The Ghosts of Christmas ( Island ) Past: An Examination of its Early Charting and Naming

Abstract

For some three centuries confusion existed among Europeans over the location and name of the Indian Ocean island now referred to as Christmas Island. Maps appeared charting the island with no name, with one of three names, with two names simultaneously, or as two or three adjacent islands. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that it was consistently charted as Christmas Island. The origin and meaning of its other appellations, Moni and Selam, is the subject of this article.

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Terrae Incognitae
The Journal of the Society for the History of Discoveries
ISSN: 0082-2884 (Print) 2040-8706 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ytin20
The Ghosts of Christmas (Island) Past: An
Examination of its Early Charting and Naming
Jan Tent
To cite this article: Jan Tent (2016): The Ghosts of Christmas (Island) Past: An Examination of its
Early Charting and Naming, Terrae Incognitae, DOI: 10.1080/00822884.2016.1211355
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TERRAE INCOGNITAE, 2016, 1–23
© The Society for the History of Discoveries 2016
The Ghosts of Christmas (Island) Past:
An Examination of its Early Charting and
Naming
Jan Tenta,b
aAustralian National Placenames Survey, Sydney, Australia, bAustralian
National University, Canberra, Australia
For some three centuries confusion existed among Europeans over the location
and name of the Indian Ocean island now referred to as Christmas Island. Maps
appeared charting the island with no name, with one of three names, with two
names simultaneously, or as two or three adjacent islands. It was not until
the second half of the nineteenth century that it was consistently charted as
Christmas Island. The origin and meaning of its other appellations, Moni and
Selam, is the subject of this article.
KEYWORDS Christmas Island, Moni, Monij, Mony, Selam, Selan, Sanskrit, Arabic,
Javanese, Dutch.
Christmas Island is located only 400km south of the western head of Java (i.e. at the
southern entrance to the Sunda Strait), approximately 2800km west of Darwin, and
2600km northwest of Perth.1 It has a total land area of 135km, and its 80-km coastline
is an almost continuous sea cli, ranging up to 50m in height, making a seaborne landing
on the island hazardous if not challenging.2 This situation is graphically expressed by
Charles Andrews who spent 10months surveying the island:
Nearly the whole of the coastline is formed by limestone clis, varying in height from about
15 to 150 feet or more. The latter height only occurs at Steep Point […], in other places the
1
This proximity to Indonesia has made the island a prime destination of late for refugees seeking asylum in Australia.
There is another Christmas Island; this one is in the Pacific Ocean and is now ocially known as Kiritimati. It is
part of theRepublic of Kiribati. James Cook visited it on Christmas Eve in 1777.
2 Australian Government, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport. Christmas Island.
www.regional.gov.au/territories/christmas/index.aspx; Ee Tiang Heng and Vivian Louis Forbes, “Christmas Island:
Remote No More,” in Australia’s Arc of Instability: The Political and Cultural Dynamics of Regional Security,
eds. D. Rumley, V. L. Forbes and C. C. M. Grin (Dordrecht: Springer, 2010), pp. 69–82.
DOI 10.1080/00822884.2016.1211355
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2 JAN TENT
height seldom exceeds 50 feet. The clis are nearly everywhere much undercut, and sometimes
overhang to the extent of 30 feet or more.3
The island has been depicted on maps from the late sixteenth century onwards and
initially appeared without a name; however, after some 20years the island was variously
labeled Moni, Mony, Monij, Selam, or Selan.4 Then, in 1643, Captain William Mynors,
master of the British East Indiaman Royal Mary, named the island Christmas Island
when he sailed past it on Christmas Day. He had come upon what he thought was an
uncharted island, of which he gives the following account:
The 25th ditto in the morneing I saw an island, of which I cannot find any mention either in
English, Dutch, or Portugall plaits. It lyes in lattytude 10d. 27; S. ¼ E. from the head of Java,
distance 75 leaugs; and longitud from the said head 00d. 31 E. To see to, tis a fine smooth
island of 7 leaugs longe. I came not neerer it then 6 leaugs, but caus’d the lead to be hove but
found noe ground. There I lay becalm’d two dayes; which did heartyly greeve me, in regard
of the many sicke men I had then aboard, beinge noe less then 20. But the 29th ditto it pleas’d
God to send a fresh gale.5
Mynors does not say what name he gave to his new “discovery.” However, the name is
supplied in another document, a log kept on board the Royal Mary, now forming volume
65 of the India Oce Marine Records. In this document, the writer says, during 24–25
December 1643 he “[a]t 3 howers morne had sight of an iland [sic] bearing, the body of
it, S.W. b. W. about 7 lea. of; and because it was Christmas Day we called it by the name
of Christmas iland.”6
The first recorded landing on Christmas Island was on 28 March 1688 by the British
privateer William Dampier, aboard the Cygnet. He landed at what is now called The
Dales (on the west coast), and found the island unoccupied:7
We met nothing of remark in this voyage beside the catching two great sharks till the 28th
day. Then we fell in with a small woody island in latitude 10 degrees 20min. Its longitude
from New Holland, from whence we came, was by my account 12 degrees 6min west.
It was deep water about the island, and therefore no anchoring; but we sent two canoes
ashore; one of them with the carpenters to cut a tree to make another pump; the other
canoe went to search for fresh water and found a fine small brook near the south-west
point of the island; but there the sea fell in on the shore so high that they could not get it
3 Charles W. Andrews, A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): Physical Features and Geology with
Descriptions of the Fauna and Flora by Numerous Contributors (London: British Museum, 1900), p. 6. See also
Charles W. Andrews, “A Description of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean),” The Geographical Journal 13.1 (1899),
pp. 17–35.
4 Moni and Selam will be used as the default spellings throughout this article, unless when quoting directly. The
form Moni is the closest orthographic representation of how it is actually pronounced. It is interesting to note
that on the 1753 map of Johannes van Keulen (Table 1, map reference 51), an island to the southwest of Java,
near Cocos, is labeled I. d’May. Even though this is not near any of the islands labeled Moni or Mony, I assume
I. d’May refers to it nevertheless.
5 Cited in William Foster, “The Discovery of Christmas Island,” The Geographical Journal 37.3 (1911), pp. 281–2.
6
Cited in Foster, “The Discovery of Christmas Island,” pp. 281–2. Foster also cites a Ralph Cartwright, the ex-Presi-
dent of Bantam, who in a letter recounted the voyage back to Britain in 1646. Cartwright writes: “The 13th [January]
about no one we saw Nativity Iland, soe called by Capt. Mynors. The 14th we had sight of the iland againe.”
7 Dampier’s account of his visit can be found in chapter 17 of his A New Voyage around the World.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500461h.html.
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 3
off. At noon both our canoes returned aboard; and the carpenters brought aboard a good
tree which they afterwards made a pump with, such a one as they made at Mindanao.
The other canoe brought aboard as many boobies and men-of-war birds as sufficed all
the ship’s company when they were boiled.
Under the section entitled “A land-animal like large crawfish,”8 Dampier continues that
They got also a sort of land animal somewhat resembling a large crawfish without its great
claws. These creatures lived in holes in the dry sandy ground like rabbits. Sir Francis Drake
in his Voyage round the World makes mention of such that he found at Ternate, or some
other of the Spice Islands, or near them. They were very good sweet meat and so large that
two of them were more than a man could eat; being almost as thick as one’s leg. Their shells
were of a dark brown but red when boiled.
This island is of a good height, with steep clis against the south and south-west, and a
sandy bay on the north side; but very deep water steep to the shore. The mould is blackish,
the soil fat, producing large trees of divers sorts.
Another, rarely mentioned, early visitor to Moni was Willem de Vlamingh in 1697.
After exploring and charting most of the southern half of the west coast of Australia,
de Vlamingh headed for Batavia:
[March] the 5th Tuesday […] In the afternoon, eight glasses having passed, saw land which
was an island […] before sunrise braced up to call at ditto island […].
[March] the 6th Wednesday in the morning after breakfast the wind ESE, topgallant breeze.
