A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xv Part 23

Soon after his accession to the throne, having happily closed the destructive operations of war, he turned his thoughts to enterprises more humane, but not less brilliant, adapted to the season of returning peace. While every liberal art, and useful study, flourished under his patronage at home, his superintending care was extended to such branches of knowledge, as required distant examination and enquiry; and his s.h.i.+ps, after bringing back victory and conquest from every quarter of the known world, were now employed in opening friendly communications with its. .h.i.therto unexplored recesses.

In the prosecution of an object so worthy of the monarch of a great commercial people, one voyage followed another in close succession; and, we may add, in regular gradation. What Byron had begun, Wallis and Carteret soon improved. Their success gave birth to a far more extensive plan of discovery, carried into execution in two subsequent voyages, conducted by Cook. And that nothing might be left unattempted, though much had been already done, the same commander, whose professional skill could only be equalled by the persevering diligence with which he had exerted it, in the course of his former researches, was called upon, once more, to resume, or rather to complete, the survey of the globe.

Accordingly, another voyage was undertaken, in 1776; which, though last in the order of time, was far from being the least considerable, with respect to the extent and importance of its objects; yet, still, far less fortunate than any of the former, as those objects were not accomplished, but at the expence of the valuable life of its conductor.

When plans, calculated to be of general utility, are carried into execution with partial views, and upon interested motives, it is natural to attempt to confine, within some narrow circle, the advantages which might have been derived to the world at large, by an unreserved disclosure of all that had been effected. And, upon this principle, it has too frequently been considered as sound policy, perhaps, in this country, as well as amongst some of our neighbours, to affect to draw a veil of secrecy over the result of enterprises to discover and explore unknown quarters of the globe. It is to the honour of the present reign, that more liberal views have been now adopted. Our late voyages, from the very extensive objects proposed by them, could not but convey useful information to every European nation; and, indeed, to every nation, however remote, which cultivates commerce, and is acquainted with navigation: And that information has most laudably been afforded. The same enlarged and benevolent spirit, which ordered these several expeditions to be undertaken, has also taken care that the result of their various discoveries should be authentically recorded. And the transactions of these voyages round the world, having, in due time, been communicated, under the authority of his majesty's naval minister; those of the present, which, besides revisiting many of the former discoveries in the southern, carried its operations into untrodden paths in the northern hemisphere, are, under the same sanction, now submitted to the public in these volumes.

One great plan of nautical investigation having been pursued throughout, it is obvious, that the several voyages have a close connection, and that an exact recollection of what had been aimed at, and effected, in those that preceded, will throw considerable light on our period. With a view, therefore, to a.s.sist the reader in forming a just estimate of the additional information conveyed by this publication, it may not be improper to lay before him a short, though comprehensive, abstract of the princ.i.p.al objects that had been previously accomplished, arranged in such a manner, as may serve to unite into one point of view, the various articles which lie scattered through the voluminous journals already in the hands of the public; those compiled by Dr Hawkesworth; and that which was written by Captain Cook himself. By thus shewing what had been formerly done, how much still remained for subsequent examination will be more apparent; and it will be better understood on what grounds, though the s.h.i.+ps of his majesty had already circ.u.mnavigated the world five different times, in the course of about ten years, another voyage should still be thought expedient.

There will be a farther use in giving such an abstract a place in this introduction. The plan of discovery, carried on in so many successive expeditions, being now, we may take upon us to say, in a great measure completed, by summing up the final result, we shall be better able to do justice to the benevolent purposes it was designed to answer; and a solid foundation will be laid, on which we may build a satisfactory answer to a question, sometimes asked by peevish refinement, and ignorant malevolence, What beneficial consequences, if any, have followed, or are likely to follow, to the discoverers, or to the discovered, to the common interests of humanity, or to the increase of useful knowledge, from all our boasted attempts to explore the distant recesses of the globe?

The general object of the several voyages round the world, undertaken by the command of his majesty, prior to that related in this work, was to search for unknown tracts of land that might exist within the bosom of the immense expanse of ocean that occupies the whole southern hemisphere.

