Задание

Fill in the gaps

For a very long time, many people have thought Willem Janszoon's voyage to Australia on the , the Duykfen, in 1606, was the first recorded sea journey from . Now some people are wondering if a Portuguese ship reached Australia before that date.

The discovery of a small image of a kangaroo (canguru in Portuguese) is what makes them ask questions. The roo is painted on a Portuguese document dated from between1580 and 1620. It is pictured curled inside a large capital D on the page of a book containing words and music for hymns for religious ceremonies.

Where did the artist learn what the , a native animal of Australia, looked like? If it really is an Aussie roo, and not a badly drawn deer or some other similar animal, then the Portuguese may have visited before 1606. There are no records of such journeys but that's not surprising. The Portuguese were secretive about their trade routes and a fire in Lisbon in 1775 destroyed many of the records the had kept.

If it is proven the Portuguese got to before the , then there will be some new information for our history books. That's nothing new though - it happens all the time.