Our upper-steersman went ashore to examine how the bottom was and to see if there was
any possibility to land, since as far as we could see from the ship the shore was altogether
steep and sounded no bottom a cannon-shot from shore. In the forenoon sent our third mate
with the other boat to another place. At noon the estimated course and distance in 24h was
N½W 12½ miles, according to which the position by dead reckoning was 10deg. 13min. S
lat. And 124deg. 2min. long. In the afternoon got our boats on board, reported thus: that the
under-steersman and third mate, having a carpenter with them, found some trees which were
suitable for making masts from, and also many palmite-trees, some of which they brought
on board; braced round again and made sail […], found the island which we were confident
to be Mony [Christmas Island].9
The samples of timber were subsequently sent to Amsterdam for analysis, and as a result
of de Vlamingh’s report, the VOC ocials in Batavia sent de Vlamingh’s son, Cornelis,
back to Moni to gather more intelligence on this timber. However, Cornelis was unable
to make a landing due to rough seas.
8
In all probability, Dampier is referring here to the “coconut” or “robber crab” (Birgus latro). Christmas Island holds
the largest and densest population of coconut crabs in the world.
9 Cited in Günter Schilder (ed.), Voyage to the Great South Land: Willem de Vlamingh 1696–1969, trans. C. de Heer
(Sydney: Royal Australian Historical Society, 1985), p. 142. De Vlamingh’s reference to “12 ½ miles” refers to a
German mile which was the unit of measurement used by Dutch mariners at the time. A German mile was four
Admiralty nautical miles (i.e. 7,412.7m, 24,320 ft., 4.6061 miles, or 1/15 of a degree of latitude). See Russ Rowlett,
How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement (2005). www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/index.html.
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4 JAN TENT
One of de Vlamingh’s crew, Victor Victorszoon, was enlisted by the VOC’s Chamber
of Amsterdam as the “consoler of the sick” aboard the Geelvinck.10 He was also com-
missioned to accurately chart and paint profiles of every coastline sighted during the
expedition. He did a remarkable job, painting accurate and striking watercolor profiles of
the coasts of Tristan da Cunha, St. Paul, Amsterdam, and Moni, as well a truthful depic-
tion of the west Australian coast from the Swan River and Rottenest Island to north-west
Cape. All drawings are still extant except, unfortunately, that of Moni. Undoubtedly, his
drawing would have been much superior to that drawn by the next visitor to Christmas
Island, Captain Daniel Beeckman, aboard the East India Company’s Eagle-Galley in
1718. Beeckman declares that “[o]n the 5th of April we made Christmas Island (so called
it’s being first discovered on that Day.” (Figure 1)
Beeckman’s sketch is quite extraordinary in that the hills are grossly exaggerated. For
instance, the highest points are depicted as a mountain with three peaks. Moreover, like
Mynors, his estimate of the island’s length of seven leagues (39.2km) is also exagger-
ated.11 To be fair to Mynors, though, he did not venture any closer to the island than
about six leagues (approximately 33km), making any reasonable estimation of its length
dicult. Its actual length is nine km, and its breadth 14.5km, with its highest point being
Murray Hill at 361m above sea level.
There is an uncanny resemblance between Beeckman’s sketch of Christmas Island and
that of an island depicted on the late Ming watercolor map of East Asia, better known
as the Selden Map of China currently held at Oxford University’s Bodleian Library.12 At
the extreme bottom of this map are depicted Java and its southern coast. Adjacent to
this coast several islands are shown. The most southern of these looks remarkably like
Beeckman’s illustration. On many early maps, uncharted coastlines and islands were
often imaginatively depicted. However, the Selden map is generally considered to be
remarkably accurate, and indeed the historian Timothy Brook considers the southern
half of the map to be the most “geographically informed.”13 Could the Selden map’s
depiction of this southern island be the first representation of Christmas Island, or is
the resemblance mere coincidence?
In 1866, a review of the then recently published Een Nieuwe Atlas Van Nederlandsch-
Indië (A New Atlas of the Dutch East-Indies), the Dutch scholar and public intellectual
Robidé van der Aa makes the following comments on the lack of knowledge of Christmas
Island:
It is surely strange that so little is known of this apparently uninhabited island. Of all the
geographic works that I have examined during my lifetime, both old and new travel narra-
tives, I cannot remember that I have ever read that it was visited or even sighted. Therefore,
10 A person in the employ and service of the VOC who cared for the spiritual well-being of its soldiers and ships’
crews, known in Dutch as a ziekentrooster.
11 In nautical contexts, a league is three nautical miles (approximately 5.6km).
12 Bodleian Library, MS Selden supra 105. A dedicated website can be found at http://seldenmap.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
map. See also Robert Batchelor’s web page Thinking Past, in which the map is treated. www.thinkingpast.com/
projects/seldens-map.
13 Timothy Brook, Mr. Seldon’s Map of China: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer (New York, NY:
Bloomsbury Press, 2013), pp. 159–63, 69, 86.
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 5
without remotely pressing for annexation, I think it, nevertheless, appropriate, that this land
lying adjacent Java’s west point be ocially surveyed.14
14
“Het is toch vreemd, zoo weinig als men van dit waarschijnlijk onbewoonde eiland afweet. In mijn levensloop heb ik
nog al aardrijkskundige werken, zoo oude als nieuwe reisbeschrijvingen, ingezien, maar ik kan mij niet herinneren,
dat ik ooit gelezen heb, dat het bezocht of zelfs gezien werd. Zonder daarom in de verste verte op annexatie aan te
dringen, ware het toch, dunkt mij, niet kwaad, dat dit het naast bij Java’s westpunt gelegen land eens behoorlijk van
regeeringswege werd opgenomen,” p. 117. Also see Pierre Jean Baptiste CharlesRobidé van der Aa, “Een Nieuwe
Atlas Van Nederlandsch-Indië,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 35.1 (1886), pp. 220–45.
Figure 1 Coastal profile of Christmas Island looking from the southwest towards Smithson Bight.
In Daniel Beeckman, A Voyage to and from the Island of Borneo in the East-Indies […] Also a
Description of the Islands of Canary, Cape Verd, Java, Madura, of the Streights of Bally, the
Cape of Good Hope, the Hottentots, the Island of St. Helena, Ascension (London: T. Warner,
Paternoster Row, 1718), p. 20.
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6 JAN TENT
As if to embrace van der Aa’s proposal, the British Admiralty sent Captain John Fiot
Lee Pearse Maclear, master of the hydrographic survey ship HMS Flying Fish, to call at
Christmas Island and to survey it on his return voyage to Britain from Australia.15 In the
same year, 1887, the survey ship, HMS Egeria, captained by Pelham Aldrich, also visited
the island. Both expeditions made detailed surveys of the coastline, the result of which
is the first recorded coastal chart of the island (Figure 2). Aldrich found no evidence that
it had ever been occupied.
15 W. J. L. Wharton, “Account of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society
and Monthly Record of Geography 10.10 (1888), pp. 613–24.
Figure 2 The Flying Fish/Egeria chart of Christmas Island, 1888. Reproduced in W.J.L. Wharton,
“Account of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society
and Monthly Record of Geography 10.10 (1888), pp. 613–24, p. 614.
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 7
Other early visits that were made to Christmas Island include: the East Indiaman
Pigot in 1771, the crew of which attempted to secure an anchorage, but failed; the 1857
visit of the frigate HMS Amethyst, from which a boat crew was landed with the object
of attempting to reach the island’s highest summit, but the inland clis proved an insur-
mountable obstacle and the ascent was abandoned; and the 1872–1876 Challenger round-
the-world scientific expedition during which the naturalist Dr. John Murray discovered
large deposits of phosphate. This discovery impelled Britain to annex the island in 1888.
A settlement was established at Flying Fish Cove by George Clunies-Ross, after which
the island became an Australian territory in 1957.
The maps
Table 1 catalogs a selection of 76 early European maps and one Chinese map, dating from
c. 1540 to 1904, of South-East Asia that shows Java and the Indian Ocean region to its
south. For each map, the table displays the author’s number assigned to the reference;
the map’s year of publication; the cartographer, title, and publisher of the map (when
known); the library shelfmark or author’s source; and a description of the Christmas
Island region as represented on the map.
Unsurprisingly, early maps depicting Java only showed the north coast of the island.
The south coast and the seas beyond were imagined or left empty, respectively. It was
not until about the 1620s that the map of Java and the seas to its south became more
completely elucidated.16
Although the earliest map to identify the island as Moni is usually said to be that of
Pieter Goos of 1666, a 1899 facsimile of a 1618 map showing the islands of Indonesia,
as well as the western and southern coasts of Australia charted by the Dutch, shows the
island of Monij (see Table 1.10).
Moni appears on maps until approximately 1875. After its first use in 1618, it seems to
have fallen into disuse until about 1685 after which it reappears on maps more regularly.
It generally appears together with Selam, or as an alternative name for Christmas Island.
