DISCOVERY OP THE MARQUESAS. $09 
The Marquesas. 
, The most easterly group of the high, fertile, and 
populous isles of Polynesia, are situated to the 
northward of the Labyrinth, or Dangerous Archi¬ 
pelago, and about seven or eight degrees distant 
from Anaa, or Chain Island. A range of moun¬ 
tainous islands appears to extend in an almost 
unbroken line across the Pacific, in an easterly 
direction from Borneo, Java, New Guinea, and 
the large Asiatic islands. Diverging from the 
Georgian and Society Islands,—Gambier’s, Pit¬ 
cairn’s, and Easter Island appear to terminate its 
south-eastern course, while the Marquesas mark its 
north-eastern limit. The latter form two clusters, 
which were discovered at different periods, and 
are politically, as well as geographically, dis¬ 
tinct. The south-eastern cluster, comprehending 
five islands, Tahuata or Santa Christina, Hivaoa 
or La Dominica, Mohotane or San Pedro, 
Fatuhiva or La Magdelena, and Fetuuku or 
Hood’s Island—were, with the exception of the 
last, discovered in 1595 by Alvaro Mendano, a 
Spanish navigator, who was proceeding from 
Peru to form a settlement in the Solomon 
Islands. In honour of the Marques Mendoza, 
viceroy of Peru, and patron of the enterprise, 
Mendano designated the islands, the Marquesas. 
The next account that we have of these islands 
is their being visited in 1774, when they were 
examined by Captain Cook, who discovered the 
island called Hood’s Island, to which he supposed 
the natives gave the name of Tebua. In 1789, they 
were visited by Marchand, a French navigator, 
who saw other lands to the northward ; but it was 
not till the following year, when Lieutenant 