Within that s.p.a.ce, so few researches had been made, before our time, and those few researches had been made so imperfectly, that the result of them, as communicated to the world in any narration, had rather served to create uncertainty, than to convey information; to deceive the credulous, rather than to satisfy the judicious enquirer; by blending the true geography of above half the superficies of the earth with an endless variety of plausible conjectures, suggested by ingenious speculation; of idle tales, handed down by obscure tradition; or of bold fictions, invented by deliberate falsehood.

It would have been very unfortunate, indeed, if five different circ.u.mnavigations of the globe, some of them, at least, if not all, in tracks little known, and less frequented, had produced no discoveries, to reward the difficulties and perils unavoidably encountered. But the following review will furnish the most satisfactory proofs, that his majesty's instructions have been executed with ability; and that the repeated visits of his s.h.i.+ps to the southern hemisphere, have very considerably added to our stock of geographical knowledge.

1. The south Atlantic ocean was the first scene of our operations.

Falkland's Islands had been hitherto barely known to exist; but their true position and extent, and every circ.u.mstance which could render their existence of any consequence, remained absolutely undecided, till Byron visited them in 1764. And Captain Macbride, who followed him thither two years after, having circ.u.mnavigated their coasts, and taken a complete survey, a chart of Falkland's Islands has been constructed, with so much accuracy, that the coasts of Great Britain itself, are not more authentically laid down upon our maps.

How little was really known of the islands in the south Atlantic, even so late as the time of Lord Anson, we have the most remarkable proofs, in the history of his voyage. Unavoidably led into mistake, by the imperfect materials then in the possession of the world, he had considered Pepys's Island, and Falkland Isles, as distinct places; distant from each other about five degrees of lat.i.tude. Byron's researches have rectified this capital error; and it is now decided, beyond all contradiction, that, as Captain Cook says, "Future navigators will mispend their time, if they look for Pepys's Island in lat.i.tude 47; it being now certain, that Pepys's Island is no other than these islands of Falkland."

Besides the determination of this considerable point, other lands, situated in the South Atlantic, have been brought forward into view. If the isle of Georgia had been formerly seen by La Roche in 1675, and by Mr Guyot, in the s.h.i.+p Lion, in 1756, which seems to be probable, Captain Cook, in 1775, has made us fully acquainted with its extent and true position; and, in the same year, he added to the map of the world Sandwich Land, hitherto not known to exist, and the most southern discovery that has been ever accomplished.

II. Though the Strait of Magalhaens had been formerly visited, and sailed through by s.h.i.+ps of different nations, before our time, a careful examination of its bays, and harbours, and head-lands; of the numerous islands it contains, and of the coasts, on both sides, that inclose it; and an exact account of the tides, and currents, and soundings, throughout its whole extent, was a task, which, if Sir John Narborough, and others, had not totally omitted, they cannot be said to have recorded so fully, as to preclude the utility of future investigation.

This task has been ably and effectually performed by Byron, Wallis, and Carteret; whose transactions in this strait, and the chart of it, founded on their observations and discoveries, are a most valuable accession to geography.

III. If the correct information, thus obtained, about every part of this celebrated strait, should deter future adventurers from involving themselves in the difficulties and embarra.s.sments of a labyrinth, now known to be so intricate, and the unavoidable source of danger and delay, we have the satisfaction to have discovered, that a safer and more expeditious entrance into the Pacific Ocean, may be reasonably depended upon. The pa.s.sage round Cape Horn has been repeatedly tried, both from the east and from the west, and stript of its terrors. We shall, for the future, be less discouraged by the labours and distresses experienced by the squadrons of Lord Anson and Pizarro, when we recollect that they were obliged to attempt the navigation of those seas at an unfavourable season of the year; and that there was nothing very formidable met with there when they were traversed by Captain Cook.