Sometimes, the three names appear as labels for three closely located islands (see Table
1.28, 31, 32, 37, 40, 42, and Figure 4). The appearance of three dierently named islands
in close proximity is evidence for the likelihood that there was confusion over the location
and appellation of the island. Table 1 further illustrates how the use of Moni and Selam
was slowly abandoned during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Selam appears on maps between about 1600 and 1630, but quickly seems to fall into
disuse for some 30-odd years until about 1666. It disappears from use again around
the mid-1700s, as evidenced by the Reiner Ottens map of 1745 (Table 1.45). However,
Pierre Mortier’s 1700 map and Joachim Ottens’s map of 1701–1741 (Table 1.31 and 32)
depict three nearby islands, one of which is labeled Celan. Subsequently, Selam appears
(probably for the last time) on a 1813 map by John Pinkerton (Table 1.62). Of the 75
European maps cataloged in Table 1, Selam, Selan, Celam, or Celan are charted on 30
16 See for example Günter Schilder’s informative article, “The Charting of the South Coast of Java,”Archipel
22.1(1981),pp. 87–104, for an account of the charting of Java’s southern coast.
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8 JAN TENT
TABLE 1
A SELECTION OF MAPS PUBLISHED C. 1540 TO 1904, OF SOUTH-EAST ASIA.A
Map
reference
number
Year of
publication Cartographer, map title, publisher (if applicable), source
Number of islands depicted & their
labels
1 ca. 1540 Anon. [Map of East Indies] Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel; P.M.C., I, 71. Reproduced in Luís
Filipe F. R. Thomaz, “The Image of the Archipelago in Portuguese Cartography of the 16th and Early
17th Centuries,” Archipel 49.1 (1995), pp. 79–124, plate X.
1 island adjacent west coast of Java,
unnamed
2 1544 Sebastian Münster. Neuw India / mit vilen anstoßenden lendern / besunder Scychia /Parchia / Arabia /
Persia etc. Basle: Heinrich Petri. www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/40737/Neuw_India_mit_vilen_an-
stossenden_lendern_besunder_Scychia_Parchia/Munster.html
Line of imagined islands along
south coast of Java
3 1570–1571 Abraham Ortelius. Indiae Orientalis Insularumque Adiacientium Typus. Antwerp: Abraham Ortelius.
www.orteliusmaps.com/book/ort166.html
1 island adjacent west coast of Java,
unnamed
4 1575 François de Belleforest. Typus orbis terrarum. Description universelle de tout le monde. Paris: Michel
Sominius, plate 114. NLA MAP RM 147. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231198341/view
1 island adjacent west coast of Java,
unnamed
5 16–? Abraham Ortelius. Insvlæ Indicæ cvm terris circvmvicinis. LOC G8070 16– .I5). www.loc.gov/
item/2012586635/
1 island south of Java, named Selam
6 1600 Theodor de Bry. [Map of the world showing Drake’s voyage]. Frankfurt am Main: Matthaeum Becker.
NLA MAP RM 2507. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231864862/view
2 islands adjacent west coast of
Java, both unnamed
7 1601–1610 Manoel Godinho de Heredia. [North western Australia]. Lisbon. NLA MAP RM 2053. http://nla.gov.au/
nla.map-rm2053
1 island adjacent west coast of Java,
unnamed
8 ca. 1608 Selon Map of China. BL MS Selden supra 105. http://seldenmap.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/map Several islands adjacent south
coast of Java
9 1615 Diego de Astor. Descripção da ilha de Iaoa. Ioão de Barros. Madrid: Impressão Real. BNP, cc-154-pl.
http://bdlb.bn.br/acervo/handle/123456789/4581
1 island adjacent west coast of Java,
unnamed
10 1618 Hessel Gerritszoon. [Uitslaande Kaart van het Zuidland] [Folding chart of the Southland]. Amsterdam:
Hessel Gerritsz met Octroy van der H.M. Heeren de Staten Generael der Vereenicho Neerlanden. Re-
produced in Jan Ernst Heeres, Het aandeel der Nederlanders in de ontdekking van Australie 1606–1765
(Leiden: Luzac & Co., 1899). NLA MAP f 919.404 H469 Plate 5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-gmod106
2 islands; 1 adjacent west coast
of Java unnamed & 1 south of Java
named Monij
11 1618 Hessel Gerritszoon. [Chart of the Malay Archipelago and the Dutch discoveries in Australia]. Amster-
dam: Met Octroy Vande H.M. Heeren de Staten Generael der Vereenichde Neerlanden. NLA MAP RM
750. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231306238/view
1 island south of Java named Monij
12 1630 Jan Jansson. Indiae Orientalis Nova Descriptio. Amsterdam: Joannem Janssonium. NLA MAP RM 4527.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm4527
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest unnamed
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 9
13 1649 Joannes Janssonius. Indiae Orientalis nova descriptio. Amsterdam: Joannes Janssonius, map 79. Map
79. NLA MAP RM 262. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231217946/view
1 island adjacent west coast of Java,
unnamed
14 1662 Joannes l’Huilier. Tabula Indiae orientalis. Amsterdam: de Wit. NLA GEN 912.93 WIT. http://nla.gov.au/
nla.map-nk2077
Cluster of islands south of Java,
unnamed (Cocos-Keeling Islands?)
15 1666 Pieter Goos. Paskaerte Zynde t’Oosterdeel Van Oost Indies: met alle de Eylanden deer ontrendt gelee-
gen van C. Comorin tot aen Iapan. Amsterdam: Pieter Goos. NLA MAP NK 1574. http://nla.gov.au/nla.
obj-230597079/view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest Mony
16 1671 John Seller. A chart of the easternmost part of the East Indies from the island Zeloan to Amoy in China:
with the adjacent islands adjusted according to the most accurate astronomical observations. London.
NLA MAP RM 192. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231206179/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I
17 1675 Frederik de Wit. Orientaliora Indiarum Orientalium cum insulis adjacentibus ‘a promontorio C. Comorin
ad Japan = Pascaert van t’Ooster gedeelte van Oost Indien van C. Comorin ad Japan. Amsterdam:
Frederik de Wit. NLA MAP RM 1417. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231475571/view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest Mony
18 1680 Pieter Goos. Oost Indien. Wassende-Gaarde Paskaart Vertonende nevens het Oosterlyckste van Africa,
mede de Zeeekusten van Asia, van de C. de Bona Esperannca tot Eso, boven Japan. Amsterdam: Pieter
Goos & Johannes van Keulen. BNF ark:/12148/btv1b530650519. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bt-
v1b530650519
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest Mony
19 1683 Jacobus Robijn. Nieuwe wassende graet kaert van Oost Indien van d. C. d Bono Esperanca tot t’Lant
Eso. Amsterdam: I. Robyn. NLA MAP T 1008. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232631083/view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest Mony
20 1685? Giacomo Cantelli. Isole dell’ India cioè le Molucche, le Filippine e della Sonda: Parte de Paesi di nuoua
scoperta e l’Isole de Ladri nel Mare del Zud. Rome: G. G. de Rossi. NLA MAP RM 1735. http://nla.gov.
au/nla.obj-231572228/view
1 island just south of Java, I. Selam
21 1687 Vincenzo Coronelli. Route maritime de Brest a Siam, et de Siam a Brest, faite en 1685 et 1686 selon les
remarques des six Peres Jésuites, envoiez par le Roy de France en qualité de ses mathématiciens dans
les Indes, et la Chine. Paris: J.B. Nolin. NLA MAP RM 3121. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232187234/view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named I Mony, farthest I Christmat
[sic]
22 1688 Vincenzo Coronelli. [Terrestrial globe]. Facsimile reproduction of terrestrial globe originally designed
and constructed by Vincenzo Coronelli. Canberra: J.C. Eade, 1978). NLA Map Globe 29. http://nla.gov.
au/nla.map-vn6154743
2 islands south of Java; closest
named I. Mony, farthest I. Christmat
[sic]; 1 island adjacent Java, named
I. Selam
23 1690 Vincenzo Coronelli. Isole Dell’ Indie, diuise in Filippine, Molucche, e della Sonda. NLA MAP RM 2147.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231739237/view
1 island adjacent Java, named I.
