March.
neither we, nor any other navigators to our knowlege have
explored, and as there will appear to be room enough for
the Cape of a fouthern continent to extend northward into a
low fouthern latitude, I fhall give my reafons for believing
there is no Cape, of any fouthern continent, to the northward
of 40° fouth.
Notwithstanding what has been laid down by lome geographers
in their maps, and alleged by Mr. Dalrymple, with
refpeft to Quiros, it is improbable in the higheft degree that
he faw to the fouthward of two ifiands, which he difcovered
in latitude 35 or 36, and which I fuppofe may He between
the longitude of 130? and 140° W. any figns of a continent*
much lefs any thing which, in his opinion, was a known
or indubitable fign o f fuch land; for if he had, he would certainly
have failed fouthward in fearch o f it, and if he had
fought, fuppofing the figns to have been indubitable, he
mull; have found: the difeovcry of a fouthern continent was
the ultimate objedt of Quiros’s voyage, and no man appears
to have had it more at heart; fo that if he Was in latitude
26° S. and in longitude 146“ W. where Mr. Dalrymple has
placed the illands he difcovered, it may fairly be inferred
that no part of a fouthern continent extends to that latitude-
It will, I think, appear with equal evidence from the accounts
of Roggewein’s voyage, that between the longitudes'
of 130“ and 150° W. there is no main land to the northward
of 3 S S. Mr. Pingre, in a . treatife concerning the tranfit o f
Venus, which he went out to obferve, has inferted an extraft
of lloggewein’s voyage, and a map of the South Seas; and
for reafons which may be feen at large in his work, fuppofes
him, after leaving Eafter Ifland, which he places in latitude
28 4. S. longitude 123 ° W. to have fleered S. W. as high as
34° S-
34" S. and afterwards 'W. Ni W:lI and if;this1 was indeed his 1770.
rôuti the proof that there is tin ifakiri‘lafe‘d: tö thé northward . Ma_rch-
of 35“ S. is irrefragable. Mr. Dalrymple indeed fuppofes
his rout to'hâve béé'tf dîffereiif,; àitd'-tfîkt frötii Eâilèf lie he
fleered N. W. taking à courfe afterwards very little different
from that of La Maires 'bilt 1 think it is highly improbable
that a man, who at hiV own fetluéfl wJas feiit to difcover a
fouthern dontiiieni,'flibu'Id fàkë'fi tduffë’ih which La Maire
had already proved nö continent tóuld be found: it mull
however beconfeffed, that Roggewein’s track cannot certainly
be afeertained, becaufe in the accounts that have been pub-
liflied of his voyage, neither longitudes nor latitudes are
mentioned. As to myfelf I faw nothing that I thought a fign
of land, in my rout either to the northward, fouthward, or
weftward, till a few days before I made the eaft coaft of New
Zealand : I did indeed frequently fee large flocks of birds,
but they were generally fuch as are found at a very remote
diftance from any coaft; and it is alfo true that I frequently
faw pieces of rock-weed, but I could not infer the vicinity of
land from thefe, becaufe I have been informed, upon indubitable
authority, that a confiderable quantity of the beans,
called ox-eyes, which are known to grow no where but in the
Weft Indies, are every year thrown up on the coaft of Ireland,
which is not lefs than twelve hundred leagues diftant.
Thus have I given my reafons for thinking that there is -
no continent to the northward of latitude 406 S. ; of what may
lie farther to the fouthward than 40° I can give no opinion ;
but I am fo far from wifhing to difeourage any future
attempt, finally to determine a queftion which has long been
an objeift of attention to many nations ; that now this voyage
has reduced the only poffible feite of a continent in the
fouthern hemifphere, north of latitude 40°, to fo fmall a
K 2 fpace,