To this distinguished navigator was reserved the honour of being the first, who, from a series of the most satisfactory observations, beginning at the west entrance of the Strait of Magalhaens, and carried on with unwearied diligence, round Tierra del Fuego, through the Strait of Le Maire, has constructed a chart of the southern extremity of America, from which it will appear, how much former navigators must have been at a loss to guide themselves; and what advantages will be now enjoyed by those who shall hereafter sail round Cape Horn.

IV. As the voyages of discovery, undertaken by his majesty's command, have facilitated the access of s.h.i.+ps into the Pacific Ocean, they have also greatly enlarged our knowledge of its contents.

Though the immense expanse usually distinguished by this appellation, had been navigated by Europeans for near two centuries and a half, by far the greater part of it, particularly to the south of the equator, had remained, during all this time, unexplored.

The great aim of Magalhaens, and of the Spaniards in general, its first navigators, being merely to arrive, by this pa.s.sage, at the Moluccas, and the other Asiatic spice islands, every intermediate part of the ocean that did not lie contiguous to their western track, which was on the north side of the equator, of course escaped due examination. And if Mendana and Quiros, and some nameless conductors of voyages before them, by deviating from this track, and steering westward from Callao, within the southern tropic, were so fortunate as to meet with various islands there, and so sanguine as to consider those islands as marks of the existence of a neighbouring southern continent, in the exploring of which they flattered themselves they should rival the fame of De Gama and Columbus, these feeble efforts never led to any effectual disclosure of the supposed hidden mine of a New World. On the contrary, their voyages being conducted without a judicious plan, and their discoveries being left imperfect without immediate settlement, or subsequent examination, and scarcely recorded in any well-authenticated or accurate narrations, had been almost forgot; or were so obscurely remembered, as only to serve the purpose of producing perplexing debates about their situation and extent, if not to suggest doubts about their very existence.

It seems, indeed, to have become a very early object of policy in the Spanish councils, to discontinue and to discourage any farther researches in that quarter. Already masters of a larger empire on the continent of America than they could conveniently govern, and of richer mines of the precious metals on that continent than they could convert into use, neither avarice nor ambition furnished reasons for aiming at a fresh accession of dominions. And thus, though settled all along the sh.o.r.es of this ocean, in a situation so commodious for prosecuting discoveries throughout its wide extent, the Spaniards remained satisfied with a coasting intercourse between their own ports; never stretching across the vast gulph that separates that part of America from Asia, but in an unvarying line of navigation, perhaps in a single annual s.h.i.+p, between Acapulco and Manilla.

The tracks of other European navigators of the South Pacific Ocean, were, in a great measure, regulated by those of the Spaniards, and consequently limited within the same narrow bounds. With the exception, perhaps, of two instances only, those of Le Maire and Roggewein, no s.h.i.+ps of another nation had entered this sea, through the Strait of Magalhaens, or found Cape Horn, but for the purposes of trade with the Spaniards, or of hostility against them, purposes which could not be answered, without precluding any probable chance of adding much to our stock of discovery. For it was obviously inc.u.mbent on all such adventurers, to confine their cruises within a moderate distance of the Spanish settlements, in the vicinity of which alone they could hope to exercise their commerce, or to execute their predatory and military operations. Accordingly, soon after emerging from the strait, or completing the circuit of Tierra del Fuego, they began to hold a northerly course, to the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez, their usual spot of rendezvous and refreshment. And after ranging along the continent of America, from Chili to California, they either reversed their course back to the Atlantic, or, if they ventured to extend their voyage by stretching over to Asia, they never thought of trying experiments in the unfrequented and unexplored parts of the ocean, but chose the beaten path (if the expression may be used,) within the limits of which it was likely that they might meet with a Philippine galleon, to make their voyage profitable to themselves; but could have little prospect, if they had been desirous, of making it useful to the public, by gaining any accession of new land to the map of the world.

By the natural operation of these causes, it could not but happen, that little progress should be made toward obtaining a full and accurate knowledge of the South Pacific Ocean. Something, however, had been attempted by the industrious, and once enterprising, Dutch, to whom we are indebted for three voyages, undertaken for the purposes of discovery; and whose researches, in the southern lat.i.tudes of this ocean, are much better ascertained than are those of the earlier Spanish navigators above mentioned.

