8 INTRODUCTION TO THE 



racy, that the coasts of Great Britain itself are not 

 more authentically laid down upon our maps. 



How little was really known of the islands in the 

 South Atlantic, even so late as the time of Lord 

 Anson, we have the most remarkable proofs, in the 

 history of his voyage. Unavoidably led into mis- 

 take, by the imperfect materials then in the pos- 

 session of the world, he had considered Pepys's 

 Island, and Falkland Isles, as distinct places, distant 

 from each other about five degrees of latitude.* 

 Byron's researches have rectified this capital error ; 

 and it is now decided, beyond all contradiction, that 

 future navigators will mispend their time, if they look 

 for Pepys's Island in latitude 47 ; it being now cer- 

 tain, that Pepys's Island is no other than these islands 

 of Falkland, t 



Besides the determination of this considerable 

 point, other lands, situated in the South Atlantic, 

 have been brought forward into view. If the isle of 

 Georgia had been formerly seen by La Roche, in 

 1675, and by Mr. Guyot, in the ship Lion, in 1756, 

 which seems to be probable, Captain Cook, in 177^, 

 has made us fully acquainted with its extent and true 

 position; and, in the same year, he added to the map 

 of the world Sandwich Land, hitherto not known to 

 exist, and the most southern discovery that has been 

 ever accomplished, t 



IL 



Though the Strait of Magalhaens had been fre- 

 quently visited, and sailed through, by ships of dif- 



* See Lord Anson's Voyage, quarto edition, p. 91. 



j- These are Captain Cook's words, Introduction to his Voyage y 

 vol. iii. p. 7.; and the evidence on which he forms this judgment 

 may be met with in Hawkesworth's Journal of Byron's Voyage, 

 vol. i. p. 23, 24. 51, 52, 53, 54. 



J See the Chart of Discoveries in the South Atlantic. Cook's 

 Voyage, vol. iv. p. 211. 