Selam; 2 islands south of Java, both
unnamed
24 1690? Pieter Goos. Oost Indien wassende-graade paskaart, vertoonende nevens het Oostelyckste van Africa,
meede de zeekusten van Asia, van C. de Bona Esperanca tot Eso, boven Iapan. Amsterdam: Johannes
van Keulen. NLA MAP RM 792. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232606621/view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest Mony
(Continued)
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10 JAN TENT
Map
reference
number
Year of pub-
lication Cartographer, map title, publisher (if applicable), source
Number of islands depicted & their
labels
25 1690 Vincenzo Coronelli. L’Asie selon les mémoires les plus nouveaux. Paris: Jean Baptiste Nolin. BNF
ark:/12148/btv1b530890106. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b530890106
1 island adjacent Java, named
Selan I; 2 islands south of Java;
closest unnamed, farthest named
Christmat I
26 1690? John Seller. A chart of the easternmost part of the East Indies with all the adjacent islands from Cape
Comorin to Iapan. Wapping: The Hermitage. NLA MAP T 1130. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232633845/
view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest Mony
27 1695 Vincenzo Coronelli. Planisfero del mondo vecchio. Venice. NLA MAP T 348. http://nla.gov.au/nla.
map-t348
2 islands south of Java; closest un-
named, farthest named I Christmat
28 1696 Nicolas de Fer. L’Asie suivant les nouvelles des couvertes dans les points principaux sont placez sur
les observations de Mrs. de l’Académie royale de science. Paris: chez l’auteur. BNF ark:/12148/bt-
v1b530530197. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b530530197
3 islands south of Java; closest
named Celan Isle, farthest Mony
Isle and Isle de Christmas
29 1695–1697 Vincenzo Coronelli. Isole dell’Indie, divise in Filippine, Molucche, e della Sonda. Venice: Vincenzo
Coronelli. NLA MAP RM 2147. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231739237/view
1 island adjacent Java, named I.
Selam; 2 islands south of Java, both
unnamed
30 1700 Pierre Mortier. Carte des Costes de L’Asie sur L’Océan Contenant les Bancs Isles et Costes &c: levée sur
les mémoires les plus nouveaux; Partie Orientale de L’Asie sur L’Océan. Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier.
NLA MAP RM 3465. http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm3465
2 islands south of Java, closest
named Selan I., farthest I. Mony
31 1700 Pierre Mortier. Le royaume de Siam avec les royaumes qui luy sont tributaires et les Isles de Sumatra,
Andemaon, etc. et les Isles Voisine. Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier. NLA MAP RM 297. http://nla.gov.au/
nla.obj-231223664/view
3 islands south of Java; closest
named Celan Isle; others Mony Isle
& Isle Christmas
32 1701–1741 Joachim Ottens. Le royaume de Siam: avec les royaumes qui luy font tributaires et les isles de Sumatra,
Andemaon, etc. et les isles voisines. Amsterdam: Johannes Covens & Cornelis Mortier, vol. 3, plate 80.
NLA MAP RM 184. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231204147/view
3 islands south of Java; closest
named Celan Isle; others Mony Isle
& Isle Christmas
33 1702–1710 Heinrich Scherer. Asiae pars Australis insulae indicae cum suis naturae dotibus. Munich. NLA MAP T
1123. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232632960/view
1 island close to south coast of
Java, unnamed
34 1701 Herman Moll. The Principal Islands of the East Indies. London: Timothy Childe. Lionel Pincus and
Princess Firyal Map Division, NYPL 97–6063 LHS 341; atlas cases. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/
items/510d47e1-ce92-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest Mony
35 ca. 1720 Gerard van Keulen. Nieuwe Wassende Graaden Paskaart Vertoonende alle de bekende Zeekusten en
Landen op den geheelen Aard Boodem of Werelt. Amsterdam: Gerard van Keulen. SLNSW Dixson Map
Collection Z/Cc 71/4. http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/album/albumView.aspx?itemID=913271&acmsid=0
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam; farthest Mony
TABLE 1
(CONTINUED)
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 11
36 1728? Rudolf Wetstein. De werelt caart. Amsterdam: R. & J. Wetstein en William Smith. NLA MAP RM 3836.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232378445/view
1 island south of Java, named E
Selam
37 1728 Nathaniel Cutler. A chart of the East Indian Ocean from the Islands of Maldivy to Cambodia. London :
Printed for J. and J. Knapton, W. and J. Innays, etc. NLA MAP RM 2670. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-
231893686/view
3 islands south of Java; closest
named Selan; others Mony &
Christmas
38 1729? Herman Moll. The Philippine islands and others of the East Indies according to newest descriptions.
London? NLA MAP RM 1866. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231614354/view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam, farthest Mony
39 1730 Abraham Anias. [Chart of the Indian Ocean]. Middelburg: Abraham Anias. NLA MAP RM 4096 Pictures
Screen 109. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232422744/view
2 islands; 1 adjacent Java, named
Selam; 1 south of Java, named
Monij
40 1730 Guillaume de L’Isle. Hémisphère méridional pour voir plus distinctement les terres Australes. Amster-
dam: Jean Covens & Corneille Mortier. NLA MAP RM 318. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231226522
3 islands south of Java; closest
named Celan Isle, others Mony Isle
& Isle Christmas
41 1736 Hermann Moll. The Principal Islands of the East-Indies. Explaining what belongs to England, Spain
and Holland &c. London : Th. Bowles and John Bowles. Antiquariat Reinhold Berg Stock No.:28019.
https://www.bergbook.com/htdocs/woda/data/demo/descriptions/28019.htm
2 islands; Selam close to Java
coast; Mony farther south
42 ca. 1740 Reiner & Joshua Ottens. Hémisphère Méridional pour voir plus distinctement Les Terres Australes par
Guillaume De L’Isle Onse voyent les Nouvelles découvertes faites en 1739 au Sud du Cap de Bonne Es-
perance Par les Ordres de Mrs. de la Compagnie des Indes. Amsterdam. Ref: MCC 2 Tooley – Antarctica
#48; Tooley, R.V. Australia #1517. www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/40312/Hemisphere_Meridion-
al_pour_voir_plus_distinctement_Les_Terres_Australes_par/Ottens.html
3 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam; others Mony &
Christmat
43 1744 Johann Matthias Hase. Asia secundum legitimas projectionis stereographicae regulas et juxta recentis-
simas observations. Norumberg?: Homannianorum Heredum. UW-ML 400 B-1744. http://collections.
lib.uwm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/agdm/id/266
2 islands south of Java; closest
named I. Selam; farthest named
Mony
44 1744–1769 Isaak Tirion. Nieuwe kaart van de Sundasche Eilanden als Borneo, Sumatra en Groot Java &c. Amster-
dam: Isaak Tirion. NLA MAP RM 1416. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231475463/view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam; farthest named
Mony
45 1745 Reiner Ottens. Orientaliora Indiarum Orientalium cum insulis adjacentibus a promontorio C. Comorin
ad Iapan = Pascaert van t’Ooster gedeelte van Oost Indien van C. Comorin tot Iapan. Amsterdam:
Gedr. by R. & I. Ottens. NLA MAP T 1370. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232659572/view
2 islands south of Java; closest
named Selam; farthest named
Mony
46 1747? Emanuel Bowen. A new and accurate map of the East India Islands : laid down according to the
latest discoveries, and agreeable to the most approved maps and charts, the whole being regulated
by astron[omica]l observations. London: E. Bowen. NLA MAP NK 1553. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-
230592625/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
47 1748 Nicholas Bellin. Essay d’une Carte Réduite Contenant Les Parties Connuees Du Globe Terrestre Dédie A
JM. Le Comte De Maurepas. Paris: Didiot. NLA MAP RM 75. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231174802/view
1 island south of Java, named I.
Noel ou Moni
(Continued)
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12 JAN TENT
Map
reference
number
Year of
publication Cartographer, map title, publisher (if applicable), source
Number of islands depicted & their
labels
48 1748 Thomas Jefferys. East Indies Drawn from the latest Discoveries. London. NLA MAP RM 3908. http://nla.
gov.au/nla.obj-232396383/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
49 1750 Gilles Robert de Vaugondy. Archipel des Indes Orientales: qui comprend les Isles de la Sonde,
Moluques et Philippines / tirées des Cartes du Neptune Oriental. Paris: Boudet. NLA MAP NK 2456/35.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230614935/view
1 island south of Java, named I.
