In 1819 the Russian government sent out another expedition, whose object

was to trace the continent of America to the northward and eastward. In

July, 1820, they reached Behring's Straits, and were supposed to have

passed them in that year; in the winter they returned to some of the

Russian settlements on the coast of America: what they have since done or

discovered is not known.

Such is the result of what has hitherto been discovered by sea, with

respect to the contiguity of Asia and America, the northern parts of these

continents, and the probability of a passage from the Pacific to the

Atlantic.

Very lately some attempts have been made to reach the north-eastern

extremity of Asia by land. "In February, 1821, Baron Wrangel, an officer of

great merit and of considerable science, left his head-quarters in the

Nishney Kolyma, to settle by astronomical observations the position of

Shatatzkoi Noss, or the North-east Cape of Asia, which he found to lie in

latitude 70° 5' north, considerably lower than it is usually placed in the

maps. Having crossed this point, he undertook the hazardous enterprize of

crossing the ice of the Polar Sea, on sledges drawn by dogs, in search of

the land said to have been discovered in 1762 to the northward of the

Kolyma, He travelled directly north eighty miles, without perceiving any

thing but a field of interminable ice, the surface of which had now become

so broken and uneven, as to prevent a further prosecution of his journey.

He had gone far enough, however, to ascertain that no such land had ever

been discovered." (Quarterly Review, No. LII. p. 342.)

Another attempt, still more extraordinary and hazardous, has lately been

made to explore the north-east of Asia, and particularly to determine

whether the two continents of Asia and America do not unite at the

North-east Cape, or in some other point. This enterprize was undertaken by

Henry Dundas Cochrane, a commander in the British navy; who received

assurances from the Russian government that he should not be molested on

his journey; that he should receive any assistance, protection, and

facilities he should require; and that he might join an expedition sent by

the Russian government toward the Pole, if he should meet it, and accompany

it as far as he might be inclined. He left Petersburgh in the beginning of

the summer of 1820, and in one hundred and twenty-three days reached the

Baikal, having traversed eight thousand versts of country, at the rate of

forty-three miles a day. He seems afterwards to have gone as far as the

Altai Mountains, on the frontiers of China. As, however, his principal

object was to explore the extreme north-east of Asia, he went down the

Lena, and reached Jakutzk on the 16th of October, 1820. On the Kolyma,

where he arrived on the 30th of December, in longitude 164°, he met the

Russian polar expedition. From Jakutzk to this place he travelled four

hundred miles, without meeting a single human being. At the fair held at

Tchutski, whither he next directed his steps, he received much information

respecting the northeast of Asia. He ascertained the existence of this

cape; all doubts, he says, being now solved, not by calculation, but by

ocular demonstration. Its latitude and longitude, are well ascertained: he

places this cape half a degree more to the northward than Baron Wrangel;

but it is doubtful whether he himself reached it, and if he did, whether he

had the means of fixing its latitude, or whether he depends entirely on the

information he received at the fair of Tchutski. His expressions, in a

letter to the President of the Royal Society, are, "No land is considered

to exist to the northward of it. The east side of the Noss is composed of

bold and perpendicular cliffs, while the west side exhibits gradual

declivities; the whole most sterile, but presenting an awfully magnificent

appearance." From the fair he seems to have returned to Kolyma, and thence

proceeded to Okotsk, a dangerous, difficult, and fatiguing journey of three

thousand versts, a great part performed on foot, in seventy days. From this

last place he proceeded to Kamschatka, where it is supposed he was obliged

to terminate his investigations, in consequence of an order or intimation

from the Russian government not to proceed further.

