VIEW OF MOUNT COCKBURN AT THE BOTTOM OF CAMBRIDGE GULF.
Taken from the Gut.
From a sketch by P.P. King. Published in May 1825 by John Murray, London.

VIEW OF THE ENCAMPMENT IN CAREENING BAY.
Where the Mermaid was repaired.
From a sketch by P.P. King. Published in May 1825 by John Murray, London.

WOODCUT 5: HUTS OF THE NATIVES AT CAREENING BAY.



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* have now elapsed since our first knowledge of the
Great South Land, the Terra Australis Incognita of ancient geographers;
and, until within the last century, comparatively little had been done
towards making a minute exploration of its coasts: during the seventeenth
century several voyages were made by different Dutch navigators, from
whom we have the first-recorded description of its shores; but from the
jealous disposition of their East India Company, under whose orders these
voyages were performed, the accounts of them were so concealed, and
consequently lost or destroyed, that few particulars of a detailed nature
have been handed down.**