with Observations on its Importance^ 37T 
the weather being at that time extremely hazy, ^indeed he had 
concluded that he had lost sight of the land altogether. Should 
a gulf be hereafter ascertained to exist there, it would place it 
beyond doubt that this newly discovered land has been before 
noticed by tlie earliest navigators of those parts, but incorrectly 
laid down in the old charts. However this may be, it would 
seem that this land was seen subsequently to the dates both of 
Mercator’s and Ortelius’s charts, by a Dutch captain ; but the 
exertions of our indefatigable circumnavigators, had taught 
us to place little reliance upon the accounts of the old naviga- 
tors. Ill the present instance, however, we have this circum- 
stance in its favour, that it is stated to exist in about the same 
latitude as laid down by Smith 
‘‘ Theodore Gerrards, one of the first Dutch who attempted 
to voyage into the South Sea, after passing the Straits of Magal- 
haens, being carried by tempests iAto 64° of south latitude, 
says the country was mountainous, and covered with snow, 
looking like Norway, and seemed to extend to the islands of Sa« 
lomon,.” — that is to the Cape of New Holland. 
It is also worthy of remark, that the observation of Mr 
Smith, of the great similarity in the appearance of the land to 
Norway, exactly coincides with the observations of Gerrards. 
As yet it remains an interesting topic of conversation, whether 
New Shetland be an island of considerable size, or if it be part 
of a continent. It is by no means an improbable supposition 
that it is connected with Southern Thule, the most southerly 
point of Sandwich Land seen by Captain Cook in 1775, and si- 
tuated in 59° 30' lat. S., and 27° 30', W. long. The observa- 
tions of Captain Cook seem to favour this conclusion. He 
says : “ I conclude that Sandwich Land is either a group of 
islands, or else a point of a continent ; for I firmly believe that 
there is a tract of land toward the Pole, which is the source of 
the ice spread over this vast ocean. I think it also probable, 
that it extends farther to the north, opposite to the Southern 
Atlantic and Indian Oceans, because ice was always found by 
* See Dalrymple’s Collection of Voyages to the Southern Atlantic and Pacific, 
vol. i. I could not obtain the 2d volume, where 1 believe he has collected some 
other authorities in proof of land having been seen to the south. 