We must next direct our attention to what has been done since the

commencement of the eighteenth century, toward discovering a passage in the

north-east of America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

One of the conditions on which the Hudson's Bay Company obtained their

charter, in the year 1670, from Charles II., was, that they should

prosecute their discoveries; but so far from doing this, they are accused,

and with great appearance of reason, of not only suffering their ardour for

discovery to cool, but also of endeavouring to conceal, as much as

possible, the true situation and nature of the coast about Hudson's Bay,

partly in order to secure more effectually their monopoly, and partly from

the dread they entertained, that if a passage to the Pacific were

discovered by this route, government would recal their charter, and grant

it to the East India Company. They were indeed roused, but very

ineffectively, from their torpor, by one of their captains intimating, that

if they refused to fulfill the terms of their charter, by making

discoveries, and extending their trade, he would himself apply to the

crown. In order to silence him, they sent him and another captain out in

two vessels, in 1719 or 1720; but they both perished, it is supposed, near

Marble Island, without effecting any thing.

Two years afterwards they sent out another ship under the command of a

person, who, destitute of the requisite knowledge and enterprize, was

totally unfit for such an undertaking: the result was such as might have

been anticipated--nothing was effected. An interval of twenty years passed

over, and the company again sank into apathy on the subject of a north-west

passage, when the attention of government was directed to the subject by

the enthusiasm of an Irish gentleman of the name of Dobbs. Having well

considered what preceding navigators had ascertained, and especially the

remarkable circumstance particularly noticed by Fox, that the farther he

removed from Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome the smaller was the height to which

the tide rose, and who thence inferred, that if a passage were practicable,

it must be in this direction, this gentleman applied to the company to send

out a vessel. Accordingly, a vessel was sent; but all that is known of this

voyage, and probably all that was done, amounts merely to this, that the

vessel reached 62° 30' north latitude: here they saw a number of islands,

and of white whales, and ascertained that the tide rose ten or twelve feet,

and came from the north.

Mr. Dobbs next applied to government, who at his request sent out two

vessels under Captain Middleton. But Middleton, who had been in the service

of the company for many voyages, returned after having sailed up the

Welcome to Wager's River, and looked into, or perhaps sailed round, a bay,

which he named Repulse Bay. Mr. Dobbs accused him of having misrepresented

or concealed his discoveries; and there seems good ground for such an

accusation, which indeed was confirmed by the evidence of his officers, and

not explicitly denied by himself. Government was undoubtedly of opinion

that the voyage of Middleton had not determined the non-existence or

impracticability of a passage; for the next year an act of parliament was

passed, granting a reward of 20,000_l_. to the person or persons who

should discover a northwest passage through Hudson's Straits to the western

and southern ocean of America.

Stimulated by the hope of obtaining this large sum, a company was formed,

who raised 10,000_l_., in shares of 100l., with which they fitted out two

ships; the Dobbs, commanded by Captain More; and the California, by Captain

Smith. They sailed from London on the 20th of May, 1746. When they reached

the American coast near Marble Island, they made some observations on the

tides, which they found flowed from the north-east, and consequently

followed the direction of the coast; they likewise ascertained that the

tide rose to the height of ten feet. While they were in their winter

quarters at Port Jackson, they received little or no assistance from the

servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. On resuming their voyage, and

reaching the vicinity of Knight's Island, the needles of their compasses

lost their magnetic quality, which they did not recover till they were kept

warm. Proceeding northwards, they examined Wager's Strait; but in

consequence of a difference of opinion between the commanders, they

returned to England. The only points ascertained by this voyage were, that

Wager's Strait was a deep bay, or inlet, and that there existed another

inlet, which, however, they did not explore to the termination, named by

them Chesterfield's Inlet. The fresh buffalo's flesh, which was sold to

them by the Esquimaux, was probably the flesh of the musk ox.

