A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xv Part 25

Both Pickersgill and Young having been ordered to proceed into Baffin's Bay; and Captain Cook being directed not to begin his search till he should arrive in the lat.i.tude of 65, it may not be improper to say something here of the reasons which weighed with those who planned the voyages, and framed the instructions, to carry their views so far northward, as the proper situation, where the pa.s.sage, if it existed at all, was likely to be attempted with success. It may be asked, why was Hudson's Bay neglected on our side of America; and why was not Captain Cook ordered to begin his search on its opposite side, in much lower lat.i.tudes? particularly, why not explore the strait leading into the western sea of John de Fuca, between the lat.i.tudes of 47 and 48; the Archipelago of St Lazarus of Admiral de Fonte, between 50 and 55; and the rivers and lakes through which he found a pa.s.sage north-eastward, till he met with a s.h.i.+p from Boston?

As to the pretended discoveries of de Fuca, the Greek pilot, or of de Fonte, the Spanish admiral, though they have sometimes found their way into fict.i.tious maps, or have been warmly contended for by the espousers of fanciful systems, to have directed Captain Cook to spend any time in tracing them, would have been as wise a measure as if he had been directed to trace the situation of Lilliput or Brobdignag. The latter are, indeed, confessedly, mere objects of imagination; and the former, dest.i.tute of any sufficient external evidence, bear so many striking marks of internal absurdity, as warrant our p.r.o.nouncing them to be the fabric of imposture. Captain Cook's instructions were founded on an accurate knowledge of what had been already done, and of what still remained to do; and this knowledge pointed out the inutility of beginning his search for a pa.s.sage till his arrival in the lat.i.tude of 65. Of this every fair and capable enquirer will be abundantly convinced, by an attention to the following particulars:

Middleton, who commanded the expedition in 1741 and 1742, into Hudson's Bay, had proceeded farther north than any of his predecessors in that navigation. But though, from his former acquaintance with that bay, to which he had frequently sailed in the service of the company, he had entertained hopes of finding out a pa.s.sage through it into the Pacific Ocean, the observations which he was now enabled to make, induced him to change his opinion; and, on his return to England, he made an unfavourable report. Mr Dobbs, the patron of the enterprise, did not acquiesce in this; and, fortified in his original idea of the practicability of the pa.s.sage, by the testimony of some of Middleton's officers, he appealed to the public, accusing him of having misrepresented facts, and of having, from interested motives, in concert with the Hudson's Bay Company, decided against the practicability of the pa.s.sage, though the discoveries of his own voyage had put it within his reach.

He had, between the lat.i.tude of 65 and 66, found a very considerable inlet running westward, into which he entered with his s.h.i.+ps; and, "after repeated trials of the tides, and endeavours to discover the nature and course of the opening, for three weeks successively, he found the flood constantly to come from the eastward, and that it was a large river he had got into," to which he gave the name of Wager River."[38]

[Footnote 38: See the Abstract of his Journal, published by Mr Dobbs.]

The accuracy, or rather the fidelity, of this report, was denied by Mr Dobbs, who contended that this opening _is a strait, and not a fresh-water river_; and that Middleton, if he had examined it properly, would have found a pa.s.sage through it to the western American Ocean. The failure of this voyage, therefore, only served to furnish our zealous advocate for the discovery, with new arguments for attempting it once more; and he had the good fortune, after getting the reward of twenty thousand pounds established by act of parliament, to prevail upon a society of gentlemen and merchants to fit out the Dobbs and California; which s.h.i.+ps, it was hoped, would be able to find their way into the Pacific Ocean, by the very opening which Middleton's Voyage had pointed out, and which he was believed to have misrepresented.

