Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

10 AUSTEALASIA.group discovered by Mendana de Neyra.Its very existence was questioned, andthe Spanish sailor's account was attributed to fantastic apparitions, clouds on thehorizon simulating the outlines of reefs, coastlands, forests, or villages. On theother hand, other groups became decomposed, and the same island was sighted inapparently different places, thus receiving several names from successive observers.At last the application of astronomical processes put an end to this bewilderingfluctuation in the oceanic insular regions.Cook's Voyages.The epoch of methodic exploration in the South Sea, begun bj- AVallis, may besaid to have closed in 1827 with the discovery of the two great Fijian islands byFig. 4.—FlKST ClHCnitNAVIOATION OF THE GlOBE FEOM WeST TO Ea3T AND EaST TO W"e9T.Scale 1 : 450,000,000.0*Mend,ar,oFGreen>v.cl-.Dumont d'Urville.During the intervening sixty years, rendered memorable bythe voyages of Carteret, de Bougainville, Cook, Vancouver, and Laperouse, thegeographical work of oceanic research was completed in all its main features.Thenceforth nothing remained and nothing stillremains to be done, except to fixmore accurately the position of the island groups, to trace their outlines morecarefully, indicate all the reefs, survey the doubtful landmarks, and efface thosethat had been erroneously inserted on the official charts.Amongst the explorers of the last century, the first place belongs unquestionablyto Cook. The year 1769, when the illustrious navigator began his networkof researches in the Pacific, may be said to rank next to 1521, date ofMagellan's voyage, as the chief turning-point in the history of oceanic discovery.Landing at Tahiti, Cook began his gigantic labours with his memorable observa-