Le Maire and Schouten, in 1616, and Roggewein, in 1722, wisely judging that nothing new could be gained by adhering to the usual pa.s.sage on the north side of the Line, traversed this ocean from Cape Horn to the East Indies, crossing the south tropic, a s.p.a.ce which had been so seldom, and so ineffectually, visited; though popular belief, fortified by philosophical speculation, expected there to reap the richest harvest of discovery.

Tasman, in 1642, in his extensive circuit from Batavia, through the South Indian Ocean, entered the South Pacific, at its greatest distance from the American side, where it never had been examined before. And his range, continued from a high southern lat.i.tude, northward to New Guinea, and the islands to the east of it near the equator, produced intermediate discoveries, that have rendered his voyage memorable in the annals of navigation.

But still, upon the whole, what was effected in these three expeditions, served only to shew how large a field was reserved for future and more persevering examination. Their results had, indeed, enabled geographers to diversify the vacant uniformity of former charts of this ocean by the insertion of some new islands. But the number, and the extent of these insertions, were so inconsiderable, that they may be said to appear

Rari, nantes in gurgite vasto.

And, if the discoveries were few, those few were made very imperfectly.

Some coasts were approached, but not landed upon; and pa.s.sed without waiting to examine their extent and connection with those that might exist at no great distance. If others were landed upon, the visits were, in general, so transient, that it was scarcely possible to build upon a foundation so weakly laid, any information that could even gratify idle curiosity, much less satisfy philosophical enquiry, or contribute greatly to the safety, or to the success, of future navigation.

Let us, however, do justice to these beginnings of discovery. To the Dutch, we must, at least, ascribe the merit of being our harbingers, though we afterward went beyond them in the road they had first ventured to tread. And with what success his majesty's s.h.i.+ps have, in their repeated voyages, penetrated into the obscurest recesses of the South Pacific Ocean, will appear from the following enumeration of their various and very extensive operations, which have drawn up the veil that had hitherto been thrown over the geography of so great a proportion of the globe.

1. The several lands, of which any account had been given, as seen by any of the preceding navigators, Spanish or Dutch, have been carefully looked for, and most of them (at least such of them as seemed of any consequence) found out and visited; and not visited in a cursory manner, but every means used to correct former mistakes, and to supply former deficiencies, by making accurate enquiries ash.o.r.e, and taking skilful surveys of their coasts, by sailing round them, who has not heard, or read, of the boasted _Tierra Australia del Espiritu Santo_ of Quiros?

But its bold pretensions to be a part of a southern continent, could not stand Captain Cook's examination, who sailed round it, and a.s.signed it its true position and moderate bounds, in the Archipelago of the New Hebrides.[25]

[Footnote 25: Bougainville, in 1768, did no more than discover that the land here was not connected, but composed of islands. Captain Cook, in 1774, explored the whole group.--D.]

2. Besides perfecting many of the discoveries of their predecessors, our late navigators have enriched geographical knowledge with a long catalogue of their own. The Pacific Ocean, within the south tropic, repeatedly traversed, in every direction, was found to swarm with a seemingly endless profusion of habitable spots of land. Islands scattered through the amazing s.p.a.ce of near fourscore degrees of longitude, separated at various distances, or grouped in numerous cl.u.s.ters, have, at their approach, as it were, started into existence; and such ample accounts have been brought home concerning them and their inhabitants, as may serve every useful purpose of enquiry; and, to use Captain Cook's words, who bore so considerable a share in those discoveries, _have left little more to be done in that part_.

