farming in its real sense has not yet been attempted, the

precautions taken have been those of fallowing and a rotation of crops. The fallowing is so conducted as to conserve in the soil two winters' rainfall and thus to obviate the evils of a dry harvest season."-C. H. Northcott, Australian social development (Studies in history, economics and public law, Columbia University, v. 81, No. 2, 1918, pp. 210-214).

Mythology. See MYTHOLOGY: Oceania: Australian myths.

1601-1800.-Discovery and early exploration. -"Australia has had no Columbus. It is even doubtful if the first navigators who reached her shores set out with any idea of discovering a great south land. At all events, it would seem, their achievements were so little esteemed by themselves and their countrymen that no means were taken to preserve their names in connexion with their discoveries. Holland long had the credit of bringing to light the existence of that island continent, which until recent years was best known by her name. In 1861, however, Mr. Major, to whom we are indebted for more recent research upon the subject, produced evidence which appeared to demonstrate that the Portuguese had reached the shores of Australia in 1601, five years before the Dutch yacht Duyphen, or Dove,-the earliest vessel whose name has been handed down,-sighted, about. March, 1606, what is believed to have been the coast near Cape York. Mr. Major, in a learned paper read before the Society of Antiquaries in 1872, indicated the probability that the first discovery was made 'in or before the year 1531.' The dates of two of the six maps from which Mr. Major derives his information are 1531 and 1542. The latter clearly indicates Australia, which is called Jave la Grande. New Zealand is also marked."-F. P. Labilliere, Early history of the colony of Victoria, ch. 1.In 1606, De Quiros, a Spanish navigator, sailing from Peru, across the Pacific, reached a shore which stretched so far that he took it to be a continent. "He called the place 'Tierra Australis de Espiritu Santo,' that is 'Southern Land of the Holy Spirit.' It is now known that this was not really a continent, but merely one of the New Hebrides Islands, and more than a thousand miles away from the mainland . . . In after years, the name he had invented was divided into two parts; the island he had really discovered being called Espiritu Santo, while the continent he thought he had discovered was called Tierra Australis. This last name was shortened by another discoverer-Flinders-to the present term Australia."-A. and G. Sutherland, History of Australia and New Zealand, ch. 1.-"In 1611 Hendrik Brouwer, a commander of marked ability who subsequently became Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, made a discovery. He found that if, after leaving the Cape, he steered due east for about three thousand miles, and then set a course north for Java, he had the benefit of favourable winds, which enabled him to finish the voyage in much less time than the old route required. Brouwer wrote to the directors of the Dutch East India Company [see NETHERLANDS: 1504-1620] pointing out that he had sailed from Holland to Java in seven months, and recommending that ships' captains should be instructed to take the same course in future. The directors followed his advice; and from the year 1613 all Dutch commanders were under instructions to follow Brouwer's route. The bearing of this change on the discovery of the west coast of Australia will be immediately apparent to any one who glances at the map of the southern Indian Ocean. The distance from the Cof

