294 ISLANDS DISCOVERED 



fore directed to look for Schouten's and Rog- 

 gewein's discoveries ; a commission which he exe- 

 cuted very satisfactorily. The small size of his ship, 

 and the very fine weather, favoured these researches; 

 he has likewise, as his charts prove, seen more of 

 the Coral islands, and examined them more care- 

 fully, than any of his predecessors. He has not, 

 indeed, recognised every individual discovery made 

 by the Dutch ; but the most important doubts 

 have been solved, as I shall now endeavour to 

 prove. 



The 26th of March, J 815, Lieutenant Kot- 

 zebue sav/ the island of Sales y Gomez. It has 

 also been previously supposed, that the Gwyn 

 rock, discovered by an American ship in the 

 same latitude, only 5° more east, w^as the same with 

 the island of Sales y Gomez ; but I do not think that 

 the situations of both the islands, according to the 

 accounts of the Americans and Spaniards, have 

 been examined by one and the same ship. This 

 has been done by Lieutenant Kotzebue, who has 

 thus placed the identity of the tw^o islands beyond 

 all doubt. On a very fine chart of the world, pub- 

 lished in the year 1815, this island is still marked 

 under the name of Gwyn, in the latitude given by 

 the American ship, 100° 40'. According to the 

 observations of Lieutenant Kotzebue, the island of 

 Sales y Gomez lies in 26" 36' 15" S., and in 

 105" 34' 28" W.; according to the Captain of the 

 Spanish Marine, Gomez, in 26° 28' 4?" S., and in 

 105'2(j'46" W. 