After this voyage nothing was done, either by the Hudson's Bay Company,

government, or individuals, towards the exploring of a passage in the

north, till the year 1762, when the company, coinciding with the opinion

that was then prevalent, that Chesterfield's Inlet ought to be examined, as

affording a fair prospect of a passage into the Pacific Ocean, sent a

vessel to determine this point. The report of the captain, on his return,

was, that he had sailed up the inlet in a westerly direction for more than

one hundred and fifty miles, till he found the water perfectly fresh; but

he acknowledged that he did not go farther, or reach the head of it. As the

result of this voyage was deemed unsatisfactory, still leaving the point

which it had been its object to determine doubtful, the same captain was

again sent out, in company with another ship, with express directions to

trace the inlet to its western limits, if practicable. They ascertained

that the fresh water, which had been discovered in the former voyage, was

that of a river, which was the outlet of a lake, and this lake they

explored; it was twenty-four miles long, and six or seven broad; they

likewise found a river flowing into the lake from the west, but they were

prevented from exploring it to any great distance by falls, that

intercepted the progress of their boats. These particulars are detailed in

Goldson's Observations on the Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific

Oceans; the voyages themselves were never published, do not seem to be

generally known, and have escaped the notice of Forster, the author of the

History of Voyages and Discoveries in the North. Forster is likewise silent

respecting an expedition that was equipped and sent out by some gentlemen

of Virginia in 1772, to attempt a north-west passage. The captain on his

return reported that he reached a large bay in latitude 69° 11', which he

supposed hitherto unknown; that from the course of the tides, he thought it

probable there might be a passage through it, but that as this bay was

seldom free from ice, the passage could seldom if ever be practicable.

In the year 1770 the Hudson's Bay Company, more alive to the prospect of

gain than to the interests of discovery and geographical science, having

received some information from the Indians that copper might be obtained in

great quantity far to the west of Fort Prince of Wales, resolved to

dispatch Mr. Hearne, belonging to that fort, in search of it. This

gentleman made four different excursions for this purpose, but it was only

during the fourth that he reached to any great distance from the fort. In

this excursion he penetrated to what he conceived to be the mouth of the

Coppermine River, in the Frozen Ocean, about the latitude of 72° north.

According to his account, Chesterfield Inlet is not the north-west passage,

and the American continent stretches very considerably to the north-west of

Hudson's Bay. The whole extent of his journey was about thirteen hundred

miles. It was however doubted, whether what he deemed to be the mouth of

the Coppermine River was actually such. It is certainly singular, that

though he staid there for twenty-four hours, he did not actually ascertain

the height to which the tide rose, but judged at that circumstance from the

marks on the edge of the ice. There are other points in the printed

account, as well as discrepancies between that and his MS., which tended to

withhold implicit belief from his assertion, that he had reached the Frozen

Ocean.

In the year 1789 the North-west Company having received information from an

Indian, that there was at no great distance from Montreal, to the

northward, a river which ran into the sea, Mr. M'Kenzie, one of the

partners of that company, resolved to ascertain the truth of this report,

by going himself on an expedition for that purpose. He set out, attended by

a few Indians; and after traversing the desert and inhospitable country in

which the posts of the company are established, he reached a river which

ran to the north. He followed the course of this river till he arrived at

what he conceived to be the Frozen Ocean, were he saw some small whales

among the ice, and determined the rise and fall of the tide. This river was

called after him, Mackenzie's River, and to the island he gave the name of

Whale Island. This island is in latitude 69° 14'.

In 1793 Mr. M'Kenzie again set out on an inland voyage of geographical and

commercial discovery, taking with him the requisite astronomical

instruments and a chronometer. His course he directed to the west. After

travelling one hundred miles on foot, he and his companions embarked on a

river, running westward, which conveyed them to an inlet of the Pacific

Ocean. Here he observed the rise and fall of the tide, and saw porpoises

and sea otters. The claim of the discovery of the Frozen Ocean by a

north-west route, to which Mr. M'Kenzie lays claim, has been questioned, as

well as Mr. Hearne's claim. It has been remarked, that he might have

ascertained beyond a doubt whether he had actually reached the sea, by

simply dipping his finger into the water, and ascertaining whether it was

salt or not. The account he gives of the rise of the tides at the mouth of

Mackenzie River serves also to render it very doubtful whether he had

reached the ocean; this rise he does not estimate greater than sixteen or

eighteen inches. On the whole, we may conclude, that if Mr. Hearne actually

traced the Coppermine River to its entrance into the sea, or Mr. M'Kenzie

the river that bears his name, they have not been sufficiently explicit in

their proofs that such was really the case.