Noel ou Moni
50 1751 Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville & Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Denis d’Après
de Mannevillette. Carte réduite de l’Océan oriental ou Mers des Indes [2nd edition]. BNF ark:/12148/
btv1b59627344. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b59627344
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas ou I. Noel la même que
l’I. Monis
51 1753 Johannes van Keulen. Deese wassende pas-kaart van Oost-Indien is nu te bekoomen voor die deselve
begeeren. Amsterdam: Joannes Loots. NLA MAP T 791. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232606504/view
1 island to the south-west of Java,
near Cocos, named I. d’May [sic]
52 1780? Carrington Bowles. Bowles’s new and accurate map of the world, or Terrestrial globe. London: for
Carington Bowles. LOC G3200 1780 .B6. https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3200.ct001476/
1 island south of Java, named I.
Moni
53 1781 John Bew. The archipelago of the East : being the Sunda, the Molucca, and Phillipp Islands; the chief
settlements of the Dutch in India are in the Sunda and Molucca Islands. London: J. Bew. NLA MAP RM
1415. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231475350/view
1 island south of java, named I.
Noel ou Moni
54 1787 Anon. Chart of New Holland: with the adjacent countries and new discover’d islands. London : J. Stock-
dale.NLA MAP NK 1586. http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-nk1586
1 island south of Java, named I Moni
55 1787 John Lodge. A chart of New Holland including New South Wales and Botany Bay with the new discov-
er’d islands &ca. London: J. Murray. NLA MAP NK 2456/56. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230619603/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
56 1787 Robert Sayer. A new chart of the Indian and Pacific Oceans between the Cape of Good Hope, New
Holland and Japan : comprehending New Zealand, New Caledonia, New Britain, New Ireland, New
Guinea &c., also the New Caroline, Ladrone and Philippine Islands : with the tracks of the English,
French, Spanish and Dutch discoverers. London: Robert Sayer. NLA MAP RM 451. http://nla.gov.au/
nla.obj-231258563/view
1 island south of Java, named Moni
or Christmas I.
57 1790 William Faden. Southern hemisphere. London: William Faden. NLA MAP NK 4560. http://nla.gov.au/
nla.obj-230684226/view
1 island south of Java, named I.
Moni
58 1791 Thomas Harmar. This chart of the China Sea including the Philippina, Mollucca and Banda Islands:
showing at the same time all the tracks into the Pacific Ocean. London: G. Robertson. NLA MAP NK
10742. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230726648/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
59 1794 Thomas Conder. An accurate map of the islands and channels between China and New Holland. Lon-
don: R. Wilkinson. NLA MAP NK 2456/37. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230615409/view
1 island south of Java, named Moni
or Christmas I.
60 Early 1800s J.T. Busscher. Geteekende kaart van den Oost-Indischen Archipel, strekkende van het eiland Sumatra
tot Nova Guinea of het land der Papoes, en noordwaarts van Nieuw-Holland tot het eiland Mindanao.
National Archives, Netherlands. NL-HaNA, Koloniën / Kaarten en Tekeningen, 4.MIKO, inv.nr. 1. www.
gahetna.nl/collectie/archief/inventaris/gahetnascans/eadid/4.MIKO/inventarisnr/1/level/file/
scan-index/1/foto/NL-HaNA_4.MIKO_1/fotouuid/47efc6b6-23ed-42eb-b85c-7166a82fb14a
1 island south of Java, named
Christmus Eiland
TABLE 1
(CONTINUED)
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 13
61 1802 Johannes Walch. Australian (Sudland) auch Polynesien oder Inselwelt : insgemein der fünfte Welttheil
genannt, nach den neuesten und bewahrtesten Hulfsmitteln entworfen. Augsburg: Johannes Walch.
NLA NK 1546. http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-nk1546
1 island south of Java, named Moni
I.
62 1813 John Pinkerton. East India Isles. London: Cadell & Davies. NLA MAP RM 2062. http://nla.gov.au/nla.
map-rm2062
1 island adjacent south coast of
Java, named Selam
63 1814–1832 Thomas Kelly. East India islands on Mercator’s projection. London: Thomas Kelly. NLA MAP RM 2639.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231889788/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas
64 1817 Friedrich Wilhelm Streit. Charte von Australien nach den neuesten und besten Hübfsmitteln. Nurnberg:
Friedrich Campe. NLA MAP RM 521. http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm521
1 island south of Java, named I Noel
65 1832 John Arrowsmith. Asiatic archipelago. London: J. Arrowsmith. NLA NK 2456/40. http://nla.gov.au/nla.
obj-230616068/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
66 1832 Hachette [Firm]. Carte de l’Oceanie ou 5e. partie du monde: a l’usage des collèges. Paris: Librairie
classique de L. Hachette. NLA MAP RM 3956. http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm3956
1 island south of Java, named
Mouni ou Noël
67 1834 Hachette [Firm]. Carte de l’Oceanie ou 5e. partie du monde: a l’usage des collèges. Paris: Librairie
classique de L. Hachette. NLA MAP RM 3901. http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm3901
1 island south of Java, named
Mouni ou Noël
68 1842 Baron Gijsbert Franco von Derfelden van Hinderstein. Algemeene kaart van Nederlandsch Oostindie.
NLA MAP RM 1369. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231468493
1 island south of Java, named Ed
Monij
69 1847 Anon. Asiatischer Archipel und Neu Holland. Hildleburg: Schweinfurter Geographischen Gravieranstalt
des Bibliograph Instituts zu Hildburghausen, Amsterdam Paris u. Philadelphia. NLA MAP RM 2274.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231767248/view
1 island south of Java, named
Mouni/Noel oder Weihnachts I.
70 1847 Koninklijke Militaire Academie. Algemeene kaart van Nederlands Oostindie: op de schaal van
1:5,000,000. Amsterdam? : Koninklijke Militaire Akademie door F.J. Ensinck. NLA MAP RM 1622. http://
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231534803/view
1 island south of Java, named Ed
Christmas of Mony
71 1854 George Philip & Son. East India islands and Australia. Liverpool: George Philip & Son. NLA MAP RM
1449. http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm1449
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
72 1855 George Woolworth Colton. Colton’s East Indies. New York, NY: Johnson & Browning. NLA MAP NK
2456/41. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230616255/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
73 1862 John Bartholomew. Sketch map of the Dutch possessions in the Indian Archipelago. Edinburgh: A.
Fullarton & Co. NLA MAP RM 2181. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231746172/view
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
74 1867 Alvin Jewett Johnson. Johnson’s Australia and East Indies. New York, NY : A.J. Johnson. NLA MAP T 754.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-t754
1 island south of Java, named
Christmas I.
75 1875 Adrien Hubert Brue & E. Levasseur. Carte de la Malaisie (Partie Nord-Ouest de l’Oceanie). Paris:
Institut Géographique de Paris. Archvision Digital Research Library, David Rumsey Historical Map
Collection, Image 4607048. http://archivisionsubscription.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/
RUMSEY~8~1~202310~3001038:Carte-de-la-Malaisie–Partie-NordO?sort=LocalCollection%2CWork_
Culture%2CWork_Location_Type_Display%2CWork_PrefTitle
1 island south of Java, named I.
Mouni ou Noël
76 1867–1904 Great Britain. Hydrographic Dept. Eastern archipelago, western portion – part 1 including the Java Sea
and the southern passages to China. Sheet 1 : compiled from the most recent British & Dutch Govern-
ment surveys. London: The Admiralty. NLA MAP RM 2882. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232129277/view
1 island south of Java, unnamed
(unclear)
aMaps not depicting any islands south of the Sunda Strait, Java are not included in the Table. Of course, there are many more maps and charts that could have been included in this study, but it was
felt that the collection of 76 maps embodied a reasonable representative sample of maps over the period in question. Abbreviations for library shelfmarks include: National Library of Australia
(NLA), Library of Congress (LOC), Bodleian Library (BL), Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (BNP), Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), New York Public Library (NYPL), State Library of New South
Wales (SLNSW), and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries (UW-ML).
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14 JAN TENT
(40percent) of them. Since there is no island currently bearing this name, nor any island
of its depicted size anywhere in the vicinity, it seems likely that its charting is a case of
mistaken identity. Like the position of Moni, the position of Selam on maps varies con-
siderably (Table 1.5–62), though Selam’s position varies more widely than that of Moni.