3. Byron, Wallis, and Carteret had each of them contributed toward increasing our knowledge of the islands that exist in the Pacific Ocean, within the limits of the southern tropic; but how far that ocean reached to the west, what lands bounded it on that side, and the connection of those lands with the discoveries of former navigators, was still the reproach of geographers, and remained absolutely unknown, till Captain Cook, during his first voyage in 1770, brought back the most satisfactory decision of this important question. With a wonderful perseverance, and consummate skill, amidst an uncommon combination of perplexities and dangers, he traced this coast near two thousand miles, from the 38 of south lat.i.tude, cross the tropic, to its northern extremity, within 10 1/2 of the equinoctial, where it was found to join the lands already explored by the Dutch, in several voyages from their Asiatic settlements, and to which they have given the name of New Holland. Those discoveries made in the last century, before Tasman's voyage, had traced the north and the west coasts of this land; and Captain Cook, by his extensive operations on its east side, left little to be done toward completing the full circuit of it. Between Cape Hicks, in lat.i.tude 38, where his examination of this coast began, and that part of Van Diemen's Land, from whence Tasman took his departure, was not above fifty-five leagues. It was highly probable, therefore, that they were connected; though Captain Cook cautiously says, that _he could not determine whether_ his New South Wales, that is, the east coast of New Holland, _joins to Van Diemen's Land, or no_. But what was thus left undetermined by the operations of his first voyage, was, in the course of his second, soon cleared up; Captain Furneaux, in the Adventure, during his separation from the Resolution (a fortunate separation as it thus turned out) in 1773, having explored Van Diemen's Land, from its southern point, along the east coast, far beyond Tasman's station, and on to the lat.i.tude 38, where Captain Cook's examination of it in 1770 had commenced.

It is no longer, therefore, a doubt, that we have now a full knowledge of the whole circ.u.mference of this vast body of land, this fifth part of the world (if I may so speak), which our late voyages have discovered to be of so amazing a magnitude, that, to use Captain Cook's words, _it is of a larger extent than any other country in the known world, that does not bear the name of a continent.[26]

[Footnote 26: What the learned editor a.s.serts here, as to the full knowledge acquired by the voyages to which he alludes, must be restricted, as Captain Flinders very properly remarks, to the general extent of the vast region explored. It will not apply to the particular formation of its coasts, for this plain reason, that the chart accompanying the work, of which he was writing the introduction, represents much of the south coast as totally unknown. It is necessary to mention also, that what he says immediately before, in allusion to the discoveries made by Captain Furaeaux, must submit to correction.

That officer committed some errors, owing, it would appear, to the imperfection of preceding accounts; and he left undetermined the interesting question as to the existence of a connection betwixt Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales. The opinion which he gave as to this point, on very insufficient _data_ certainly, viz. that there is "no strait between them, but a very deep bay," has been most satisfactorily disproved, by the discovery of the extensive pa.s.sage which bears the name of Flinders's friend, Mr Ba.s.s, the enterprising gentleman that accomplished it.--E.]

4. Tasman having entered the Pacific Ocean, after leaving Van Diemen's Land, had fallen in with a coast to which he gave the name of New Zealand. The extent of this coast, and its position in any direction but a part of its west side, which he sailed along in his course northward, being left absolutely unknown, it had been a favourite opinion amongst geographers, since his time, that New Zealand was a part of a southern continent, running north and south, from the 33 to the 64 of south lat.i.tude, and its northern, coast stretching cross the South Pacific to an immense distance, where its eastern boundary had been seen by Juan Fernandez, half a century before. Captain Cook's voyage in the Endeavour has totally destroyed this supposition. Though Tasman must still have the credit of having first seen New Zealand, to Captain Cook solely belongs that of having really explored it. He spent near six months upon its coasts in 1769 and 1770, circ.u.mnavigated it completely, and ascertained its extent and division into two islands. Repeated visits since that have perfected this important discovery, which, though now known to be no part of a southern continent, will probably, in all future charts of the world, be distinguished as the largest islands that exist in that part of the southern hemisphere.