At the time when the British government sent out Captain Cooke on his last

voyage of discovery, Lieutenant Pickersgill was also sent out by them, to

examine the western parts of Baffin's Bay, but he never entered the bay.

Government were equally unfortunate in their choice of Lieutenant Young,

who was sent with the same object the following year: he reached no farther

than the seventy-second degree of latitude; and instead of sailing along

the western side of the bay, which is generally free from ice, he clung to

the eastern side, to which the ice is always firmly attached. Indeed, if

Dr. Douglas's character of him was just, he was ill fitted for the

enterprize on which he was sent; for his talents, he observes, were more

adapted to contribute to the glory of a victory, as commander of a

line-of-battle ship, than to add to geographical discoveries by

encountering mountains of ice, and exploring unknown coasts.

Notwithstanding the unsuccessful issue of all these attempts to discover a

north-west passage, the existence and practicability of it still were

cherished by many geographers, who had particularly studied the subject.

Indeed, nothing had resulted from any of the numerous voyages to the

Hudson's or Baffin's Bay, which in the smallest degree rendered the

existence of such a passage unlikely. Among those scientific men who

cherished the idea of such a passage with the most enthusiasm and

confidence, and who brought to the investigation the most extensive and

minute knowledge of all that had been done, was Mr. Dalrymple, hydrographer

to the Admiralty. "He had long been of opinion, that not only Greenland,

but all the land seen by Baffin on the northern and eastern sides of the

great bay bearing his name, was composed of clusters of islands, and that a

passage through the _Fretum Davis_, round the northern extremity of

Cumberland Island, led directly to the North Sea, from the seventy to the

seventy-first degree of latitude." This opinion of Mr. Dalrymple was

grounded, in part at least, on the authority of an old globe, one of the

first constructed in Britain, preserved in the library of the Inner Temple:

this globe contains all the discoveries of our early navigators. Davis

refers to it; and Hackluyt, in his edition of 1589, describes it "as a very

large and most exact terrestrial globe, collected and reformed according to

the newest, secretest, and latest discoveries, both Spanish, Portugal, and

English, composed by Mr. Emmeric Molyneaux, of Lambeth, a rare gentleman in

his profession, being therein for diverse years greatly supported by the

purse and liberality of the worshipful merchant Mr. William Sanderson."

Mr. Dalrymple prevailed on the Hudson's Bay Company to send out Mr. Duncan,

a master in the navy, who had displayed considerable talent on a voyage to

Nootka Sound. This gentleman was very sanguine of success, and very zealous

in the cause in which he was employed. But this attempt also was

unsuccessful: Mr. Duncan, after a considerable lapse of time, reaching no

farther than Chesterfield Inlet.

The attention of scientific men, and of the public at large, was called

again to this important problem in the geography of the northern seas, by

some elaborate and well informed articles in the Quarterly Review, which

are generally supposed to be written by Mr. Barrow, the under secretary of

the Admiralty, who also published an abstract of voyages to the Northern

Ocean.

