antiquity to recommend it; and, having no reference to either of the two
claiming nations, appears to be less objectionable than any other which
could have been selected.*

[* Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it would
have been to convert it into AUSTRALIA; as being more agreeable to the
ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the
earth.]

In dividing New South Wales from New Holland, I have been guided by the
British patent to the first governor of the new colony, at Port Jackson.
In this patent, a meridian, nearly corresponding to the ancient line of
separation, between New Holland and Terra Australis, has been made the
western limit of New South Wales; and is fixed at the longitude of 135°
east, from the meridian of Greenwich. From hence, the British territory
extends eastward, to the islands of the _Pacific_, or _Great Ocean_: its
northern limit is at _Cape York_; and the extremity of the southern _Van
Diemen's Land_, is its opposite boundary.

The various discoveries which had been made upon the coasts of Terra
Australis, antecedently to the present voyage, are of dates as widely
distant, as are the degrees of confidence to which they are respectively
entitled; the accounts, also, lie scattered through various books in
different languages; and many are still in manuscript. It has, therefore,
been judged, that a succinct history of these discoveries would be
acceptable to the public; and would form an appropriate introduction to a
voyage, whose principal object was to complete what they had left
unfinished. Such a history will not only, it is hoped, be found
interesting, but, from the occasions it will furnish to point out what
remained to be done at the beginning of the nineteenth century, will