5. Whether New Holland did or did not join to New Guinea, was a question involved in much doubt and uncertainty, before Captain Cook's sailing between them, through Endeavour Strait, decided it. We will not hesitate to call this an important acquisition to geography. For though the great sagacity and extensive reading of Mr Dalrymple had discovered some traces of such a pa.s.sage having been found before, yet these traces were so obscure, and so little known in the present age, that they had not generally regulated the construction of our charts; the President de Brosses, who wrote in 1756, and was well versed in geographical researches, had not been able to satisfy himself about them; and Mons.

de Bougainville, in 1768, who had ventured to fall in with the south coast of New Guinea, near ninety leagues to the westward of its south-east point, chose rather to work those ninety leagues directly to windward, at a time when his people were in such distress for provisions as to eat the seal-skins from off the yards and rigging, than to run the risk of finding a pa.s.sage, of the existence of which he entertained the strongest doubts, by persevering in his westerly course. Captain Cook, therefore, in this part of his voyage (though he modestly disclaims all merit), has established, beyond future controversy, a fact of essential service to navigation, by opening, if not a new, at least an unfrequented and forgotten communication between the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.[27]

[Footnote 27: We are indebted to Mr Dalrymple for the recovery of an interesting doc.u.ment respecting a pa.s.sage betwixt New Holland and New Guinea, discovered by Torres, a Spanish navigator, in 1606. It was found among the archives of Manilla, when that city was taken by the British, in 1762, being a copy of a letter which Torres addressed to the king of Spain, giving an account of his discoveries. The Spaniards, as usual, had kept the matter a profound secret, so that the existence of the strait was generally unknown, till the labours of Captain Cook, in 1770, ent.i.tled him to the merit here a.s.signed. Captain Flinders, it must be remembered, is of opinion, that some suspicion of such a strait was entertained in 1644, when Tasman sailed on his second voyage, but that the Dutch, who were then engaged in making discoveries in these regions, were ignorant of its having been pa.s.sed. Several navigators have sailed through Torres's Strait, as it has been justly enough named, since the time of Cook, and have improved our acquaintance with its geography. Of these may be mentioned Lieutenant (afterwards Rear-Admiral) Bligh, in 1789; Captain (afterwards Admiral) Edwards, in 1791; Bligh, a second time, accompanied by Lieutenant Portlock, in 1792; Messrs Bampton and Alt, in 1793; and Captain Flinders, in 1802-3. The labours of the last-mentioned gentleman in this quarter surpa.s.s, in utility and interest, those of his predecessors, and, if he had accomplished nothing else, would ent.i.tle his name to be ranked amongst the benefactors of geography. What mind is so insensible as not to regret, that after years of hards.h.i.+p and captivity, the very day which presented the public with the memorial of his services and sufferings, deprived him of the possibility of reaping their reward?--E.]

6. One more discovery, for which we are indebted to Captain Carteret, as similar in some degree to that last mentioned, may properly succeed it, in this enumeration. Dampier, in sailing round what was supposed to be part of the coast of New Guinea, discovered it to belong to a separate island, to which he gave the name of New Britain. But that the land which he named New Britain should be subdivided again into two separate large islands, with many smaller intervening, is a point of geographical information, which, if ever traced by any of the earliest navigators of the South Pacific, had not been handed down to the present age: And its having been ascertained by Captain Carteret, deserves to be mentioned as a discovery, in the strictest sense of the word; a discovery of the utmost importance to navigation. St George's Channel, through which his s.h.i.+p found a way, between New Britain and New Ireland, from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean, to use the Captain's own words, "is a much better and shorter pa.s.sage, whether from the eastward or westward, than round all the islands and lands to the northward."[28]

[Footnote 28: The position of the Solomon Islands, Mendana's celebrated discovery, will no longer remain a matter in debate amongst geographers, Mr Dalrymple having, on the most satisfactory evidence, proved, that they are the cl.u.s.ter of islands which comprises what has since been called New Britain, New Ireland, &c. The great light thrown on that cl.u.s.ter by Captain Carteret's discovery, is a strong confirmation of this.--See Mr Dalrymple's Collection of Voyages, vol. i. p. 162-3.--D.]

