tions into untrodden paths in the Northern hemifphere, are,'
under the fame fanCtion, now fubmitted to the Public in
thefe Volumes. .
One great plan of nautical inveftigation having been pur-
fued throughout, it is obvious, that the feveral voyages have a
clofe Connection, and that'an exaCt recollection of what had
been aimed at, and effected, in thofe that preceded, will
throw confiderable light on our period. With a view, therefore,
to aifift the Reader in forming a juft eftimate of the
additional information conveyed by this Publication, it may
not be improper to lay before him a fhort, though compre-
henfive, abftraCt of the principal objeCts that had been pre-
viouily accomplifhed, arranged in fuch a manner, as may
ferve to unite, into one point of view, the various articles
which lie fcattered through the voluminous Journals already
in the hands of the Public j thofe compiled by Dr.
Hawkefworth; and that which was written by Captain
Cook himfelf. By thus lhewing what had been formerly
done, how much ftill remained for fubfequent examination,
will be more apparent; and it will be better underftood
on what grounds, though the ihips of his Majefty had already
circumnavigated the world five different times, in the
courfe of about ten years, another voyage ihould ftill be
thought expedient.
There will be a farther ufe in giving fuch an abftraCt a
place in this Introduction. The plan of difcovery, carried
on in fo many fucceffive expeditions, being now, we may
take upon us to fay, in a great meafure completed; by
fumming up the final refult, we fhall be better able to do
juftice to the benevolent purpofes it was defigned to anfwer;
and a folid foundation will be laid, on which we may build
a faa
fatisfaCtory anfwer to a queftion, fometimes aiked by
p'eeviih refinement, and ignorant malevolence, What beneficial
confequences, i f any, have followed, or are likely to
follow, to the difcoverers, or to the difcovered, to the common
interefts of humanity, or to the increafe of ufeful
knowledge, from all our boafted attempts to explore the distant
recedes of the globe ?
The general objeCt o f the feveral voyages round the world
undertaken by the command of his Majefty, prior to that
related in this work, was to fearch for unknown traCts of
land that might exift within the bofom o f the immenfe
expanfe of ocean that occupies the whole Southern hemifphere.
Within that fpace, fo few refearches had been made,
before our time,, and thofe few refearches had been made
fo imperfectly, that the refult of them, as communicated
to the world in any narration, had rather ferved to create
uncertainty, than to convey information; to deceive the
credulous, rather than to fatisfy the judicious inquirer; by
blending the true geography of above half the fuperficies of
the earth, with an endlefs variety of plaufible conjectures,
fuggeftedby ingenious fpeculation; of idle tales, handed
down by obfcure tradition', or of bold fictions, invented by
deliberate falfehood.
It would have been very unfortunate, indeed, i f five different
circumnavigators o f the globe, fome of them, at
leaft, if not all, in tracks little known, and lefs frequented,
had produced no difcoveries, to reward the difficulties and
perils unavoidably encountered. But the following review
will furniih the moft fatisfaCtory proofs, that his Majefty’s
inftruCtions have been executed with ability; and that the
repeated