land.

An interview with the natives showed, that they agreed in all points with the descriptions of the French navigators. On quitting this archipelago he sailed through Bougainville's Straits, and, continuing his course to the north-west, visited the Pelew Islands, and arrived at Batavia on the 18th of November. Conceiving the lands he had seen to be a new discovery, he conferred on them the appellation of New Georgia, and bestowed on the channel through which he passed the name of Shortland's Straits. But in no long time, when their position was more minutely examined, it became evident that the countries observed by him belonged to the same group with the Terre des Arsacides and the Isle Choiseul. The names imposed by the English were then dropped; the absurd title given by Surville was also abandoned; and geographers now recognise this cluster by the name of "The Solomons," bestowed by its first visiter, Mendana.

Having traced the progress of discovery in the Pacific Ocean during two centuries and a half, it may now be convenient to pause; and, before proceeding to the history of the greatest navigator that ever sailed on its waters, survey what had been already accomplished, and what still remained to be done.

Numerous as were the expeditions into the South Sea, by far the greater portion of it was yet unexplored. Northwards of the Equator one track only was followed,-namely, that between Mexico, or New Spain, and the Philippines, about the latitude of 15° N.; and from this line little variation was made, nor was there any attempt to examine the unknown sea on either side. The great expanse

of the Pacific south of the Line had indeed been more extensively navigated; yet, with one exception, the courses of the several voyagers lay within very narrow limits. The discoveries of Quiros were between 10° and 25° of south latitude; Schouten's route was nearly in the parallel of 15° S.; Roggewein's was almost coincident; and Mendana's never lay far from 10° S. The most distant land in that direction reached by Wallis was Whitsunday Island, in 19° S.; Carteret attained a higher latitude, and saw Pitcairn's Island, in 25°; but the remotest discovery of Byron was the group of the Disappointment Islands, in 14° S. To the north of the Equator, Carteret effected nothing; Byron was equally unsuccessful; and the most northerly position brought to light by Wallis, was the island, in 13° 18' S., which received his own name. Bougainville's range lay between 19° S., the latitude of Les Quatre Facardins, and 5° S., the parallel of Bouca. These were the only voyagers (with the exception of Magellan) who followed new tracks; and it will be seen that they confined themselves to the space between the Line and the twenty-fifth degree of south latitude.

The many other navigators whose exploits are recounted in these pages, more intent on the acquisition of Spanish gold than on the search for unknown regions, almost invariably pursued one common and well-frequented path. On entering the Pacific, they stood for Juan Fernandez, in order to recover their health, or replace their stores; they then coasted the American continent to California; after which, they either retraced their way to the Atlantic by Cape Horn or the Straits, or more usually crossed the South Sea in the track of the Manilla galleon. Such was the route of Drake, Cavendish, Van Noort,

Spilbergen, the Nassau Fleet, the English Buccaneers, Dampier, Rogers, Clipperton, Shelvocke, and Anson.

The only adventurer into a high southern latitude was Tasman. Entering the Pacific from the Indian Ocean, he advanced to about 44° and discovered Van Diemen's Land. Thence, pursuing nearly the same parallel, he stood eastward till he encountered New Zealand, and, sailing along its western shores, bore northward till he got into the track of Schouten; having discovered in his passage the Tonga Islands, on the confines of the Tropic.

From this recapitulation, it will be seen, that of the Southern Pacific there remained altogether unknown the great space bounded on the north by the twenty-fifth parallel of latitude, and by the meridians of long. 85° W. and 170° E. No vessel had yet attempted to traverse this wide extent, and, consequently, with respect to it there prevailed the utmost uncertainty and ignorance. A learned geographer writes in 1771, "So far as to absolute experience, we continue ignorant whether the southern hemisphere be an immense mass of water, or whether it contains another continent and countries worthy of our search." "'* The portion of the Northern Pacific which remained unexplored was, perhaps, still more

extensive.

Such were the mighty tracts concerning which nothing had been ascertained. There were, besides, several spacious regions, of which certain navigators had indeed announced the existence, but who stopped short before the extent was brought to light. Of New Holland, only the western side was known; the

Dalrymple, Hist. Coll. vol. ii." Investigation of what may be farther expected in the South Sea," p. 12.

northern limit (the strait discovered by Torres in 1606) had passed into oblivion, and this great country was generally represented as joining New Guinea; on the south, there was no certainty whether it extended to Van Diemen's Land, or where its ter– mination should be fixed; to the east, it was involved in utter darkness; one point only was clear, that it did not stretch beyond long. 170°, being nearly the meridian of Tasman's track. The limits of New Zealand were still more indefinite. Only its western shores had been visited, and, for all that was then known, it might have extended eastward to within 15° of Chili. Mr Dalrymple remarks, that it is "still a question if Staats' Land, or New Zealand, be part of a continent or only islands; though it is most probably the former, as Tasman supposes it to be.”

In short, the great problem of geography, the existence of a vast SOUTHERN CONTINENT, was still unsolved. The discoveries of succeeding years had no doubt much circumscribed the bounds assigned to it in the sixteenth century; yet within the unvisited bosom of the Pacific there still remained ample space for a country exceeding Europe in dimensions, and surpassing, even in its most high and palmy state, the widest empire ever seen in either hemisphere. Nor with the believers in this land was its extent its only merit. Its fancied splendour and fertility were to cast into the shade all that had been told of Mexico or Peru; for here was to be found the original fountain of their civilisation, the parent-country of the first Inca! And to the nation that should discover it there was promised an accession of wealth and power greater than had flowed to Spain from the conquests of Cortes and Pizarro.

COOK.

CHAPTER VIII.

Life of Cook previous to his First Voyage.

Birth and Parentage of Cook-His Education-His Indentures with a Draper-Apprenticeship on board a Collier_Volunteers into the Navy-Appointed Master of the Mercury-His Services at Quebec-Hairbreadth Escape-He first studies Euclid-His Marriage Made Marine Surveyor of Newfoundland and Labrador-Communicates an Observation of an Eclipse to the Royal Society History of the Transits of Venus-Predicted in 1629 by Kepler-Discovery and Observation of Horrox-First Appreciation of its Uses-Professor James Gregory-Dr Edmund Halley-His Exhortation to future Astronomers-Transit of 1761 -Preparations for that of 1769-Proposal to send a Ship with Observers to the South Sea-Cook promoted to the Rank of Lieutenant, and appointed to conduct it-His Choice of a Vessel-Sir Joseph Banks determines to join the Expedition-Preparations and Instructions for the Voyage.

JAMES COOK was the son of humble parents. His father, also named James, and supposed from his dialect to be a Northumbrian, was a labourer or farm-servant, and his mother was of the same rank.

Both of them were highly esteemed by their neighbours for their integrity, temperance, and industry. They appear to have resided, first at the village of Morton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire; afterwards at Marton in Cleveland, a