V. The voyages of Byron, Wallis, and Carteret, were princ.i.p.ally confined to a favourite object of discovery in the South Atlantic; and though accessions to geography were procured by them in the South Pacific, they could do but little toward giving the world a complete view of the contents of that immense expanse of ocean, through which they only held a direct track, on their way homeward by the East Indies. Cook, indeed, who was appointed to the conduct of the succeeding voyage, had a more accurate examination of the South Pacific entrusted to him. But as the improvement of astronomy went hand in hand, in his instructions, with that of geography, the Captain's solicitude to arrive at Otaheite time enough to observe the _transit_ of Venus, put it out of his power to deviate from his direct track, in search of unknown lands that might lie to the south-east of that island. By this unavoidable attention to his duty, a very considerable part of the South Pacific, and that part where the richest mine of discovery was supposed to exist, remained unvisited and unexplored, during that voyage in the Endeavour. To remedy this, and to clear up a point, which, though many of the learned were confident of, upon principles of speculative reasoning, and many of the unlearned admitted, upon what they thought to be credible testimony, was still held to be very problematical; if not absolutely groundless, by others who were less sanguine or more incredulous; his majesty, always ready to forward every enquiry that can add to the stock of interesting knowledge in every branch, ordered another expedition to be undertaken. The signal services performed by Captain Cook, during his first voyage, of which we have given the outlines, marked him as the fittest person to finish an examination which he had already so skilfully executed in part.

Accordingly, he was sent out in 1772, with two s.h.i.+ps, the Resolution and Adventure, upon the most enlarged plan of discovery known in the annals of navigation. For he was instructed not only to circ.u.mnavigate the globe, but to circ.u.mnavigate it in high southern lat.i.tudes, making such traverses, from time to time, into every corner of the Pacific Ocean not before examined, as might finally and effectually resolve the much-agitated question about the existence of a southern continent, in any part of the southern hemisphere accessible by navigation.

The ample accessions to geography, by the discovery of many islands within the tropic in the Pacific Ocean, in the course of this voyage, which was carried on with singular perseverance, between three and four years, have been already stated to the reader. But the general search now made, throughout the whole southern hemisphere, as being the princ.i.p.al object in view, hath been reserved for this separate article.

Here, indeed, we are not to take notice of lands that have been discovered, but of seas sailed through, where lands had been supposed to exist. In tracing the route of the Resolution and Adventure, throughout the South Atlantic, the South Indian, and the South Pacific Oceans that environ the globe, and combining it with the route of the Endeavour, we receive what may be called ocular demonstration, that Captain Cook, in his persevering researches, sailed over many an extensive continent, which, though supposed to have been seen by former navigators, at the approach of his s.h.i.+ps, sunk into the bosom of the ocean, and, "like the baseless fabric of a vision, left not a rack behind."[29] It has been urged, that the existence of a southern continent is necessary to preserve an _equilibrium_ between the two hemispheres. But however plausible this theory may seem at first sight, experience has abundantly detected its fallacy. In consequence of Captain Cook's voyage, now under consideration, we have a thorough knowledge of the state of the southern hemisphere, and can p.r.o.nounce with certainty, that the _equilibrium_ of the globe is effectually preserved, though the proportion of sea actually sailed through, leaves no sufficient s.p.a.ce for the corresponding ma.s.s of land; which, on speculative arguments, had been maintained to be necessary.[30]

[Footnote 29: A very long note in the original is occupied by Mr Wales's reply to the observations of Monsieur le Monier, in the memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences for 1776, respecting what Captain Cook alleged in the account of his second voyage, of the non-existence of Cape Circ.u.mcision, said to have been discovered by Bouvet in 1738. As the subject, though exceedingly well treated by Mr Wales, is in itself of scarce any importance, and has long lost interest among scientific enquirers, who rest perfectly content with Captain Cook's examination, there appeared no inducement whatever to retain the note. The reader, it is confidently presumed, will be satisfied with what was said of it in the account of the former voyage.--E.]