Nevertheless, it usually appears close to the southwestern tip of Java (near the southern
entrance to the Sunda Strait), where it might have been confused with Prinsen Island
(variously charted as Princess Island or Prince’s Island on other maps) currently known
as Pulau Panaitan. Indeed, on the return leg of James Cook’s first voyage (1768–1771),
Joseph Banks remarks:
Princes Island as it is calld by the English, in Malay Pulo Selan, and in the language of its
inhabitants Pulo paneitan, is a small Island situated in the Western mouth of the streights
of Sunday; it is woody, and has no remarkable hill upon it, tho the English call the small one
which is just over the anchoring place the Pike.17
Cartographic confusion over position and identity of Selam is also clearly articulated
by Cook himself:
Some few days after we left Java, we saw for 3 or 4 evenings succeeding one another Boobies
fly about the Ship, now as these birds are known to roost every night on land they seem’d to
indicate that some Island was in our neighbourhood, probabily it might be the Island Selam
which Island I find dierently laid down in dierent Charts,both inname and situation.18
Banks provides further evidence of the enigma of Selam:
We enquird much for the Island of Anabao or Anamabao mentiond by Dampier.19 He [Mr.
Lange] assurd us that he knew of no Island of that name any where in these seas. I since
have observd that it is laid down in several charts by the name of Selam which is probably
the real name of it.20
Although Christmas Island, Moni and Selam occupy a variety of positions on early
maps, their relative positions indicate that they probably all refer to the same island.
This apparent confusion is most likely due to one or more of a number of factors, the
first being the inability to calculate accurately longitude during this era and the concom-
itant conflicting recorded coordinates of the island. Other factors include the conflicting
physical descriptions of the island and/or the island having more than one appellation.
Table 1 illustrates that there are numerous maps that depict two or three closely located
islands variously named Moni, Selam, and Christmas (also see Figures 3 and 4), and that
this confusion endured for some 150years, beginning with the early seventeenth century
and ending in the mid-eighteenth century.
17 Extract from “Some account of Princes Island,” transcription of Joseph Banks’s Endeavour Journal, vol. 2, p. 519.
National Library of Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks_remarks-437.
18 Extract from March 1771 entry, transcription of James Cook’s Endeavour Journal, manuscript 1, p. 358. National
Library of Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jrnl-cook-17710315.
19 This is the island Oetefu Kecil, just o Kupang, West Timor.
20 Extract from “Some account of the Isles near Savu,” transcription of Joseph Bank’s Endeavour Journal, vol. 2, pp.
384–385. National Library of Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks_remarks-350.
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 15
The earliest map that assigns the name Christmas to the island is that of John Seller
in 1671 (Table 1.16), some 30years after it was named thusly. It was not until after the
mid-nineteenth century, however, that this name became its established designation.
There are also many maps that do not depict any islands in the region south of the
western tip of Java; after 1666, however, most maps do. Despite this fact, even as late
as 1842 (e.g. Table 1.68) there were published maps of the region that did not depict
Christmas Island, or any island in the vicinity. Many such maps were the colonial Dutch
maps of the late nineteenth century. This situation may be because the maps of its east
India colony were of its own possessions, and Christmas Island had been claimed by
Britain in 1888. Apart from Robidé van der Aa’s 1866 proposal to survey the island,
the Dutch never seemed to have shown any interest in it. On the one hand, this lack of
interest seems strange, given the island’s proximity to Java, but on the other hand, the
inaction is quite in character because the Dutch were only interested in trade and making
a profit. They never showed the slightest interest in New Holland, so it is unsurprising
that they should be interested in an uninhabited island that proered no easy landing,
let alone trade.
Linguistic candidates
There are a number of credible candidates for the linguistic origin of Moni and Selam,
including Malay, Sundanese, Sumatran, Javanese, or other indigenous Indonesian lan-
guage; and Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, or Sanskrit. All these languages have left numerous
lexical and toponymic legacies in the Malay/Indonesian archipelago.21 In Sanskrit, the
toponyms Sriwijaya, Madura, Java, Malaka, Kalimantan, and Sumatra survive via the
Hindu/Buddhist Srivijaya period between the first and sixteenth centuries.22 In Arabic/
Hadrami, Al Fatah, Al-Malaimalaya, and Al-Qumrkarimun survive via the Islamic
penetration into the region between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, whilst in
Portuguese, the toponyms Flores, Eng[g]ano, Porta de Santiago at A Famosa, Timor-Leste,
and Cristo Rei(in Dili) survive via their occupation between 1511–1850.23 Moreover,
some of the Dutch names used during the Dutch occupation between 1602–1942 include
Prinsen Eiland, later becoming Pulau Panaitan; Weltevreden, becoming Batavia and
then Jakarta; Hollandia, transforming to Jayapura; Buitenzorg, later becoming Bogor;
Schilpad Eiland, then known as Pulau Togean; Sandalhout Eiland, later Pulau Sumba;
Nassau Eiland, later Banda Neira; and Oosthaven, which became Bandar Lampung.24
The remainder of this article will consider these linguistic candidates for the origin
of Moni and Selam.
21
C. D. Grijns, Jan W. de Vries, and L. Santa Maria, Indonesian: A Check-list of Words of European Origin in Bahasa
Indonesia and Traditional Malay(Leiden: Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1983).
22 J. G. de Casparis (ed.), Sanskrit Loanwords in Indonesian: An Annotated Check-list of Words from Sanskrit in
Indonesian and Traditional Malay (Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya, 1997), vol. 41.
23 Catherine Mitchell and Pierre Léglise-Costa, “Les Portugais en Indonésie,” in Critique (Paris: Édition de Minuit/
Centre National des Lettres, 1988), t. XLIV, pp. 658–63.
24 Robert B. Cribb, Historical Atlas of Indonesia (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2000), pp. 8–9.
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16 JAN TENT
Moni
There are a number of entities in the region that currently have the name Moni. One is
a small town on the island of Flores, some 50km to the east of the volcano Kelimutu.
The meaning of the town’s name is currently unknown.25 In West Papua, there is also
a group of people and their language called Moni; however, any reasonable connection
between the island name and these people is untenable.
There are also four populated places or settlements named Muni in the Indonesian
archipelago — three are found in Nusa Tenggara Timur and one in Yogyakarta. Evidence
is given below illustrating the significance of this geographical distribution.
There are a number of dierent linguistic possibilities that gave rise to these toponyms.
The strongest linguistic candidate for the toponym is perhaps Sanskrit because, up until
the late sixteenth century, Hinduism and Buddhism had a profound influence upon
the cultures, legal practices, and languages of the Malay/Indonesian archipelago. Many
Sanskrit words were adopted in the local languages. By the fifth century, Brahmanist
cults worshipping Shiva had sprung up in Java, and by the ninth century, syncretism26
appeared, and in the tenth century, students were sent to the great Buddhist university
of Nalanda in northeastern India. The Sriwijaya Buddhist kingdom rose in southern
Sumatra during the seventh century and exercised a wide sphere of influence over all of
South-East Asia. In Java, early Hindu states rose and fell — Pajajaran, Sailendra, Kediri,
and Singosari. Significantly, most of these were coastal powers.
Bearing this in mind, we find that in Hinduism and Buddhism, a wise ascetic — a
renunciant, a hermit, a sage, or sadhu, especially one who has taken a vow of silence —
is known as a muni [mʊni]. The term is also used as an honorific title, and derives from
the Sanskrit múni (literally an adjective and adverb meaning “silent”).27 This term is
tantalizingly similar to Moni, and given the remoteness and isolation of the island, such
an appellation is seen as quite befitting.28 However, this conclusion is sheer conjecture.
Moreover, the existence of four settlements with the toponym Muni in the region also
lends some support for Sanskrit. If, for the moment, this premise is accepted, the term’s
appearance on early Dutch maps in the form Moni and not Muni needs explanation.
In 1997, Geraghty and Tent published two articles on early Dutch loanwords in
Polynesia.29 They explain how the seventeenth century Dutch words bos [bɔs] (a box; a
container), trommel [trɔml] (a metal box; a container), pompen [pɔmpən] (a vulgar term
25 A resident of the village Moni, Mr. Richard Lorin, made extensive enquiries for me of the local inhabitants as to
the meaning of the name, but no indigenous resident knew its meaning.
26 The amalgamation of dierent (often seemingly contradictory) beliefs and traditions, in this case Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Jainism.
27
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1997), Encyclopedia.com. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-
Muni.html; A Dictionary of Buddhism (2004), Encyclopedia.com. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-muni.html;
OED Online (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). www.oed.com/view/Entry/123785.
28 Many authors refer to the island’s remoteness and inaccessibility. See, for example, Heng and Forbes, “Christmas
Island,” pp. 69–72. Alexander George Findlay writes that “[t]his lonely spot, standing as a sentry before the Straits
of Sunda, is the Christina Island [sic] of the old charts. Its [sic] was also called Money Island [sic].” A Directory
for the navigation of the Indian Ocean, with Descriptions of its coasts, islands etc, 2nd edition (London: Richard
Holmes Laurie, 1870), p. 488.