The British government, influenced by a very laudable love of science, and

perhaps regarding the discovery of a north-west passage as of the same

importance to commerce as the reviewer evidently did, resolved to send an

expedition for the purpose of attempting the discovery. Accordingly, on the

8th of April 1818, two ships, the Isabella and Alexander, well fitted by

their construction, as well as strengthened and prepared in every possible

manner for such a voyage, sailed from the Thames. Captain Ross had the

principal command. It is not our design here to follow them during their

voyage to their destination: suffice it to say, that on the 18th of August,

exactly four months after they sailed from the Thames, the ships passed

Cape Dudley Digges, the latitude of which they found to agree nearly with

that assigned to it by Baffin, thus affording another proof of the accuracy

of that old navigator, whose alleged discoveries have been latterly

attempted to be wrested from him, or rather been utterly denied. The same

day they passed an inlet, to which Baffin had given the name of

Wolstenholme Sound. Captain Ross, in his account of his voyage, says it was

completely blocked up with ice; but in the view taken of it, and published

by him, there is a deep and wide opening, completely free from ice. In

fact, on this occasion, as well as others of more consequence, to which we

shall presently advert, Captain Ross, unfortunately for the accomplishment

of the object on which he was sent, contented himself with conjecture where

proof was accessible; for all he remarks respecting this sound is, that it

seemed to be eighteen or twenty leagues in depth, and the land on the east

side appeared to be habitable. When it is considered that in these high and

foggy latitudes much deception of sight takes place, it ought to be the

absolute and undeviating rule of the navigator to explore so far, and to

examine so carefully and closely, that he may be certain, at least, that

his sight does not deceive him. The same negligence attended the

examination of Whale Sound: all the notice of it is, that they could not

approach it in a direct line, on account of ice; it was, in fact, never

approached nearer than twenty leagues. Captain Ross does not seem to have

been fully sensible of the nature of the object on which he was sent out.

If there existed a passage at all, it must be in a strait, sound, or some

other opening of the sea: it could exist no where else. Every such opening,

which exhibited the least appearance, or the smallest symptoms of

stretching far, especially if it stretched in the proper direction, ought

to have been practically and closely examined, not merely viewed at a

distance in a foggy atmosphere. As for the impediments, they were what were

to be expected, what the ships were sent out to meet and overcome; and till

persevering and even highly hazardous efforts had proved that they could

not be overcome, they ought not to have been suffered to weigh the least

with the captain or his men, and especially not with the former.

But to proceed: about midnight on the 19th of August, the sound described

by Baffin to be the largest of all the sounds he discovered, and called by

him Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, was distinctly seen; and the two capes which

formed its entrance were called by Captain Ross after the two ships

Isabella and Alexander. "I considered," he informs us, "the bottom of this

sound to be about eighteen leagues distant, but its entrance was completely

blocked up by ice." Here again, a sound which seemed to promise fair to

lead them into the great Polar Sea was left undiscovered, and in fact

unapproached; for at the distance of eighteen leagues, in that deceptive

climate, nothing could be really known of its real state or practicability.

Had Captain Ross made the attempt; had he spent but a couple of days, and

actually encountered serious obstacles, even though he had not experienced

that those obstacles were insurmountable, he would have had some excuse;

but it is impossible not to censure him for approaching no nearer than

eighteen leagues to a sound such as this, and pronouncing at this distance

that the ice blocked it up completely. His reasoning to support his belief

that this sound afforded no passage, and to defend his not having explored

it, is weak and inconclusive; but we shall not examine it, because the

commander to whom such an expedition is entrusted, should never reason,

where he can prove by actual observation and experiment. It is unsafe in

him to reason, because he will most assuredly be tempted to make his line

of conduct bend to his hypothesis and reasoning.

Captain Ross returned down the western side of Baffin's Bay. On the 21st an

opening was seen, which answered to the description of Alderman Jones

Sound, given by Baffin; but here again the ice and fog prevented them from

approaching near; as if the fog might not have cleared up in a day or two,

and the ice might not either have been drifted off in as short a space, or,

if it could not, have been passed by the crew, so far, at least, as to have

gained a nearer and better view of this sound.

Baffin describes this sound as a large inlet, and adds, that the coast

tended to the southward, and had the appearance of a bay. This is confirmed

by Captain Ross; for he informs us that the land was observed to take a

southerly direction. On the 28th of August the sea became more clear of

ice, and no bottom was found with three hundred fathoms of line: in the

afternoon of that day they succeeded in getting completely clear of the

ice, and once more found themselves in the open sea. Baffin and Davis both

mention that the northern parts of Baffin's Bay were clear of ice when they

were there, so that it is probably generally the case. On the 29th a wide

opening was descried in the land; this they entered on the following day.