AUSTRALIA, 1601-1800

Good Hope to Cape Leeuwin is about 4,300 miles. A vessel running eastward with a free wind, and anxious to make the most of it before changing her course northward, would be very likely to sight the Australian coast. That is precisely what occurred to the ship Eendragt (i.e., Concord). Her captain, Dirk Hartog, ran farther eastward than Brouwer had advised, reaching Shark's Bay and landing on the island which to this day bears his name. He erected there a post, and nailed to it a tin plate upon which was engraved the record that on October 25, 1616, the ship Eendragt from Amsterdam had arrived there, and had sailed for Bantam on the 27th. Dirk Hartog's plate was found by Captain Vlaming, of the Dutch ship Geelvink, eighty years later. The post had decayed, but the plate itself was 'unaffected by rain, air, or sun.' Vlaming sent it to Amsterdam as an interesting memorial of discovery, and erected another post and plate in place of it; and Vlaming's plate in turn remained until 1817, when Captain Louis de Freycinet, the commander of a French exploring expedition, took it away with him to Paris. Dirk Hartog's discovery was recognized by the seamen of his nation as one which conduced to safer navigation. Brouwer's sailing direction had left it indefinite at what point the turn northward should be commenced. But now there was a landmark, and amended instructions were issued to Dutch mariners that they should sail from the Cape between the latitudes of thirty and forty degrees for about four thousand miles until the 'New Southland of the Eendragt' was sighted. 'The land of the Eendragt'-'T'Llandt van de 'Eendragt'-that was the first name given by the Dutch to this country; and it so appears upon several early maps of the world published at Amsterdam. In this way the western coasts of Australia were brought within sight of the regular sailing track of vessels from Europe; and as soon as that occurred the finding of other portions of the coast was only a matter of time. Of course all the captains did not reach the coast at the same spot. Violent winds would sometimes blow a vessel hundreds of miles out of her planned course. Both going to and coming from the East Indies ships would discover fresh pieces of coastline in quite a chance manner. Thus, De Wit sailing homeward from Batavia in 1628 in the Vyanen was by headwinds driven aground upon the north-west coast, and had to throw overboard a quantity of pepper and copper, 'upon which through God's mercy she got off again without further damage.' That bit of coast was named 'De Wit's Land."-E. Scott, Short history of Australia, pp. 18-19.-After the visit to the Australian coast of the small Dutch ship, the Dove, it was touched, during the next twenty years, by a number of vessels of the same nationality. "In 1622 a Dutch ship, the Leeuwin, or Lioness, sailed along the southern coast, and its name was given to the south-west cape of Australia. . . . In 1628 General Carpenter sailed completely round the large Gulf to the north, which has taken its name from this circumstance. Thus, by degrees, all the northern and western, together with part of the southern shores, came to be roughly explored, and the Dutch even had some idea of colonizing this continent. . . . During the next fourteen years we hear no more of voyages to Australia; but in 1642 Antony Van Diemen, the Governor of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, sent out his friend Abel Jansen Tasman, with two ships, to make discoveries in the South Seas." Tasman discovered the island which he called Van Diemen's Land, but which has since

AUSTRALIA, 1601-1800

he did not know to be an island; he drew it on his maps as if it were a peninsula belonging to the mainland of Australia." In 1699, the famous buccaneer, William Dampier, was given the command of a vessel sent out to the southern seas and he explored about 900 miles of the northwestern coast of Australia; but the description which he gave of the country did not encourage the adventurous to seek fortune in it. "We hear of no further explorations in this part of the world until nearly a century after; and, even then, no one thought of sending out ships specially for the purpose. But in the year 1770 a series of important discoveries were indirectly brought about The Royal Society of London, calculating that the planet Venus would cross the disc of the sun in 1769, persuaded the English Government to send out an expedition to the Pacific Ocean for the purpose of making observations on this event which would enable astronomers to calculate the distance of the earth from the sun. A small ve sel, the Endeavour, was chosen; astronomers with their instruments embarked, and the whole placed under the charge of" the renowned sailor, Captain James Cook. The astronomical purposes of the expedition were satisfactorily accomplished at Otaheite, and Captain Cook then proceeded to an exploration of the shores of New Zealand and Australia. Having entered a fine bay on the south-eastern coast of Australia, "he examined the country for a few miles inland, and two of his scientific friends-Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Solander-made splendid collections of botanical specimens. From this circumstance the place wi called Botany Bay, and its two head-lands received the names of Cape Banks and Cape Solander It was here that Captain Cook . . . took po session of the country on behalf of His Britanni Majesty, giving it the name 'New South Wales, on account of the resemblance of its coasts to the southern shores of Wales. [See also AUSTRALIA. 1773; BRITISH EMPIRE: Expansion: 18th cen tury.] Shortly after they had set sail from Botany Bay they observed a small opening in the land, but Cook did not stay to examine it merely marking it on his charts as Port Jackson. in honour of his friend Sir George Jackson. The reports brought home by Captain Cook com pletely changed the beliefs current in those days with regard to Australia." In 1792 Captain Phillip governor of the Botany bay settlement, broker in health, had resigned, and in 1795 he had bee succeeded by Governor Hunter. "When Governor Hunter arrived, in 1795, he brought with him. on board his ship, the Reliance, a young surgeon George Bass, and a midshipman called Matthew Flinders. They were young men of the mo admirable character. . . . Within a month after their arrival they purchased a small boat about eight feet in length, which they christened the Tom Thumb. Its crew consisted of themselves and a boy to assist." In this small craft they began a survey of the coast, usefully charting many miles of it. Soon afterwards, George Bass, in an open whale-boat, pursued his explorations southwards, to the region now called Victoria, and through the straits which bear his name, thus discovering the fact that Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania, is an island, not a peninsula. In 1708 Bass and Flinders, again associated and furnished with a small sloop, sailed round and surveyed the entire coast of Van Diemen's Land. Bass now went to South America and there disappeared Flinders was commissioned by the British government in 1800 to make an extensive survey of the Australian coasts, and did so. Returning to