29
Paul Geraghty and Jan Tent, “Early Dutch Loanwords in Polynesia,” Journal of the Polynesian Society 106.2 (1997),
pp. 131–160; Paul Geraghty and Jan Tent, “More Early Dutch Loanwords in Polynesia,” Journal of the Polynesian
Society 106.4 (1997), pp. 395–408.
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 17
meaning “to copulate”), and schop [sxɔp] (a shovel) are all nativized into Polynesian lan-
guages as puha/pusa, tuluma/turuma, pupa, and kope, respectively. The change from the
[ɔ] vowel in the Dutch donor words to [ʊ] in the nativized Polynesian words is accounted
for thusly: the Dutch /ɔ/ phoneme (spelled with an o) had, prior to the twentieth century,
Figure 3 Detail from the Pieter Goos map Oost Indien wassende-graade paskaart, vertoonende
nevens het Oostelyckste van Africa, meede de zeekusten van Asia, van C. de Bona Esperanca
tot Eso, boven Iapan/t’Amsterdam, bij Pieter Goos op het Water inde Vergulde Zee Spiegel, seyn
nu te bekoomen by Johannes van Keulen (Amsterdam: Johannes van Keulen), National Library
of Australia MAP RM 792. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232606621/view
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18 JAN TENT
two allophonic variants — an open [ɔ] and a close [ɔ].30 The latter variant occurred after
labial consonants (i.e. /p, b, m/), whereas the open variety occurred after all other conso-
nants. The close variant also occurred before nasal consonants (i.e. /m, n, ŋ/). The close
30 Open is a phonetic term referring to a vowel articulated with the body of the tongue relatively low in the mouth,
whilst a close vowel refers to one articulated with the body of the tongue high in the mouth, close to the hard palate.
F
igure
4 Detail from Joachim Ottens, Le royaume de Siam: avec les royaumes qui luy font tributaires
et les isles de Sumatra, Andemaon, etc. et les isles voisines in Nieuwe atlas inhoudende de vier
gedeeltens der waereld […] versameldt van de beste autheuren (Amsterdam: Johannes Covens
and Cornelis Mortier, 1707–1741), vol. 3, plate 80. National Library of Australia MAP RM 184.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231204147/view (Courtesy National Library of Australia).
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 19
variant [ɔ] would have sounded quite similar to the close Polynesian vowel [ʊ]. The reason
kope retained its o spelling or /ɔ/ phoneme is that the vowel in schop is of the open variety.
The reverse of this situation of course operates in the case of muni [mʊni] transformed
to moni [mɔni] and its concomitant spelling as Moni. Not only does the word have an
initial labial consonant, but it also has a nasal consonant following the vowel. The ren-
dition on French maps as Mouni and Mounis also reinforces this supposition. Given that
Moni first appears on Dutch maps, and the ubiquitous spelling of the toponym with o,
it may be conjectured that other European cartographers (save the French) copied the
Dutch spelling, thus perpetuating the form Moni on most maps.
Other conceivable candidates include Dutch, Arabic, Portuguese, or an indigenous
language. The monumental Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (Dictionary of the
Dutch Language) and the Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek (Middle-Dutch Dictionary)
list the form moni in reference to money, a term derived from the English word ‘money’.
It is marked in these sources as a very rare word.31 The dictionaries also catalog the
forms monnik/monik/monic/monec (a monk; a hermit), which derive from Latin, Greek
and ultimately the Sanskrit term múni. Neither of the Dutch forms can genuinely be
considered as viable candidates.
One issue about the variant Dutch spelling of Moni as Monij, however, lends some
more support to the case of a Sanskrit origin. The final -ij spelling appears on some Dutch
maps of the time (Table 1.10, 11, 39, and 68). The digraph ij was the seventeenth- and
eighteenth century orthographic representation of a long [i:] (comparable to the vowel in
the English word “bee”). It derives from the Middle Dutch period (1100–1500) when the j
orthographically indicated the lengthening of the vowel.
32
In the course of time, ij became
confused with the letter y (known in Dutch as i grec, or the Greek i) because the digraph
ij was deemed by many writers to be a single letter (i.e. a letter y written with a diaeresis,
ÿ). In time, the digraph ij became the representation for the diphthong [εi] (similar to the
diphthong in the English word “bay”). Hence, the variants Monij, and especially Mony
(on 23 maps representing 31percent of the series captured in Table 1), regularly appear
on seventeenth and eighteenth century maps, and both terms should, therefore, be read
or pronounced as [moni:], not as [monεi], as Modern Dutch might suggest.
Arabic does not appear to have any transparently discernable lexical candidates nor does
Portuguese. While there are no tangible lexical candidates from Portuguese, the language does
have the rarely used cognate from Sanskrit, múni (a pious or wise Indian man). It is unlikely
that Portuguese is the source, however, because the only source of supporting evidence for
this relationship would be on Portuguese maps drawn prior to the Dutch colonizing the
region in the early seventeenth century. Indigenous languages do not provide any satisfactory
linguistic candidates for Moni’s origin either. There seem to be only three lexical items that
bear any resemblance to Moni, none of which is in the least suggestive of an origin. They
31 Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek. De Geïntegreerde Taal-Bank, Historische woordenboeken op internet. http://
gtb.inl.nl; Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal. De Geïntegreerde Taal-Bank, Historische woordenboeken op
internet. http://gtb.inl.nl.
32 The use of e after a in Dutch words of the period performed the same function, e.g. in the name of Tasman’s ship
the Zeehaen [ze:ha:n].
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20 JAN TENT
include moni (to watch), from the Rongga language, Flores;33 muni (to produce a sound/
noise, let o a gun, or say something), and muni-muni (to swear), both from Javanese.34
Selam
None of the literature on the history of Christmas Island recognizes Selam as a potential
early designation for the island; only Moni is acknowledged in this role.35 Indeed, as a
number of the maps cataloged in Table 1 show, the island is labeled I. Noël ou Moni
(Table 1.47, 49, 50, 53, 66, 67, and 75), or Moni or Christmas Island (Table 1.59, 68,
and 70).
Selam derives from neither Dutch nor Portuguese.36 The Oxford English Dictionary
(OED) provides its etymology as deriving from Arabic salām, and refers to the Oriental
salutation (as)salām/’alaikum (Peace [be upon you]), and is applied to a ceremonious
obeisance with which this salutation is accompanied.37 The term has diverse spellings
(e.g. salame, sallam, salema, salom, selame, salam, and schalam; cf. Hebrew shalom).
The OED shows that various spellings were employed in dierent centuries, with selam
generally being used during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which is consistent
with its appearance on the maps made during these centuries.
In Malay and Javanese, selam refers to either Islam and/or the verb “to dive”, neither of
which seem to be functional candidates for the island’s name.38 Nevertheless, the term is
an element in Malay words, e.g. selamat/salam, and in many Indonesian placenames, e.g.
Selamanik, Selamanja, Selametan, Selamat, Selat Selamo, Selamben. Its origin may lie here.
However, an intriguing and possible clue to the origin of the toponym is provided by Hobson-
Jobson in its entry for “Ceylon”, where an attempt to oer an etymology for the name is made:
33 I Wayan Arka, Fransiscus Seda, Antonius Gelang, Yohanes Nani and Ivan Ture, A Rongga-English Dictionary with
an English-Rongga Finderlist (Jakarta: Penerbit Universitas Atma Jaya, 2011), moni.
34 Pieter A. Janszoon, Practisch Javaansch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek (Den Haag: G.C.T. van Dorp & Co, 1913),
muni; Stuart Robson and Singgih Wibisono, Javanese-English Dictionary (Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd.,
2002), muni.
35 See, for example, Charles W. Andrews, “A Description of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean),” The Geographical
Journal 13.1 (1899), pp.17–35; Charles. W. Andrews, A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) (London:
British Museum of Natural History, 1900); Albert F. Ellis, “Christmas Island Phosphate Deposits,” New Zealand
Geographer 8.1 (1952), pp. 15–29; William Foster, “The Discovery of Christmas Island,” The Geographical Journal
37.3 (1911), pp. 281–2; C.A. Gibson-Hill, “The Early History of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean,” Royal Asiatic
Society of Britain and Ireland. Malaysian Branch Journal 22.1 (1949), pp. 67–93; Heng and Forbes, “Christmas
Island,” pp. 71–2; Howard S. Gray (revised Rod Clark), Christmas Island Naturally. The Natural History of an
Isolated Island the Australian Territory of Christmas Island Indian Ocean, 2
nd
edition (Christmas Island: Christmas
Island Natural History Association, 1995); Robidé van der Aa, “Een Nieuwe Atlas van Nederlandsch-Indië”; and
Wharton, “Account of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean.”
