INTRODUCTION. 
If former navigators have added more land to the known 
globe than Captain Cook, to him, at leaf!, was referved the 
honour of being foremoll in difcloling to us the extent of 
fea that covers its furface. His own fummary view of the 
tranfaflions of this voyage, will be a proper conclulion to 
thefe remarks : 6i I had now made the circuit of the South- 
“ ern Ocean in a high latitude, and traverfed it in fuch 
(( a manner as to leave not the leall room for there being 
u a continent, unlefs near the pole, and out of the reach 
u of navigation. By twice vifiting the Tropical Sea, I had 
<6 not only fettled the lituation of fome old difcoveries, 
44 but made there many new ones, and left, I conceive, 
i( very little to be done, even in that part. Thus I flatter 
<6 myfelf, that the intention of the voyage has, in every re- 
“ fpe£l, been fully anfwered; the Southern hemifphere 
“ fufficiently explored; and a final end put to the fearch- 
“ ing after a Southern continent, which has, at times, en- 
<4 grolfed the attention of fome of the Maritime Powers 
46 for near two centuries pall, and been a favourite theory 
44 among!! the geographers of all ages 
Thus far, therefore, the voyages to difclofe new tracks 
of navigation, and to reform old defeats in geography, ap¬ 
pear to have been profecuted with a fatisfadfory fliare of 
fuccefs. A perufal of the foregoing fummary of what had 
“ C’eft fort mal a-propos, qu’on a foutenu que cette repartition inegale ne fauroit ex- 
« ifter, fous pretexte que le globe perdroit fon equilibre, faute d’un contrepoids fuffilant 
“ au pole meridionale. II eft vrai qu’un pied cube d’eau falee ne pefe pas autant qu’un 
“ pied cube de terre ; mais on auroit du reflechir, qu’il peut y avoir fous Pocean des lits 
“ & des couches de matieres, dont la pefanteur fpecinque varie a l’infini, & que le peu 
“ de profondeur d’une mer, verfee fur une grande furface, centrebalance les endroits ou il 
“ y a moins de mer, mais ou elle eft plus profonde.”— Recberches Philofophiques , Tom. ii. 
P- 375 - 
* Cook’s Voyage, Vol. ii. p. 239. 
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