PLANS OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 361 



We have been studying in this chapter the growth Alexander 

 of the ideas which produced the South Sea voyages of Dalr Y m P le - 

 those navigators among whom Cook stands pre-eminent. 

 It remains to mention, a writer whose book, like that of 

 de Brosses, was in the Library of the Endeavour, and which 

 was carefully considered by the voyagers. 



Alexander Dalrymple was a servant of the British His voyages 

 East India Company. In his youth he had been fascinated and studles - 

 by the stories of Columbus and Magellan, and had longed 

 himself to be the hero in some great voyage of discovery. 

 At Madras he studied the old records of the Company, 

 and was impressed by the great value of the commerce 

 in the Eastern islands from which the English had been 

 driven by the Dutch. In 1759 he refused a good position 

 at Madras, and took command of a small ship in which 

 he made voyages to " the Eastern parts." He obtained 

 exact knowledge of those parts, and won the reputation 

 of a highly skilled hydrographer. In 1765 he returned 

 to England, and engaged in eager study of the forgotten 

 documents which told the story of the exploration of the 

 South Sea. He obtained possession of the Memorial 

 of Arias ; and, studying a sentence l in the light of He learns 

 recent discoveries, he saw that Torres must have sailed existence 

 through a Strait between New Guinea and New Holland of Torres 

 some thirty-eight years before Tasman had declared strait - 

 in his map that there was no Strait but only a Shallow 

 Bight. 



But the main result of Dalrymple's studies was that A disciple 

 he became a disciple of Quiros, a fervent believer in the of Q mros - 

 great rich unknown continent of the South. In the South 

 Seas still remained the opportunity for a new Columbus, 

 a more successful Quiros. And Dalrymple hoped that 

 he would himself be the hero of the last great story of 



1 Arias said that Torres sighted " a very extensive coast which he 

 took for that of New Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands) ; from thence he 

 sailed Westwards, having constantly on the right hand the coast of 

 another very great land which he continued coasting, according to his 

 own reckoning, more than six hundred leagues, having it still on the 

 right hand." Dalrymple did not obtain Torres' own letter till a much 

 later date. His translation of it was first published in Burney's Voyages 

 in 1806, with a remark that it had " lately " been obtained. 



