40.) But the secret was so well kept, that seventy-eight years after Magellan's voyage round the world, Java and Australia were still believed to be one and the same continent by certain otherwise well-informed navigators, as will be seen by Linschoten's "Discours of Voyages into ye East and West Indies," published in London, in the year 1598, in which the following description, from Portuguese sources, occurs: "South, south-east, right over against the last point or corner of the Isle of Sumatra, on the south, side of the equinoctial line, lyeth the island called JAUA MAIOR, or Great Java, where there is a strait or narrow passage, called the strait of Sunda, of a place so called, lying not far from thence within the Isle of Java.

The island beginneth under 7 degrees on the south side, and runneth east and by south 150 miles long; but touching the breadth it is not found, because as yet it is not discovered, nor by the inhabitants themselves well known." "Some think it to be firme land* and parcel of the countrie called TERRA INCOGNITA, which, being so, should reach from that place to the _Cape de Bova Sperace_ [Cape of Good Hope]; but as [ ?] it is not certainly known, and, therefore, it is accounted an island." [* The term implies continental land] The above passage [shows ?] that the author was uncertain as to whether Australia, which he calls the Great Java, was connected or not with ANTARCTICA, which he terms TERRA INCOGNITA; and his hesitation may be readily understood when we consider that some maps of the period disconnected Java-la-Grande from the TERRE AUSTRALLE INCOGNEUE; whereas others connected it with Kerguelen and Tierra del Fuego.
THE ILLUMINATIONS.
I shall say a few words now about the illuminations.

They form a conspicuous feature in these old maps, and lend a great charm to such productions of a bygone age; it would be a useless task, however, to seek in these quaint devices a strict pourtrayal of the scenes appertaining to the countries they might be supposed to illustrate; to do so would be to forget their chief purpose, the decorative.

But, allowing for the liberty usually granted to the artist, nay, often exacted by him, the scenes depicted are not borrowed from the realms of "Idealism" to the extent that has been supposed by certain commentators.
The kangaroo is not represented; no, nor the gum-tree either, perhaps! But that clump of bamboos* on the top of a hill is not a volcano in full eruption, as a learned critic once ventured to assert.
[* Bamboos are plentiful on the north-western coasts of Australia, planted, no doubt, by Malay fishermen in search of trepang, who from time immemorial frequented those shores.] We see, on these charts, fairly correct presentments of that animal seen for the first time by the Spaniards in the straits to which Magellan gave his name, and described by the Italian narrator, Pigafetta, who accompanied the first circumnavigators.
Pigafetta says:-- "This animal has the head and ears of a mule, the body of a camel, the legs of a stag, and the tail of a horse, and like this animal it neighs." The animal thus described by Pigafetta is the Guanaco, _Camelus huanacus_, and it is not astonishing to find it represented on the Australian continent, for we know* that this continent was supposed to be connected with _Tierra del Fuego_ and was sometimes called _Magellanica_, in consequence.

In the chart that I am describing, Australia is called Jave-la-Grande--La Grande Jave would have been the proper French construction; but the term Jave-la-Grande is merely the translation of Java Maior, the Portuguese for Marco Polo's Java Major.
[* See remark above.] The great Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, described Java from hearsay as being the largest island in the world, and the Portuguese finding this to be incorrect, as far as their knowledge of Java proper was concerned, but finding nevertheless, this "largest island in the world" to the south-east of Java, in fact, approximately in the longitudes and latitudes described by Polo; the Portuguese, I say, did the best thing they could both for Marco Polo's sake and their own, when they marked it on their charts where it was said to be, and with the name given to it by Polo, for he calls it Java Major to distinguish it from Sumatra, which island he named Java Minor.
The channel or river, marked between Java and Australia, is evidently a concession due to the fact that a passage was known to exist.