This renovation of hope only produced fresh disappointment For it is well known, that the voyage of the Dobbs and California, instead of confuting, strongly confirmed all that Middleton had a.s.serted. The supposed strait was found to be nothing more than a fresh-water river, and its utmost western navigable boundaries were now ascertained, by accurate examination. But though Wager's Strait had thus disappointed our hopes, as had also done Rankin's Inlet, which was now found to be a close bay; and though other arguments, founded on the supposed course of the tides in Hudson's Bay, appeared to be groundless, such is our attachment to an opinion once adopted, that, even after the unsuccessful issue of the voyage of the Dobbs and California, a pa.s.sage through some other place in that bay was, by many, considered as attainable; and, particularly, Chesterfield's (formerly: called Bowden's) Inlet, lying between lat.i.tude 65 and 64, succeeded Wager's Strait, in the sanguine expectations of those who remained unconvinced by former disappointments. Mr Ellis, who was on board the Dobbs, and who wrote the history of the voyage, holds up this, as one of the places where the pa.s.sage may be sought for, upon very rational grounds, and with very good effects.[39] He also mentions Repulse Bay, nearly in lat.i.tude 67; but as to this he speaks less confidently; only saying, that by an attempt there, we might probably approach nearer to the discovery.[40]

He had good reason for thus guarding his expression; for the committee, who directed this voyage, admitting the impracticability of effecting a pa.s.sage at Repulse Bay, had refused allowing the s.h.i.+ps to go into it, being satisfied as to that place.[41]

[Footnote 39: Ellis's Voyage, p. 328.]

[Footnote 40: Ibid, p. 330.]

[Footnote 41: Account of the voyage, by the clerk of the California, vol. ii. p. 273. Mr Dobbs himself says, "That he thought the pa.s.sage would be impracticable, or, at least, very difficult, in case there was one farther north than 67."--_Account of Hudson's Bay_, p. 99.--D.]

Setting Repulse Bay, therefore, aside, within which we have no reason for believing that any inlet exists, there did not remain any part of Hudson's Bay to be searched, but Chesterfield's Inlet, and a small tract of coast between the lat.i.tude 62, and what is called the South Point of Main, which had been left unexplored by the Dobbs and California.

But this last gleam of hope has now disappeared. The aversion of the Hudson's Bay Company to contribute any thing to the discovery of a north-west pa.s.sage had been loudly reported by Mr Dobbs; and the public seemed to believe that the charge was well founded. But still, in justice to them, it must be allowed, that in 1720, they had sent Messrs Knight and Barlow, in a sloop on this very discovery; but these unfortunate people were never more heard of. Mr Scroggs, who sailed in search of them, in 1722, only brought back proofs of their s.h.i.+pwreck, but no fresh intelligence about a pa.s.sage, which he was also to look for. They also sent a sloop, and a shallop, to try for this discovery, in 1787; but to no purpose. If obstructions were thrown in the way of Captain Middleton, and of the commanders of the Dobbs and California, the governor and committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, since that time, we must acknowledge, have made amends for the narrow prejudices, of their predecessors; and we have it in our power to appeal to facts, which abundantly testify, that every thing has been done by them, that could be required by the public, toward perfecting the search for a north-west pa.s.sage.

In the year 1761, Captain Christopher sailed from Fort Churchill, in the sloop Churchill; and his voyage was not quite fruitless; for he sailed up Chesterfield's Inlet, through which a pa.s.sage had, by Mr Ellis's account of it, been so generally expected. But when the water turned brackish, which marked that he was not in a strait, but in a river, he returned.

To leave no room for a variety of opinion, however, he was ordered to repeat the voyage the ensuing summer, in the same sloop, and Mr Norton, in a cutter, was appointed to attend him. By the favour of the governor and committee of the company, the journals of Captain Christopher, and of Mr Norton, and Captain Christopher's chart of the inlet, have been readily communicated. From these authentic doc.u.ments, it appears that the search and examination of Chesterfield's Inlet was now completed. It was found to end in a fresh-water lake, at the distance of about one hundred and seventy miles from the sea. This lake was found also to be about twenty-one leagues long, and from five to ten broad, and to be completely closed up on every side, except to the west, where there was a little rivulet; to survey the state of which, Mr Norton and the crew of the cutter having landed, and marched up the country, saw that it soon terminated in three falls, one above another, and not water for a small boat over them; and ridges, mostly dry from side to side, for five, or six miles higher.

