CHAPTER XX. 



GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIONS. 



The following Table embraces the Geographical Positions fixed by 

 the Expedition. I have already alluded, in Chapter I, to the manner 

 in which the latitudes and longitudes of the capes, islands, and reefs 

 in the Pacific Ocean have been determined. A number of the islands 

 reported by the older navigators have not been found, though repeat- 

 edly searched for in the positions assigned them. Great confusion has 

 resulted from the names which were given to these supposed discoveries, 

 oftentimes very inappropriate, and they are still found on many charts, 

 long after they have been proved to have no existence. From this and 

 other causes, the navigation of the Pacific Ocean has been made more 

 complex than it ought or would have been. The difference a navi- 

 gator finds in his position, when compared with the islands and reefs 

 he encounters, frequently leads him to suppose that he has made a 

 new discovery, from not taking into consideration the initial point 

 from whence his meridian distance may have been calculated ; these 

 discrepancies add much to the anxieties and dangers which navigators 

 experience in crossing a space so wide and trackless. It therefore 

 became important, in the search that was to be undertaken by the 

 Expedition, to adopt a system by which these difficulties would be 

 avoided, and that all the points visited should be determined in a 

 uniform manner, be referred to initial points, and identified by the 

 native names, whenever they could be ascertained, to the exclusion of 

 some of the names heretofore given to them : this has been done, except 

 where the names appear to have become well established, when they 

 have been retained. In this I may apparently have done injustice 

 to some navigators who have preceded us. It has been very far from 

 my desire or intention to detract from them, but solely to disencumber 



