5° 
A VOYAGE TO 
1779. extent of twenty-feven degrees of latitude, or upward of 
February,^ tWQ thoufand miles. 
In his fecond expedition, he refolved the great problem 
of a Southern continent; having traverfed that hemifphere 
between the latitudes of 40° and 70°, in fuch a manner, as 
mot to leave a poflibility of its exigence, unlefs near the pole, 
and out of the reach of navigation. During this voyage, 
he difcovered New Caledonia, the largeft ifland in the South¬ 
ern Pacific, except New Zealand; the ifland of Georgia; 
and an unknown coaflr, which he named Sandwich Land, 
the thule of the Southern hemifphere; and having twice 
vifited the tropical feas, he fettled the fituations of the old^ 
and made feveral new difcoveries. 
But the voyage we are now relating, is diftinguiflied, 
above all the reft, by the extent and importance of its dif¬ 
coveries. Beftdes feveral fmaller iflands in the Southern 
Pacific, he difcovered, to the North of the equinoctial line, 
the group called the Sandwich Iflands; which, from their 
fituation and productions, bid fairer for becoming an objeCt 
of confequence, in the fyftem of European navigation, than 
any other difcovery in the South Sea. He afterward ex¬ 
plored what had hitherto remained unknown of the Weftern 
coaft of America, from the latitude of 43 0 to 70° North, con¬ 
taining an extent of three thoufand five hundred miles ; 
afcertained the proximity of the two great continents of 
Afia and America; pafied the ftraits between them, and fur- 
veyed the coaft, on each fide, to fuch a height of Northern 
latitude, as to demonftrate the impracticability of a paflage, 
in that hemifphere, from the Atlantic into the Pacific 
Ocean, either by an Eaftern or a Weftern courfe. In fhort, 
if we except the fea of Amur, and the Japanefe Archi¬ 
pelago, which ftill remain imperfectly known to Euro¬ 
peans, 