Thus ends Chesterfield's Inlet, and all Mr Ellis's expectations of a pa.s.sage through it to the western ocean. The other parts of the coast, from lat.i.tude 62, to the South Point of Main, within which limits hopes were also entertained of finding a pa.s.sage, have, of late years, been thoroughly explored. It is here that Pistol Bay is situated; which the author who has writ last in this country, on the probability of a north-west pa.s.sage,[42] speaks of as the only remaining part of Hudson's Bay where this western communication may exist. But this has been also examined; and, on the authority of Captain Christopher, we can a.s.sure the reader, that there is no inlet of any consequence in all that part of the coast. Nay, he has, in an open boat, sailed round the bottom of what is called Pistol Bay, and, in stead of a pa.s.sage to a western sea, found it does not run above three or four miles inland.

[Footnote 42: Printed for Jeffreys, in 1768. His words are, "There remains then to be searched for the discovery of a pa.s.sage, the opening called Pistol Bay, in Hudson's Bay," p. 122--D]

Besides these voyages by sea, which satisfy us that we must not look for a pa.s.sage to the south of 67 of lat.i.tude, we are indebted to the Hudson's Bay Company for a journey by land, which has thrown much additional light on this matter, by affording what may be called demonstration, how much farther north, at least in some part of their voyage, s.h.i.+ps must hold their course, before they can pa.s.s from one side of America to the other. The northern Indians, who come down to the company's forts for trade, had brought to the knowledge of our people, the existence of a river, which, from copper abounding near it, had got the name of the Copper-mine River. We read much about this river in Mr Dobbs's publications, and he considers the Indian accounts of it as favourable to his system. The company being desirous of examining the matter with precision, instructed their governor of Prince of Wales's Fort, to send a proper person to travel by land, under the escort of some trusty northern Indians, with orders to proceed to this famous river, to take an accurate survey of its course, and to trace it to the sea, into which it empties itself. Mr Hearne, a young gentleman in their service, who, having been an officer in the navy, was well qualified to make observations for fixing the longitude and lat.i.tude, and make drawings of the country he should pa.s.s through, and of the river which he was to examine, was appointed for this service.

Accordingly, he set out from Fort Prince of Wales, on Churchill River, in lat.i.tude 58 50', on the 7th of December, 1770; and the whole of his proceedings, from time to time, are faithfully preserved in his journal.

The publication of this is an acceptable present to the world, as it draws a plain artless picture of the savage modes of life, the scanty means of subsistence, and indeed of the singular wretchedness, in every respect, of the various tribes, who, without fixed habitations, pa.s.s their miserable lives, roving throughout the dreary deserts, and over the frozen lakes of the immense tract of continent through which Mr Hearne pa.s.sed, and which he may be said to have added to the geography of the globe. His general course was to the northwest. In the month of June 1771, being then at a place called _Conge catha wha Chaga_, he had, to use his own words, two good observations, both by meridian and double alt.i.tudes, the mean of which determines this place to be in lat.i.tude 66 46' N., and, by account, in longitude 24 2' W. of Churchill River. On the 13th of July (having left _Conge catha wha Chaga_ on the 3d, and travelling still to the west of north) he reached the Copper-mine River; and was not a little surprised to find it differ so much from the descriptions given of it by the natives at the fort; for, instead of being likely to be navigable for a s.h.i.+p, it is, at this part, scarcely navigable for an Indian canoe; three falls being in sight, at one view, and being choaked up with shoals and stony ridges.

Here Mr Hearne began his survey of the river. This he continued till he arrived at its mouth, near which his northern Indians ma.s.sacred twenty-one Esquimaux, whom they surprised in their tents. We shall give Mr Hearne's account of his arrival at the sea, in his own words: "After the Indians had plundered the tents of the Esquimaux of all the copper, &c. they were then again ready to a.s.sist me in making an end to the survey; the sea then in sight from the N.W. by W. to the N.E., distant about eight miles. It was then about five in the morning of the 17th, when I again proceeded to survey the river to the mouth, still found, in every respect, no ways likely, or a possibility of being made navigable, being full of shoals and falls; and, at the entrance, the river emptying itself over a dry flat of the sh.o.r.e. For the tide was then out, and seemed, by the edges of the ice, to flow about twelve or fourteen feet, which will only reach a little within the river's mouth. That being the case, the water in the river had not the least brackish taste. But I am sure of its being the sea, or some part thereof, by the quant.i.ty of whale-bone and seal-skins the Esquimaux had at their tents; as also the number of seals which I saw upon the ice. The sea, at the river's mouth, was full of islands and shoals, as far as I could see, by the a.s.sistance of a pocket-telescope; and the ice was not yet broken up, only thawed away about three quarters of a mile from the snore, and a little way round the islands and shoals.

