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m
nent. The Englifli have fince proved that nq fuch çqntinent D '776-
■exifts ; and that the land in queftion is an ifland o f no great '---«— J
extent*; which, from its fterility, I fhould, with great propriety,
call the Ifland o f Defolation, but that I would not
rob Monfieur de Kerguelen of the honour of its hearing his
name t* •
honour to his candour, and to Captain Cook’s abilities« tc La terre que j ’ai decou-
(C verte eft certainement une Ifiey puifque le célébré Capitaine Çook a pafle au Sud,
*e lors"de fon premiere voyage, fans rien rencontrer. Je juge même, que cettè ifle rieft
“ pas bien grande. Il y a auiîi apparence, d’apres le Voyage de Monfieur Cook,
*c que toute cette étendue de Mers Méridionales, eft femée d’Iiles • ou de rochers ;
mais qu’il n’ y a ni continent ni grande terre.” Kerguelen, p. 52.
* Kerguelen, as we fee in the laft Note, concurs with Captain Cook as to this.
However, he tells us, that he has reafon to believe that it is about two hundred leagues
in circuit ; and that hè was acquainted with about fourfcore leagues of its coaft.
“ J ’en connois environs quatre-vingt lieues des cotes j & j ’ai lieu de croire, qu’elle
<c a environ deux cents lieues de circuit.” Kerguelen, ibid.
f Some o f Monfieur de Kerguelen’s own countrymen feem more delirous than we
are, to rob him of this honour. It is very remarkable that Monfieur de Pagés never *
once mentions the name of his commander. And, though he takes;occa(ion to enumerate
the feveral French explorers o f the Southern Hemifphere, from Gonneville
•down to Crozet, he affefts to preferve an entire filence about Kerguelen, whofe firft
voyage, in which the difcovery of this confiderable trail of land was made, is kept as
much qutof fight,, as if it never had taken place. Nay, not fatisfied with refufing to
acknowledge the. right o f another, he almoft aftiimes it to himfelf. For upon a Map
o f the World, annexed to his book, at the fpot where the new land is delineated, we
read this infctfption : IJles nouvelles Aujirales vuées par Monfieur de Pages, en 1774.
He could fcarcely have expreffed himfelf in ftronger terms, i f he had meant to Convey
an idea that he was the condu&or o f the difcovery. And yet we know, that he was
only a Lieutenant [Enfeigne de vaiffeau] on board one of the three fhips commanded
by Kerguelen ; and that the difcovery had been already made in a former voyage, undertaken
while he was actually engaged in his fingular journey found the world.'
After all, it cannot but be remarked, that Kerguelen was peculiarly unfortunate, in
having done fo little to complete what he had begun. He difcqvered a new land indeed • 1
but, in two expeditions to it, he could not once bring his {hips ’ to an anchor upon
any part of its coafts. Captain Cook, as we have,feen in this, and in the foregoing 1 '
Chapter, had either fewer difficulties to ftruggle with, or was more fuceefsful in- fur-
mounting them.