A General History & Collection of Voyages and Travels ... - Nauticus

A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES ANDTRAVELS.PART III.BOOK II.AN ACCOUNT OF A VOYAGE TOWARDS THE SOUTH POLE, AND ROUND THE WORLD;PERFORMED IN HIS MAJESTY'S SHIPS THE RESOLUTION AND ADVENTURE, IN THE YEARS1772, 3, 4, AND 5: WRITTEN BY JAMES COOK, COMMANDER OF THE RESOLUTION.GENERAL INTRODUCTION.Whether the unexplored part of the Southern Hemisphere be only an immense mass of water, or containanother continent, as speculative geography seemed to suggest, was a question which had long engaged theattention, not only of learned men, but of most of the maritime powers of Europe.To put an end to all diversity of opinion about a matter so curious and important, was his majesty'sprincipal motive in directing this voyage to be undertaken, the history of which is now submitted to thepublic.[1][1] It is scarcely conceivable, that any men of science in the end of the 18th century, should haveinsisted on mathematical reasons for the supposition of a southern counterpoise; and therefore, as ismentioned by Mr Wales, in his introduction to the account of the astronomical observations madeduring this voyage, it must be held, that the opinion which induced his majesty to order the voyage,for the purpose of discovering a continent or large islands towards the South Pole, was founded onmere probability. That there is no necessity for such an existence, is very certain, for thepreservation of the earth's motion on its axis can be readily accounted for without it; yet, reasoningfrom analogy, and considering the successful experiment of Columbus, there seemed sufficientgrounds, independent of the alleged discoveries of Bouvet and others, to expect that some landsmight be found there. After this, it required little additional excitement of fancy to believe, that ifthere, and if found, they might be no less important to the discoverers, than America was judged tobe to the Spaniards. Men are not easily cured of their prejudices, when the foundations on whichthey are built, derive validity from the hope of interest. It is impossible to tell what kind and degreeof advantages, certain sanguine specialists anticipated from the Terra Australis. Excepting the articleof the prolongation of life ad infinitum, it is questionable, if the philosopher's stone, whendiscovered, could have accomplished more; and even with respect to that, it might have beenimagined, that the soil and climate would so materially differ from any other before known, as toyield some sovereign elixir or plant of life-giving efficacy. That it was charitably hoped, they wouldbe no less serviceable in another particular, of perhaps fully greater consequence, may be inferredfrom a passage in Dr Hawkesworth's reply to Mr Dalrymple, appended to his Account of Cook's