"By the time I had completed this survey, it was about one in the morning of the 18th; but in these high lat.i.tudes, and this time of the year, the sun is always a good height above the horizon. It then came on a thick drizzling rain, with a thick fog; and, as finding the river and sea, in every respect, not likely to be of any utility, I did not think it worth while to wait for fair weather, to determine the lat.i.tude exactly by an observation. But, by the extraordinary care I took in observing the courses and distances, walked from _Conge catha wha Chaga_, where I had two good observations, the lat.i.tude may be depended on, within twenty miles at farthest."

From the map which Mr Hearne constructed of the country through which he pa.s.sed, in this singular journey, it appears that the mouth of the Copper-mine River lies in the lat.i.tude 72, and above 25 west longitude from the fort, from whence he took his departure.[43]

[Footnote 43: Mr Hearne's journey, back from the Copper-mine River, to Fort Prince of Wales, lasted till June 30, 1772. From his first setting out till his return, he had employed near a year and seven months. The unparalleled hards.h.i.+ps he suffered, and the essential service he performed, met with a suitable reward from his masters, and he was made governor of Fort Prince of Wales, where he was taken prisoner by the French in 1782; but soon afterwards returned to his station."--D.

This opportunity is taken to mention, that Mr Arrowsmith lays down Copper-mine River in longitude 113, and not in 120, according to Mr Hearne. In the opinion of Mr H. this river flows into an inland sea. Be this as it may, the result of his discoveries is unfavourable to the supposition of there being a north-west pa.s.sage, Mr Hearne's journal was not published till 1795, considerably after the date of Dr Douglas's writing. Some alterations have consequently been made on the text and notes of that gentleman.--E.]

The consequences resulting from this extensive discovery, are obvious.

We now see that the continent of North America stretches from Hudson's Bay so far to the north-west, that Mr Hearne had travelled near thirteen hundred miles before he arrived at the sea. His most western distance from the coast of Hudson's Bay was near six hundred miles; and that his Indian guides were well apprised of a vast tract of continent stretching farther on in that direction, is certain from many circ.u.mstances mentioned in his journal.

What is now mentioned with regard to the discoveries made by the Hudson's Bay Company, was well known to the n.o.ble lord who presided at the Board of Admiralty when this voyage was undertaken; and the intimate connection of those discoveries with the plan of the voyage, of course, regulated the instructions given to Captain Cook.

And now, may we not take it upon us to appeal to every candid and capable enquirer, whether that part of the instructions which directed the captain not to lose time, in exploring rivers or inlets, or upon any other account, till he got into the lat.i.tude of 65, was not framed judiciously; as there were such indubitable proofs that no pa.s.sage existed so far to the south as any part of Hudson's Bay, and that, if a pa.s.sage could be effected at all, part of it, at least, must be traversed by the s.h.i.+ps as far to the northward as the lat.i.tude 72, where Mr Hearne arrived at the sea?

We may add, as a farther consideration in support of this article of the instructions, that Beering's Asiatic discoveries, in 1728, having traced that continent to the lat.i.tude of 67, Captain Cook's approach toward that lat.i.tude was to be wished for, that he might be enabled to bring back more authentic information than the world had hitherto obtained, about the relative situation and vicinity of the two continents, which was absolutely necessary to be known, before the practicability of sailing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, in any northern direction, could be ascertained.