"On each side was a chain of high mountains; and in the space between, W.

S.W., there appeared a yellow sky, but no land was seen, nor was there any

ice on the water, except a few icebergs; the opening therefore took the

appearance of a channel, the entrance of which was judged to be forty-five

miles; the land on the north side lying in an E.N.E. and W.S.W.

direction, and the south side nearly east and west." "As the evening

closed, the wind died away, the weather became mild and warm, the water

much smoother, and the atmosphere clear and serene."

Even those who are little acquainted with the symptoms which in this high

latitude indicate an open sea, must be struck with the wide difference

between these circumstances and those which had met the navigators in

almost every other part of their voyage, since they had approached the

place where a passage might possibly exist and be found. Yet, even at this

time and place, when expectation must have been high, and not without good

reason, and when we are expressly informed by Captain Ross that much

interest was excited by the appearance of the sound, the attempt to

ascertain, by close and accurate investigation, whether this sound was

really closed at its extremity, or led into another sea, was given up,

after having sailed into it during the night, and till three o'clock the

following day. It is unnecessary here to examine the reasons which induced

Captain Ross to leave this sound without putting the question of its nature

and termination beyond a doubt, by an accurate and close survey. He says,

that at three o'clock he distinctly saw the land round the bottom of the

bay, forming a connected chain of mountains with those which extended along

the north and south sides. No person seems to have been on deck when this

land was seen by the captain, and orders in consequence given to put the

ships about, except Mr. Lewis, the master, and another. So that in this

latitude, where the sight at all times is mocked with fogs and other

circumstances which mislead it, and where, therefore, it is absolutely

necessary that as many eyes as possible should be employed, that these

should get as near the object as possible, that it should be viewed for a

considerable length of time, and under as many aspects, and from as many

points as possible--not a subordinate or incidental design of the voyage,

but that for which it was expressly made, was abandoned, and on the sole

responsibility of the captain and two other persons.

It is evident, too, that the entrance to many inland seas seems, when

viewed from a distance, to be blocked up by connected land. It is well

observed by the reviewer, whom we have already quoted, that there is not a

reach in the Thames that to the eye does not appear to terminate the river;

and in many of them (in the Hope, for instance) it is utterly impossible to

form a conjecture, at the distance of only two or three miles, what part of

the land is intersected by the stream.

Although, however, this voyage was abandoned when it ought not to have

been, and consequently failed in its peculiar and important object, yet

some access to geographical knowledge was gained by it. The existence of

Baffin's Bay is confirmed, though its width and form are different from

those which were previously assigned it in the maps; and thus this

enterprising and deserving navigator has at length justice done to him.

Other branches of science were benefited and extended by this voyage,

however unsuccessful it proved in its grand and leading object; and some of

the accessions were of a very interesting nature. We allude principally to

the observations made on the swinging of the pendulum,--the variation and

dip of the magnetic needle,--especially by the influence of the iron in and

about the ship,--and on the temperature of the sea at different depths.

Soon after the return of this expedition, an order in council was issued,

which empowered and authorized the Board of Longitude to adopt a graduated

scale of rewards, proportioned to the progress of discovery made to the

westward in these high northern latitudes, from Hudson's or Baffin's Bay,

in the direction of the Pacific Ocean. The first point of this graduated

scale is the meridian of the Coppermine River of Hearne, and whatever ship

reaches this is entitled to a reward of 5000l. Government were so convinced

that Captain Ross's voyage had increased the probability of a north-west

passage, that they determined to lose no time in making another attempt to

discover it; and in order to afford every chance of success to this second

attempt, they also determined, not only to send out a maritime expedition,

to follow out the route which Captain Ross had so unaccountably and

provokingly abandoned, but also to send out a land expedition, to

co-operate in the same grand object.

