Parures.. Civilization of the Pacific. 61 
Alvaro de Mendana discovered and took possession of the Solomon Islands 
for Spain. He also discovered the Marquesas and Santa Cruz, which he 
attempted ineffectually to colonize, and where he died. 
The Dutch are represented by Tasman, who, in 1643, discovered the 
Friendly Islands and Fiji; also by Commodore Roggewein, who, in 1772, 
named Easter Island, that curious speck of isolated land upon which stand 
colossal stone images of men. Sailing thence to the East Indies, the Com- 
modore touched upon Samoa, New Britain, and New Guinea. 
England, however, mainly achieved the exploration of the Pacific. 
Many expeditions were fitted out by the British Government during the 
reign of George III., although I must not pass over in silence the voyages 
of English navigators of a much earlier period, amongst which stand those 
of Sir Francis Drake and old Sir Constantine Phipps, first Lord Mulgrave 
(the founder of the family of his Excellency the Marquis of Normanby, the 
present Governor of New Zealand), who, in William and Mary’s reign, 
discovered and named the Mulgrave Islands. But of all English navigators 
in the Pacific, the name of James Cook stands pre-eminent. He discovered 
New Caledonia (so named from its resemblance to Scotland), Norfolk 
Island, part of the Society Group, the Sandwich Islands, and many others. 
He surveyed the New Hebrides, Society, and Friendly Islands; determined 
the insularity of New Zealand,* explored the then unknown eastern coast 
of Australia for 2,000 miles, and "cireumnavigated the globe in a high 
southern latitude in order to decide the question whether any continent 
existed north of a certain parallel. Captain Cook performed three voyages. 
The first expedition left Plymouth in 1768, fitted out for the purpose of 
observing the transit of the planet Venus at Tahiti. The Society Islands 
were so named by Cook in honour of the Royal Society, which had induced 
the Government to fit out the expedition. The second left England in 1772, 
in order to settle the vexed question of the existence of a southern continent. 
The third left in 1776 for the purpose of discovering a passage to the Pacific 
in the direction of Hudson’s and Baffin’s Bays, or, as Cook preferred, from 
the Pacific to the Bays. It was at the Sandwich Islands, which he then 
discovered and named after his patron the Earl of Sandwich, that he met 
with his death, December, 1778. James Cook was indeed a great navigator 
and discoverer. The correctness and minuteness of his surveys have won 
the admiration of the most accomplished seamen who have succeeded him. 
Besides Cook, the names of Anson, Byron, Wallis (who, in 1767, dis- 
covered and took possession of Tahiti for George IL Marshall, Gilbert, 
and other English navigators are indelibly marked on the history of the 
Pacific. 
TF gew Zealand waa formerly supposed to be a portion of a great southern continent. 