After all, that search, in a lower lat.i.tude, which they who give credit (if any such there now be) to the pretended discoveries of De Fonte, affect to wish had been recommended to Captain Cook, has (if that will cure them of their credulity) been satisfactorily made. The Spaniards, roused from their lethargy by our voyages, and having caught a spark of enterprise from our repeated visits to the Pacific Ocean, have followed us more than once into the line of our discoveries within the southern tropic; and have also fitted out expeditions to explore the American continent to the north of California. It is to be lamented, that there should be any reasons why the transactions of those Spanish voyages have not been fully disclosed, with the same liberal spirit of information which other nations have adopted. But, fortunately, this excessive caution of the court of Spain has been defeated, at least in one instance, by the publication of an authentic journal of their voyage of discovery upon the coast of America, in 1775, for which the world is indebted to the honourable Mr Daines Barrington. This publication, which conveys some information of real consequence to geography, and has therefore been referred to more than once in the following work, is particularly valuable in this respect, that some parts of the coast which Captain Cook, in his progress northward, was prevented, by unfavourable winds, from approaching, were seen and examined by the Spanish s.h.i.+ps who preceded him; and the perusal of the following extract from their journal may be recommended to those (if any such there be) who would represent it as an imperfection in Captain Cook's voyage, that he had not an opportunity of examining the coast of America, in the lat.i.tude a.s.signed to the discoveries of Admiral Fonte. "We now attempted to find out the straits of Admiral Fonte, though, as yet, we had not discovered the Archipelago of St Lazarus, through which he is said to have sailed. With this intent, we searched every bay and recess of the coast, and sailed round every headland, lying-to in the night, that we might not lose sight of this entrance. After these pains taken, and being favoured by a north-west wind, it may be p.r.o.nounced that no such straits are to be found."[44]

[Footnote 44: Journal of a voyage in 1775 by Don Francisco Antonio Maurelle, in Mr Barrington's Miscellanies, p. 508.--D.]

In this journal, the Spaniards boast of "having reached so high a lat.i.tude as 58, beyond what any other navigators had been able to effect in those seas."[45] Without diminis.h.i.+ng the merit of their performance, we may be permitted to say, that it will appear very inconsiderable indeed, in comparison of what Captain Cook effected, in the voyage of which an account is given in these volumes. Besides exploring, the land in the South Indian Ocean, of which Kerguelen, in two voyages, had been able to obtain but a very imperfect knowledge; adding also many considerable accessions to the geography of the Friendly Islands; and discovering the n.o.ble group, now called Sandwich Islands, in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, of which not the faintest trace can be met with in the account of any former voyage; besides these preliminary discoveries, the reader of the following work will find, that in one summer, our English navigator discovered a much larger proportion of the north-west coast of America than the Spaniards, though settled in the neighbourhood, had, in all their attempts, for above two hundred years, been able to do; that he has put it beyond all doubt that Beering and Tscherikoff had really discovered the continent of America in 1741, and has also established the prolongation of that continent westward opposite Kamschatka, which speculative writers, wedded to favourite systems, had affected so much to disbelieve, and which, though admitted by Muller, had, since he wrote, been considered as disproved, by later Russian discoveries;[46] that, besides ascertaining the true position of the western coasts of America, with some inconsiderable interruptions, from lat.i.tude 44 up to beyond the lat.i.tude 70, he has also ascertained the position of the northeastern extremity of Asia, by confirming Beering's discoveries in 1728, and adding extensive accessions of his own; that he has given us more authentic information concerning the islands lying between the two continents, than the Kamtschatka traders, ever since Beering first taught them to venture on this sea, had been able to procure; that, by fixing the relative situation of Asia and America, and discovering the narrow bounds of the strait that divides them, he has thrown a blaze of light upon this important part of the geography of the globe, and solved the puzzling problem about the peopling of America, by tribes dest.i.tute of the necessary means to attempt long navigations; and, lastly, that, though the princ.i.p.al object of the voyage failed, the world will be greatly benefited even by the failure, as it has brought us to the knowledge of the existence of the impediments which future navigators may expect to meet with, in attempting to go to the East Indies through Beering's strait.[47]

[Footnote 45: _Ibid_. p. 507. We learn from Maurelle's Journal, that another voyage had been some time before performed upon the coast of America; but the utmost northern progress of it was to lat.i.tude 55.--D.]

