INTRODUCTION. vii 



Befides the determination of this confiderable point, other 

 lands, fituated in the Soutii Atlantic, have been brought 

 forward into view. If the ifle of Georgia had been for- 

 merly feen by La Roche, in 1675, and by Mr. Guyot, in the 

 Ihip Lion, in 175^, which feems to be probable, Captain Cook, 

 in ly;^, has made us fully acquainted with its extent and 

 true pofition; and, in the fame year, he added to the map 

 of the world Sandwich Land, hitherto not known to exift, 

 and the moll: Southern difcovery that has been ever accom- 

 plifhed *. 



IL 



Though the Strait of Magalhaens had been frequently 

 vifited, and failed through, by flaips of different nations, 

 before our time, a careful examination of ' its bays, and 

 harbours, and head-lands ; of the numerous iflands it con- 

 tains, and of the coafts, on both fides, that inclofe it; and 

 an exa(5l account of the tides, and currents, and foundings, 

 throughout its whole extent, was a tafk, which, if Sir 

 John Narborough, and others, had not totally omitted, 

 they cannot be faid to have recorded fo fully, as to pre- 

 clude the utility of future inveftigation. This tafk has 

 been ably and efFecftually performed by Byron, Wallis, and 

 Carteret ; whofe tranfadlions in this Strait, and the chart of 

 it, founded on their obfervations and difcoveries, are a moft 

 valuable acceflion to geography. 



IIL 



If the correal information, thus obtained, about every 

 part of this celebrated Strait, fliould deter future adven- 

 turers from involving therafelves in the difficulties and ' 



* See the Chart of Difcoveries in the South Atlantic. Cook's Voyage, Vol. ii, 

 p. 210. 



crabarraiTments - 



