INTRODUCTION. 3 



sion ; but the extended practice of lunars, and the use of chronometers, 

 soon made great improvements in geographic representation. Captain 

 Cook, prior to his appointment to the great Exploring Expedition, was 

 employed in surveying portions of the Gulf of St. Lawi-ence ; and the first 

 work which he published was a series of charts of the South and West 

 Coasts of Newfoundland. His charts, published by the predecessor of the 

 proprietor of this work, have been till recently the only faithful represen- 

 tations extant. 



Our present object is not to give a history of the progress of charts, or 

 we might here present a long catalogue of those worthy observers, who, by 

 patient investigation, and multiplied observation, made the geography of 

 the ocean nearly as good, for the mariner's use, as the far more elaborate 

 public surveys which have supei'seded them. These last have the exclu- 

 sive merit of being connected, and each portion placed in exact relation to 

 every other portion — a feature owing to the magnificent systems of trian- 

 gulation, which are now extended over the most important portions of the 

 civilized world. 



It is the defect of detached observations that they do not exactly accord 

 with those by different individuals. It was the discrepancies arising from 

 this source, which necessitated the discussions formerly given on Atlantic 

 geography. But still there is much that was useful in the older works, 

 which is too often forgotten in the multiplicity of detail collected by modern 

 surveyors, which overload as it were the subjects they embrace with too 

 great a mass of knowledge for general use. Toward the end of the eighteenth 

 century, there were several surveyors who deserve especial mention here, as 

 their works, though carried out with very limited means and great personal 

 labour, will bear every comparison with those of their more favoured suc- 

 cessors. Among these was Murdoch Mackenzie, who surveyed a lar^-e 

 portion of the Western shores of Scotland, and all the coasts of the North 

 of Ireland. Graeme Spence, an admirable surveyor, surveyed the Southern 

 coasts of England, between 1772 and 1812. 



The coasts of Spain and Portugal were laid down in accordance with 

 the valuable surveys of Tofiuo, Franzini, &c. ; in the deHneation of the 

 African Coasts, with the islands off the same, the positions afforded by 

 Messrs. Fleurieu, Verdun de la Crenne, Borda, Pingre, and Eoussin of 

 France, were the authorities for our charts. 



The American Coasts were originally exhibited according to the obser- 

 vations and surveys of our illustrious countryman. Captain Cook, as before 

 mentioned; those of Lieutenant Michael Lane, of Mr. Des Barres, of 

 Captain Holland, of Messrs. Wright, Mason, Dixon, and De Mayne, recti- 

 fied with the observations of Dr. Eittenhouse, Mr. EUicott, Mr. Hassler, 

 and other astronomers, &c., of the United States. 



For the correct dehneation of the West India Islands, much of our earlier 

 information was derived from the labom-s of Messrs. Puysegur, Verdun, 

 Borda, Pingre, and other foreign officers, whose names will be for ever 

 entitled to respect. They were the pioneers who were followed by the 

 skilful observers acting under the orders of the Hydrographic Directors of 

 Madrid ; particularly the Captains Joaquin Fr. Fidalgo, Cosme de Churruca, 

 and Jose del Rio ; to whom, and to the Baron von Humboldt, Messrs. 