[Footnote 46: See c.o.xe's Russian Discoveries, p. 26, 27, &c. The fictions of speculative geographers in the southern hemisphere, have been continents; in the northern hemisphere, they have been seas. It may be observed, therefore, that if Captain Cook in his first voyages annihilated imaginary southern lands, he has made amends for the havock, in his third voyage, by annihilating imaginary northern seas, and filling up the vast s.p.a.ce which had been allotted to them, with the solid contents of his new discoveries of American land farther west and north than had hitherto been traced.--D.]

[Footnote 47: The Russians seem to owe much to England, in matters respecting their own possessions. It is singular enough that one of our countrymen, Dr Campbell, (see his edition of Harris's voyages, vol. ii.

p. 1021) has preserved many valuable particulars of Beering's first voyage, of which Muller himself, the historian of their earlier discoveries, makes no mention; that it should be another of our countrymen, Mr c.o.xe, who first published a satisfactory account of their later discoveries; and that the King of Great Britain's s.h.i.+ps should traverse the globe in 1778, to confirm to the Russian empire the possession of near thirty degrees, or above six hundred miles, of continent, which Mr Engel, in his zeal for the practicability of a north-east pa.s.sage, would prune away from the length of Asia to the eastward. See his _Alanoires Geographiques_, &c. Lausanne 1765; which, however, contains much real information, and many parts of which are confirmed by Captain Cook's American discoveries.--D.

It shews some inconsistency in Captain Krusenstern, that whilst he speaks of the too successful policy of the commercial nations of Europe to lull Russia into a state of slumber as to her interests, he should give us to understand, that the same effect which Captain Cook's third voyage produced on the speculative and enterprising spirit of English merchants, had been occasioned among his countrymen forty years sooner, by the discovery of the Aleutic islands and the north-west coast of America. But, in fact, it is the highest censure he could possibly have pa.s.sed on his own government, to admit, that it had been subjected to such stupifying treatment. This it certainly could not have been, without the previous existence of such a lethargy as materially depreciates the virtue of any opiate employed. There is no room, however, for the allegation made; and the full amount of her slumber is justly imputable to the gross darkness which so long enveloped the horizon of Russia. Whose business was it to rouse her? What nation could be supposed to possess so much of the spirit of knight-errantry, as to be induced to instruct her savages as to the advantages of cultivating commerce, without a cautious regard to its own particular interests in the first place? But the bold, though somewhat impolitic seaman, has perhaps stumbled on the real cause of the slow progress which she has. .h.i.therto made in the course which his sanguine imagination has pointed out for her. Speaking of her inexhaustible springs and incentives to commerce, he nevertheless admits, that there are obstacles which render it difficult for her to become a trading nation. But these obstacles, he says, do not warrant a doubt of the possibility of removing them. "Let the monarch only express his pleasure with regard to them, and _the most difficult are already overcome!_" The true prosperity of Russia, it is indubitably certain, will be infinitely more advanced by fostering her infant commerce, than by any augmentation of territories which the policy or arms of her sovereign can accomplish. But he will always require much self-denial to avoid intermeddling with the concerns of other nations, and to restrict his labours to the improvement of his own real interests.--E.]

The extended review we have taken of the preceding voyages, and the general outline we have sketched out, of the transactions of the last, which are recorded at full length in these volumes, will not, it is hoped, be considered as a prolix or unnecessary detail. It will serve to give a just notion of the whole plan of discovery executed by his majesty's commands. And it appearing that much was aimed at, and much accomplished, in the unknown parts of the globe, in both hemispheres, there needs no other consideration, to give full satisfaction to those who possess an enlarged way of thinking, that a variety of useful purposes must have been effected by these researches. But there are others, no doubt, who, too diffident of their own abilities, or too indolent to exert them, would wish to have their reflections a.s.sisted, by pointing out what those useful purposes are. For the service of such, the following enumeration of particulars is entered upon. And if there should be any, who affect to undervalue the plan or the execution of our voyages, what shall now be offered, if it do not convince them, may, at least, check the influence of their unfavourable decision.

