INTRODUCTION. 
to the islands of the Pacific, or Great Ocean : its northern limit is at 
Cape T ork ; and the extremity of the southern Van Dion en's Land, 
is its opposite boundary. 
The various discoveries which had been made upon the coasts of 
Terra Australis, antecedently to the present voyage, are of dates as 
widely distant, as are the degrees of confidence to which they are 
respectively entitled ; the accounts, also, lie scattered through 
various books in different languages ; and many are still in manu- 
script. It has, therefore, been judged, that a succinct history of these 
discoveries would be acceptable to the public ; and would form an 
appropriate introduction to a voyage, whose principal object was to 
complete what they had left unfinished. Such a history will not 
only, it is hoped, be found interesting, but, from the occasions it will 
furnish to point out what remained to be done at the beginning of 
the nineteenth century, will satisfy a question which may be asked : 
Why it should have been thought necessary to send another expedi- 
tion to explore the coasts of a country, concerning which it has 
been said, near thirty years ago, — " It is no longer a doubt, that we 
have now a full knowledge of the whole circumference of this vast 
body of land, this fifth part of the world."* An expression, which 
the learned writer could have intended to apply only to the general 
extent of the new continent, and not to the particular formation of 
every part of the coasts ; since the chart, which accompanies the 
voyage of which he was writing the introduction, represents much 
of the south coast, as being totally unknown. 
In tracing a historical sketch of the previous discoveries, I shall 
not dwell upon such as depend upon conjecture and probability, 
but come speedily to those, for which there are authentic documents. 
In this latter, and solely important, class, the articles extracted from 
voyages, which are in the hands of the public, will be abridged to 
their leading heads; and the reader referred, for the details, to 
* Cook's third Voyage, Introduction, p. xv. 
