42 INTRODUCTION TO THE 



would have been as wise a measure as if he had been 

 directed to trace the situation of Lilliput or Brobdig- 

 nac. The latter are, indeed, confessedly, mere ob- 

 jects of imagination; and the former, destitute of 

 any sufficient external evidence, bear so many striking- 

 marks of internal absurdity, as warrant our pronounc- 

 ing them to be the fabric of inposture. Captain 

 Cook's instructions were founded on an accurate 

 knowledge of what had been already done, and of 

 what still remained to do ; and this knowledge 

 pointed out the inutility of beginning his search for 

 a passage till his arrival in the latitude of 65; of 

 which every fair and capable inquirer will be abund- 

 antly convinced, by an attention to the following 

 particulars. 



Middleton, who commanded the expedition in 

 1741 and 1742, into Hudson's Bay, had proceeded 

 farther north than any of his predecessors in that 

 navigation. But though, from his former acquaint- 

 ance with that Bay, to which he had frequently sailed 

 in the service of the company, he had entertained 

 hopes of rinding out a passage through it into the 

 Pacific Ocean, the observations which he was now 

 enabled to make, induced him to change his opinion; 

 and, on his return to England, he made an unfavour- 

 able report. Mr. Dobbs, the patron of the enterprize, 

 did not acquiesce in this; and, fortified in his original 

 idea of the practicability of the passage, by the testi- 

 mony of some of Middleton's officers, he appealed to 

 the public, accusing him of having misrepresented 

 facts, and of having, from interested motives, in 

 concert with the Hudson's Bay Company, decided 

 against the practicability of the passage, though the 

 discoveries of his own voyage had put it within his 

 reach. 



He had, between the latitude of 65 and 66 , 

 found a very considerable inlet running westward, 

 into which he entered with his ships; and, " after 

 " repeated trials of the tides, and endeavours to dis- 