1. It may be fairly considered, as one great advantage accruing to the world from our late surveys of the globe, that they have confuted fanciful theories, too likely to give birth to impracticable undertakings.

After Captain Cook's persevering and fruitless traverses through every corner of the southern hemisphere, who, for the future, will pay any attention to the ingenious reveries of Campbell, de Brosses, and de Buffon? or hope to establish an intercourse with such a continent as Manpertuis's fruitful imagination had pictured? A continent equal, at least, in extent, to all the civilized countries in the known northern hemisphere, where new men, new animals, new productions of every kind, might be brought forward to our view, and discoveries be made, which would open inexhaustible treasures of commerce?[48] We can now boldly take it upon us to discourage all expeditions, formed on such reasonings of speculative philosophers, into a quarter of the globe, where our persevering English navigator, instead of this promised fairy land, found nothing but barren rocks, scarcely affording shelter to penguins and seals; and dreary seas, and mountains of ice, occupying the immense s.p.a.ce allotted to imaginary paradises, and the only treasures there to be discovered, to reward the toil, and to compensate the dangers, of the unavailing search.

[Footnote 48: See Maupertuis's Letter to the King of Prussia. The author of the Preliminary Discourse to Bougainville's _Voyage aux Isles Malouines_, computes that the southern continent (for the existence of which, he owns, we must depend more on the conjectures of philosophers, than on the testimony of voyagers) contains eight or ten millions of square leagues.--D.]

Or, if we carry our reflections into the northern hemisphere, could Mr Dobbs have made a single convert, much less could he have been the successful solicitor of two different expeditions, and have met with encouragement from the legislature, with regard to his favourite pa.s.sage through Hudson's Bay, if Captain Christopher had previously explored its coasts, and if Mr Hearne had walked over the immense continent behind it? Whether, after Captain Cook's and Captain Clerke's discoveries on the west side of America, and their report of the state of Beering's Strait, there can be sufficient encouragement to make future attempts to penetrate into the Pacific Ocean in any northern direction, is a question, for the decision of which the public will be indebted to this work.

2. But our voyages will benefit the world, not only by discouraging future unprofitable searches, but also by lessening the dangers and distresses formerly experienced in those seas, which are within the line of commerce and navigation, now actually subsisting. In how many instances have the mistakes of former navigators, in fixing the true situations of important places, been rectified? What accession to the variation chart? How many nautical observations have been collected, and are now ready to be consulted, in directing a s.h.i.+p's course, along rocky sh.o.r.es, through narrow straits, amidst perplexing currents, and dangerous shoals? But, above all, what numbers of new bays, and harbours, and anchoring-places, are now, for the first time, brought forward, where s.h.i.+ps may be sheltered, and their crews find tolerable refreshments? To enumerate all these, would be to transcribe great part of the journals of our several commanders, whose labours will endear them to every navigator whom trade or war may carry into their tracks.

Every nation that sends a s.h.i.+p to sea will partake of the benefit; but Great Britain herself, whose commerce is boundless, must take the lead in reaping the full advantage of her own discoveries.

In consequence of all these various improvements, lessening the apprehensions of engaging in long voyages, may we not reasonably indulge the pleasing hope, that fresh branches of commerce may, even in our own time, be attempted, and successfully carried on? Our hardy adventurers in the whale-fishery have already found their way, within these few years, into the South Atlantic; and who knows what fresh sources of commerce may still be opened, if the prospect of gain can be added, to keep alive the spirit of enterprise? If the situation of Great Britain be too remote, other trading nations will a.s.suredly avail themselves of our discoveries. We may soon expect to hear that the Russians, now instructed by us where to find the American continent, have extended their voyages from the Fox Islands to Cook's River, and Prince William's Sound. And if Spain itself should not be tempted to trade from its most northern Mexican ports, by the fresh mine of wealth discovered in the furs of King George's Sound, which they may transport in their Manilla s.h.i.+ps, as a favourite commodity for the Chinese market, that market may probably be supplied by a direct trade to America, from Canton itself, with those valuable articles which the inhabitants of China have hitherto received, only by the tedious and expensive circuit of Kamtschatka and Kiachta.[49]

