INTRODUCTION. xH 
tudes ? Particularly, why not explore the ftrait leading into 
the Weftern fea of John de Fuca, between the latitudes of 
47 0 and 48°; the Archipelago of St. Lazarus of Admiral de 
Fonte, between 50° and 55 0 ; and the rivers and lakes 
through which he found a pafiage North E aft ward, till he 
met with a fhip from Bofton ? 
As to the pretended difcoveries of de Fuca, the Greek 
Pilot, or of de Fonte, the Spanifh Admiral, though they 
have fometimes found their way into fictitious maps, or 
have been warmly contended for by the efpoufers of fan¬ 
ciful fyftems; to have directed Captain Cook to fpend any 
time in tracing them, would have been as wife a meafure 
as if he had been directed to trace the fituation of Lilli- 
put or Brobdignag. The latter are, indeed, confefiedly, 
mere objects of imagination; and the former, deftitute of 
any fufficient external evidence, bear fo many ftriking 
marks of internal abfurdity, as warrant our pronouncing 
them to be the fabric of impofture. Captain Cook’s in- 
ftruCtions were founded on an accurate knowledge of what 
had been already done, and of what ftill remained to do; 
and this knowledge pointed out the inutility of begin- ' 
ning his fearch for a pafiage till his arrival in the lati¬ 
tude of 65°. Of this every fair and capable inquirer will 
be abundantly convinced, by an attention to the following 
particulars. 
Middleton, who commanded the expedition in 1741 and 
1742, into Hudfon’s Bay, had proceeded farther North than 
any of his predeceftors in that navigation. But though, 
from his former acquaintance with that Bay, to which he 
had frequently failed in the fervice of the Company, he 
had entertained hopes of finding out a pafiage through it 
into the Pacific Ocean, the obfervations which he was now 
Vol. I. f enabled 
