Читать книгу The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea - George Collingridge - Страница 15

I must now say a few words about the official map of the world, alluded to on page 16. It is by Ribero, and will be found on pages 28 and 29. The date of this map is 1529.

The portion reproduced shows the Spice Islands, and a glance at this part of the world brings vividly to our minds the intense desire of each contending party to possess a region that yielded the wealth that is here described.

The map is Spanish, and Spain has allotted to herself the lion's share, planting her flag in the midst of "Spice and everything nice" (see Spanish hemisphere), and relegating the Portuguese flag to the Straits of Sunda (see Portuguese hemisphere). For thousands of miles around, ships--the seas are dotted with specimens similar to the two included within our small area--fleets of them, converge towards, or sail away from these spice-bearing islands. Every quaint old craft, whether light caravel or crazy galleon, is underwritten with the legend, Vengo de Maluco, I come from the Moluccas, or, Vay a Maluco, I go to the Moluccas, as though that region were the only one on the face of the globe worthy of consideration. And all that "Province of Maluco" bears inscriptions denoting the particular product for which each island is celebrated.

These are:--

Timor, for Sandal-wood; Java, for Benzoin;* Borneo and Celebes, for Camphor; Amboyna, for Mace and Nutmegs; and last, not least, Gilolo, for Cloves.

[* Benzoin, a fragrant gum-resin obtained from Styrax Benzoin, used in pharmacy, and as incense.]

Let us now consider some other features of this map. The overlapping of territorial boundaries to which I have alluded, is apparent here in the repetition of the western coast line of Gilolo.

It will be seen that the Spanish map claims Gilolo and the other Spice Islands, such as Ternate, Tidor, Batchian, etc., since they are set down, in the western half of the world.

This is wrong, for those islands virtually fell within the Portuguese sphere. I have purposely drawn your attention to these deceptions and distortions on this Spanish map because on the first map of Australia, which we shall consider by and by, we shall see that the Portuguese made use of similar methods which they, of course, turned to their own advantage.