[Footnote 49: It is not unlikely that Captain Krusenstern was indebted to the hint now given, for his proposal to establish a direct commercial intercourse with China. The reader who desires information respecting the nature of the fur trade carried on betwixt the north-west coast of America, the neighbouring islands, and China, may consult his introduction. The affairs of Spain, it may be remarked, long precluded the requisite attention to her commercial interests, and do not now promise a speedy recovery under her apparently infatuated government. To Nootka or King George's Sound, mentioned in the text, that power abandoned all right and pretensions, in favour of Great Britain, in 1790, after an altercation, which at one time bid fair to involve the two kingdoms in war. It was during this dispute, and in view of its hostile termination, that Mr Pitt gave his sanction to a scheme for revolutionizing the Spanish colonies, an event which, if not now encouraged by any direct a.s.sistance, bears too complacent an aspect on our commercial interests not to be regarded with a large portion of good wishes. It is impossible, indeed, excluding altogether every idea of personal advantage, not to hope highly, at least, of any efforts which may be made to wrest the souls and bodies of millions from the clutch of ignorance and tyranny. The fate of these colonists is by no means the most unimportant spectacle which the pa.s.sing drama of the world exhibits to the eye of an enlightened and humane politician.--E.]

These, and many other commercial improvements, may reasonably be expected to result from the British discoveries, even in our own times.

But if we look forward to future ages, and to future changes in the history of commerce, by recollecting its various past revolutions and migrations, we may be allowed to please ourselves with the idea of its finding its way, at last, throughout the extent of the regions with which our voyages have opened an intercourse; and there will be abundant reason to subscribe to Captain Cook's observation with regard to New Zealand, which may be applied to other tracts of land explored by him, that, "although they be far remote from the present trading world, we can, by no means, tell what use future ages may make of the discoveries made by the present.[50] In this point of view, surely, the utility of the late voyages must stand confessed; and we may be permitted to say, that the history of their operations has the justest pretensions to be called [Greek: chtaema is au], as it will convey to latest posterity a treasure of interesting information.

[Footnote 50: Cook's second voyage.]

3. Admitting, however, that we may have expressed too sanguine expectations of commercial advantages, either within our own reach, or gradually to be unfolded at some future period, as the result of our voyages of discovery, we may still be allowed, to consider them as a laudable effort to add to the stock of human knowledge, with regard to an object which cannot but deserve the attention of enlightened man. To exert our faculties in devising ingenious modes of satisfying ourselves about the magnitude and distance of the sun; to extend our acquaintance with the system, to which that luminary is the common centre, by tracing the revolutions of a new planet, or the appearance of a new comet; to carry our bold researches through all the immensity of s.p.a.ce, where world beyond world rises to the view of the astonished observer; these are employments which none but those incapable of pursuing them can depreciate, and which every one capable of pursuing them must delight in, as a dignified exercise of the powers of the human mind. But while we direct our studies to distant worlds, which, after all our exertions, we must content ourselves with having barely discovered to exist, it would be a strange neglect, indeed, and would argue a most culpable want of rational curiosity, if we did not use our best endeavours to arrive at a full acquaintance with the contents of our own planet; of that little spot in the immense universe, on which we have been placed, and the utmost limits of which, at least its habitable parts, we possess the means of ascertaining, and describing, by actual examination.

So naturally doth this reflection present itself, that to know something of the terraqueous globe, is a favourite object with every one who can taste the lowest rudiments of learning. Let us not, therefore, think so meanly of the times in which we live, as to suppose it possible that full justice will not be done to the n.o.ble plan of discovery, so steadily and so successfully carried on, since the accession of his majesty; which cannot fail to be considered, in every succeeding age, as a splendid period in the history of our country, and to add to our national glory, by distinguis.h.i.+ng Great Britain as taking the lead in the most arduous undertakings for the common benefit of the human race.

Before these voyages took place, nearly half the surface of the globe we inhabit was hid in obscurity and confusion. What is still wanting to complete our geography may justly be termed the _minutiae_ of that science.