The author was a professional engineer for forty years and like most engineers he has always been fascinated by maps. His antique dealer wife Jane bought him his first antiquarian map, Doncker's 1659 "Pascaert vertoonende de Zeecusten van Chili...en California" depicting California as an island and Bill was hooked. A talk he gave to the California Map Society prompted Al Newman (the President) to mention an interesting Buache map (the subject of the article). Bill acquired the map and began to research its roots culminating in this piece. The author is now retired and spends more time on research and freelance writing.