[Footnote 30: The judgment of the ingenious author of _Recherches sur Americains_, on this question, seems to be very deserving of a place here: "Qu'on calcule, comme on voudra, on sera toujours contraint d'avouer, qu'il y a une plus grande portion de continent situee dans la lat.i.tude septentrionale, que dans la lat.i.tude australe.

"C'est fort mal a-propos, qu'on a soutenu que cette repart.i.tion inegale ne sauroit exister, sous pretexte que le globe perdroit son equilibre, faute d'un contrepoids suffisant au pole meridionale. Il est vrai qu'un pied cube d'eau salee ne pese pas autant qu'un pied cube de terre; mais on auroit du reflechir, qu'il peut y avoir sous l'ocean des lits & des couches de matieres, dont la pesanteur specifique varie a l'infini, & que le peu de profondeur d'une mer, versee sur une grande surface, contrebalance les endroits ou il y a moins de mer, mais ou elle est plus profonde."--_Recherches Philosophiques_, tom. ii, p. 375.--D.

We offered some observations on this topic in the preceding volume, and need scarcely resume it, as it cannot be imagined that any of our readers still entertain the belief of the necessity for such an equilibrium. The object in again alluding to it, is to call attention to some observations of another kind, which Mr Jones has hazarded in one of his Physiological Disquisitions. According to him, no such thing as a southern counterpoise ought to have been expected, for it seems to be the const.i.tution of our globe, that land and water are contrasted to each other on its opposite sides. "If," says he, "you bring the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope under the brazen circle, or universal meridian of a terrestrial globe, observing that this meridian pa.s.ses through the heart of the continents of Europe and Africa, you will find that the opposite part of the meridian pa.s.ses through the middle of the great, south sea. When the middle of the northern continent of America, about the meridian of Mexico, is examined in the same way, the opposite part pa.s.ses very exactly through the middle of the Indian ocean. The southern continent of America is opposed by that eastern sea which contains the East India islands. The southern continent of New Holland is opposite to the Atlantic ocean. This alternation, if I may so call it, between the land and sea, is too regular to have been casual; and if the face of the earth was so laid out by design, it was for some good reason. But what that reason may be, it will be difficult to shew. Perhaps this disposition may be of service to keep up a proper balance; or, it may a.s.sist toward the diurnal rotation of the earth, the free motions of the tides, &c.; or the water on one side may give a freer pa.s.sage to the rays of the sun, and being convex and transparent, may concentrate, or at least condense, the solar rays internally, for some benefit to the land that lies on the other side."--This sort of reasoning, from our ignorance, is no doubt liable to objection, and Mr Jones had good sense and candour enough to admit, that the questions were too abstruse for him to determine. The proper part, indeed, for man to act; is to investigate what Nature has done, not to dogmatize as to the reasons for her conduct--to ascertain facts, not to subst.i.tute conjectures in place of them. But it is allowable for us, when we have done our best in collecting and examining phenomena, to arrange them together according to any plausible theory which our judgments can suggest. Still, however, we ought to remember, that the most obviously imperative dictates of our reasoning faculties are only inferences from present appearances, and determine nothing as to the necessity of existing things.--E.]

If former navigators have added more land to the known globe than Captain Cook, to him, at least, was reserved the honour of being foremost in disclosing to us the extent of sea that covers its surface.

His own summary view of the transactions of this voyage, will be a proper conclusion to these remarks: "I had now made the circuit of the southern ocean in a high lat.i.tude, and traversed it in such a manner as to leave not the least room for there being a continent, unless near the Pole, and out of the reach of navigation. By twice visiting the Tropical Sea, I had not only settled the situation of some old discoveries, but made there many new ones, and left, I conceive, very little to be done, even in that part. Thus I flatter myself, that the intention of the voyage has, in every respect, been fully answered; the southern hemisphere sufficiently explored; and a final end put to the searching after a southern continent, which has, at times, engrossed the attention of some of the maritime powers for near two centuries past, and been a favourite theory amongst the geographers of all ages."[31]