BURNEY’S DISCOVERIES 
tion and gratitude.’ On this ac- 
count we have been particular in our 
examination, and also because so accu- 
rate and scientific a history of this most 
important expedition has never before 
been presented to the public. 
The second expedition, by the same 
course, under Garcia Jofre de Loyasa, 
was still more unfortunate than the first. 
The Straits of Magalhaens were then 
neglected for so many years, that there 
was a saying that the passage had clos- 
édup. The many unfortunate expedi- 
tions to the Pacific created a supersti- 
tious prejudice against the discovery, 
and it was asserted that a judgment had 
fallen upon all who were principally 
concerned init. Vasco Nunez de Balboa, 
the first who saw the South Sea, was 
beheaded. .Magalhaens was killed by 
pagans, Ruy Falero died raving, and De 
Lepe, the sailor who first discovered the 
strait from the top-mast, turned rene- 
ado, and so perished eternally for a 
ahommedan. But though this course 
was for a while abandoned, the South 
Sea was explored with ability and per- 
severance, from Panama and the other 
Spanish settlements on that coast. Cali- 
fornia was discovered by Cortes, and its 
gulph examined. The discoveries to the 
north of Mexico, the expeditions to the 
Philippines, the discovery of the Salomon 
island,andthe various smaller groupes or 
single isles are detailed accurately and 
scientifically. Captain Burney examines 
the reports concerning the discovery of 
2 southern continent; they exhibit, he 
says, a curious mixture of the probable 
and the fabulous, and he thinks that if 
any such land was seen by Juan Fernan- 
dez, it must have been New Zealand. 
‘The voyage of Sir Francis Drake is 
the last event related in this volume. It 
would exceed our limits to follow the 
author through this interesting detail ; 
_ its conclusion we will copy, in honour to 
our great navigator, who while he posses- 
sed skill and perseverance equal to what 
Magalhaens displayed, discovers, by his 
humanity as well as his courage, a true 
English heart. 
« The conduct of Drake in this expedition 
is, in many particulars, highly to be extolled, 
Among the commendations which are due 
to him, the humanity with which he treated 
the natives of uncivilized countries is not the 
least, ‘To strangers in general his behaviour 
was affable and hospitatle: towards the In- 
dians, his forbearance, and the various in- 
stances of his kindness, were the spontane- 
il 
ous effects of genuine good will. He has, 
been censured for ignorance as a navigator ; 
but there is no evidence to establish sucha 
charge, and much to refute it. A Spanish 
writer says, that his ignorance is fully mani- 
fested in the scarcity of information whieh 
appears in his journal: This can only have 
been said from misapprehension, in attribut- 
ing to him the defects of others. ‘The ac- 
counts published of his voyage, it is true, 
are as erroneous and defective in the gengra- 
phical particulars, as those of any of the 
early navigations : but none of these accounts 
were written by Drake. The purposes of 
discovery, or the advancement of science, 
were not among the motives of his voyage. 
Whatever journal or account he kept him- 
self, the doubtful complexion of his un- 
dertaking would render him more solicitous 
to conceal than to make public. In the at- 
tachment of his people towards him, is 
evinced the full confidence they placed in 
his abilities: and among those who most 
censured his expedition, he is praised < for 
conducting it so discreetly, patiently, and 
resolutely :* and certainly, whatsoever may 
be said of his undertaking, the character of 
his abilities may be pronounced superior to 
attack. It is said of Drake, that he was a 
willing hearer of every man’s opinion, but 
commonly a follower of his own. If he had 
not been a well qualified navigator, as well 
as an expert mariner, it is not to be imagin- 
ed that he would have projected, and, being 
under no controul of orders from any supe- 
rior, would have attempted the execution of 
so arduous a plan as the seeking for a pas- 
sage, from the Pacific Ocean ta the Atlantic 
Ocean, by the North of America: upon 
which attempt, it is justly observed in the 
Biographia Britannica, that ‘ his coasting 
North America to the height of 48 degrees, 
and endeavouring on that side to find a pas- 
sage back into our sea, is the strongest 
proof of his consummate skill and invincible 
courage.” 
IN THE SOUTH SEA. 
The fine old epigram upon Sir Francis 
Drake has not ‘been omitted by this 
author : 
Si taceant homines, facient-+te sideranotum, 
Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui. 
The Stars above will make thee known 
If men were silent here, 
The Sun himself cannot forget 
His fellow traveller, 
Old Owen the epigrammatist has one 
of his mongrel conceits upon the samc 
worthy, ; 
Ambitio Draki nullo reticebitur evo, 
Ambivit Terras per mare Drakus Anas. 
There isastill quainterconceitwhich has 
somewhat strangely escaped Captain Bur- 
ney’s notice, though his volume evinces a 
“ 
