164 cook's voyage to dec 



tude and longitude, on board his ship ; so that, if 

 this land extends farther south than Cape George, it 

 would have been scarcely possible that he should have 

 passed without seeing it. 



From these circumstances we are able to deter- 

 mine, within a very few miles, the quantity of lati- 

 tude that this land occupies ; which does not much 

 exceed one degree and a quarter. As to its extent 

 from east to west, that still remains undecided. We 

 only know, that no part of it can reach so far to the 

 west as the meridian of 65; because, in 1773, under 

 that meridian, I searched for it in vain. * 



The French discoverers, with some reason, ima- 

 gined Cape St. Louis t to be the projecting point of 

 a southern continent. The English have since proved 

 that no such continent exists ; and that the land in 

 question is an island of no great extent t; which, 



* If the French observations, as marked upon Captain Cook's 

 chart, and still more authentically upon that published by their 

 own discoverers, may be depended upon, this land doth not reach 

 so far to the west as the meridian of 68 ; Cape Louis, which is 

 represented as its most westerly point, being laid down by them to 

 the east of that meridian. 



j- The idea of Cape Louis being this projecting point of a 

 southern continent, must have soon vanished, as Cape Francois, 

 within a year after, was found, by the same discoverer, to lie above 

 one third of a degree farther north upon the same land. But if 

 Kerguelen entertained any such imagination at first, we are sure 

 that, at present, he thinks very differently. This appears from the 

 following explicit declaration of his sentiments, which deserves to 

 be transcribed from his late publication, as it does equal honour to 

 . his candour, and to Captain Cook's abilities. " La terre que j'ai 

 " dcouverte est certainement une isle; puisque le celebre Ca- 

 " pitaine Cook a passe au sud, lors de son premier voyage, sans 

 " rien rencontrer. Je juge meme, que cette isle n'est pas Men 

 " grande. II y a aussi apparence, d'apres le Voyage de Monsieur 

 " Cook, que toute cette etendue de mers meridionales, est semee 

 " d'isles ou de rochers ; mais qu'il n'y a ni continent ni grande 

 " terre." Kerguelen, p. 92. 



J Kerguelen, as we see in the last note, concurs with Captain 

 Cook as to this. However, he tells us, that he has reason to be- 

 lieve that it is about two hundred leagues in circuit ; and that he 

 was acquainted with about fourscore leagues of its coast. " J'en 