36 See Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek. De Geïntegreerde Taal-Bank, Historische woordenboeken op internet.
http://gtb.inl.nl; Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal. De Geïntegreerde Taal-Bank, Historische woordenboeken
op internet. http://gtb.inl.nl; Antonio Vieyra, A Dictionary of the Portuguese and English Languages, in two Parts:
Portuguese and English, and English and Portuguese (Lisbon: Roland, 1850), vol. 1; and Infopédia Enciclopédia e
Dicionários Porto Editora [n.d]. www.infopedia.pt.
37
OED Online (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). www.oed.com/view/Entry/169907?rskey=sECtLC&result=1.
See also Henry Yule and Ar thur Coke Burnell, Hobson-Jobson: Being a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words
and Phrases, and Of Kindred Terms; Etymological, Historical, Geographical, and Discursive (London: John Murray,
Albemarle Street, 1886), p. 592, who provide a similar etymology.
38 E. Pino and T. Wittermans, Kamus Inggreris. Part II: Indonesian-English, 2nd edition (Jakarta: J.B. Wolters, 1955),
selam; Richard Winstedt, A Practical Modern Malay-English Dictionary, 3rd edition. (Singapore: Marican & Sons,
1959), selam; Janszoon, Practisch Jvaansch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, selam.
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 21
Ceylon […] It has been suggested by Mr. Van der Tuuk that the name Sailan or Silan was
really of Javanese origin, as sela (from Skt. śilā, a rock, a stone) in Javanese (and in Malay)
means “a precious stone”, hence Pulo Selan would be “Isle of Gems.”39
Selam is one of the Portuguese spellings of Ceylon. I am not suggesting that Ceylon may
have been confused with Christmas Island — to do so would be most implausible and sheer
fantasy. Nevertheless, van der Tuuk’s etymology hints at a possible Javanese source for the
term Selam that appears to the south of Java on so many European maps of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, given the ubiquitous rocky steep-to coastline of Christmas Island.
Conclusion
Although it is not possible to provide any definitive answers as to who bestowed the names
Moni and Selam, when these names were precisely applied, why they were applied to the
island, and what the names mean, an analysis of the 75 European maps in Table 1 shows
that there was much confusion about the whereabouts and designation of the island.
While Moni, Selam and Christmas Island occupy a variety of positions on early European
maps, their relatively proximate positions indicate that they most likely referred to the
same island. The cartographic evidence also indicates that Moni and Selam are likely
former names for the island. Like the position of Moni, the position of Selam varies con-
siderably on maps, on occasions appearing close to the southwestern tip of Java where,
as noted above with the case of Cook and Banks, it was confused with Prinsen Island
(Pulau Panaitan). The virtual disappearance of Selam from maps from the mid-eighteenth
century onward coincides with the more regular appearance of Christmas Island and
lends further evidence to the idea that Selam denotes Christmas Island.
There is, of course, the possibility that Selam was nothing more than a phantom
island. These sometimes came about from reports by early mariners who were exploring
new regions through either mislocation or misidentification of actual islands, naviga-
tional errors, or optical illusions (also known as “Dutch Capes”) brought about by such
phenomena as fog banks, icebergs, or floating beds of pumice.40 Alternatively, though
39 Yule and Coke Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, p. 138. The “Mr. van der Tuuk” referred to is Herman Neubronner van
der Tuuk(1824–1894), abibletranslator and linguist/lexicographer specialising in the languages of theDutch
East Indies. He had an extensive command of many of the languages in the region including Arabic, Tamil, and
Sanskrit. His last work, published was after his death, was the monumental trilingual dictionary Kawi-Balineesch-
Nederlandsch Woordenboek (Kawi-Balinese-Dutch Dictionary) published in four volumes from 1897 to 1912. For a
biography of van der Tuuk, see Andries Teeuw, “Van der Tuuk as lexicographer,” Archipel 51.1 (1996), pp. 113–33.
40 In this regard, see Maria Seton, Simon Williams, Sabin Zahirovic, and Steven Micklethwaite, “Obituary: Sandy
Island (1876–2012),” Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 94.15 (2013), pp. 141–8, who report on a
phantom island in the eastern Coral Sea between the Chesterfield Islands and Nereus Reef. Sandy Island appeared
in numerous scientific data-sets, on Google Earth, as well as in coastline and bathymetry compilations used by the
scientific community. See also Dan Satherley, “Scientists Un-discover Pacific Island,” Newshub, 23 November 2012.
www.newshub.co.nz/world/scientists-undiscover-pacific-island-2012112308.
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22 JAN TENT
unlikely, Selam may have been an actual island that was subsequently destroyed by a
volcanic eruption, earthquake, or submarine landslide.41
Finally, placenames are very often derived from significant physical features or from
local flora and fauna. It was postulated that Moni and Selam may be exemplars of this
practice. Both Charles Andrews in his A Monograph of Christmas Island and the British
Admiralty’s Eastern Archipelago Pilot of 1923 and 1949, respectively, refer to such fea-
tures on Christmas Island with respect to its steep-to coast, blow holes, the saddle, and
its overall geography, geology, and fauna.42 An extensive search of the likely language
sources for words indicating such features and being the possible source of either or both
of these two names was carried out, but no candidates — apart from the van der Tuuk
etymology of selam — were found.
Malay and Javanese abound in toponyms and words of Sanskrit and Arabic origin,
so it is further feasible that Moni and Selam may have their source in these languages.
Current cartographic evidence cannot establish unequivocally which of the two names
predates the other, or whether both names were used by locals concurrently or succes-
sively. Undoubtedly, more cartographic and linguistic research is required to resolve these
and other questions.
Acknowledgement
I should like to express my gratitude to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable
suggestions and corrections. I am especially indebted to the reviewer who alerted me
to a number of important references that I had overlooked. Any remaining errors and
omissions are my own. Finally, I should like to dedicate this article to my dear friend
Moni(ka) Perzlmeier.
41 There are numerous such cases recorded of phantom islands. See, for example, the Wikipedia entry for “Phantom island,”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_island which provide a catalog of such islands. One case in particular is
the island of Bermeja in the Gulf of Mexico, first charted in 1539 but which mysteriously vanished during the sev-
enteenth century. One theory is that it became submerged due to tectonic movements, supported by the existence
of a seamount at the purported location. See also“Mexico’s Missing Island,” BBC World Service Documentaries.
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/09/090910_world_stories_mexico_missing_island.
shtml; Enrique Méndez and Roberto Garduño, “No encuentran la Isla Bermeja,” La Jornada, 24 June 2009.
www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/06/24/index.php?section=politica&article=016n1pol; and Christoph Seidler, “Nicht-
Insel empört Mexikaner,” Spiegel Online, 24 June 2009. www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/geografie-posse-nicht-in-
sel-empoert-mexikaner-a-632387.html.
42
Andrews’ A Monograph of Christmas Island is devoted to precisely detailing the island’s geography, geology, fauna
and flora; Eastern Archipelago Pilot. Vol. II. Including the South East End of Sumatra, South and East Coasts of
Borneo, Java and the Islands Eastward to Timor, Celebes Island, 4th edition (London: Hydrographic Department
Admiralty, 1923), pp. 18–21; Eastern Archipelago Pilot. Vol. II. Comprising the South East End of Sumatra, Sunda
Strait, Java, Islands Eastwards of Java, South and East Coasts of Borneo, Macassar Strait, Celebes, and the Western
Part of the Soela Eilanden, 6th edition (London: Hydrographic Department Admiralty, 1949), pp. 2, 39–41.
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS (ISLAND) PAST 23
Notes on contributor
Jan Tent is a retired academic. He taught linguistics at the University of Sydney, the
University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji) and Macquarie University (Sydney). His
research interests include: varieties of English (especially Fiji English), early Dutch explo-
ration of Australia and the Pacific, historical linguistics, lexicography and toponymy. He
is the former Director of the Australian National Placenames Survey, and is currently an
honorary senior lecturer in Linguistics at the Australian National University (Canberra),
and an honorary fellow in Linguistics at Macquarie University.
Correspondence to: Jan Tent, Australian National University, Australia. Email: jan.
tent@mq.edu.au
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