The latter, under the command and direction of Lieutenant Franklin, was

ordered to proceed from Fort York, on the shores of Hudson's Bay, to the

mouth of the Coppermine River; and from thence along the shores of the

Polar Sea, either to the east or to the north, as circumstances might

determine: they were expressly to have in view the determination of the

question regarding the position of the northeastern extremity of the

continent of America. As the route of this land expedition lay for a great

part of it through those districts within which the Hudson's Bay Company

were accustomed to travel and trade, their co-operation and assistance was

requested and obtained. The exact results of this land expedition are not

yet fully and clearly known; but it is generally understood, that after

having undergone infinite hardships and sufferings, they have been enabled

to confirm Hearne and Mackenzie's discoveries or conjectures respecting the

Coppermine River, and to ascertain other points connected with the

geography and natural history of these remote and almost inaccessible

regions, though the most important and leading points of the expedition

have not been settled. [6]

In consequence of Captain Ross having penetrated into Baffin's Bay, an

object only accomplished once before by Baffin himself, and which for two

hundred years had been frequently again fruitlessly attempted, the

Greenland ships which left England during the season immediately following

Captain Ross's return, were induced, in order to reach a fresh and unfished

sea, to pursue the course that he had opened for them. The circumstance

that fourteen of them were wrecked, proves, unless the season had been

uncommonly tempestuous, that Captain Ross must have conducted his

expedition with considerable care and skill, notwithstanding he missed an

excellent opportunity of either discovering a north-west passage, or of

adding one more opening to those which were proved not to contain it.

The second sea expedition, to which we have already alluded, was under the

direction of Captain Parry, who had sailed along with Captain Ross in the

first expedition; he was therefore possessed of much knowledge and

experience, which would prove essentially useful and directly applicable to

the object he was about to undertake. Two ships were fitted out with all

necessary preparations for such a voyage, the Hecla bomb, and Griper

gun-brig, and they sailed from the Thames early in the month of May 1819.

Of the high importance and value to navigators of the chronometer, Captain

Parry had a striking and undoubted proof in the early part of his voyage.

On the 24th of May he saw a small solitary crag, called Rockall, not far

from the Orkney Islands. "There is," he observes, in this part of his

journal, "no more striking proof of the infinite value of chronometers at

sea, than the certainty with which a ship may sail directly for a single

rock, like this, rising like a speck out of the ocean, and at the distance

of forty-seven leagues from any other land."

About the middle of July he reached the latitude of 73°, after having made

many fruitless attempts to cross the ice that fills the central portion of

Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay. the instructions of Captain Parry

particularly pointed out the sound which Captain Ross had left unexplored,

and which there could be no doubt was the Sir James Lancaster's Sound of

Baffin, to be most carefully and minutely examined, as the one by which it

was most probable a north-west passage might be effected, or which, at

least, even if not navigable, on account of the ice, would connect the

Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. On the seventh day after entering this sound,

he succeeded in reaching open water; but this was not reached without

infinite difficulty and labour, as the breadth of the barrier of ice was

found to be eighty miles; through this they penetrated by the aid of

sailing, tracking, heaving by the capstan, and sawing, being able to

advance, even with the assistance of all the methods, only at the rate of

half a mile an hour, or twelve miles a day.

For some days after this, their patience was tried, and nearly exhausted,

by contrary winds, but on the 3d of August a favourable and fresh breeze

arose from the eastward. Advantage was immediately taken of it. "We all

felt," says Captain Parry, "it was that point of the voyage which was to

determine the success or failure of the expedition, according as one or

other of the opposite opinions respecting the termination of the sound

should be corroborated. It is more easy to imagine than to describe (he

continues) the almost breathless anxiety which was now visible in every

countenance, while, as the breeze increased to a fresh gale, we ran quickly

up the sound. The masts' heads were crowded by the officers and men during

the whole afternoon; and an unconcerned observer (if any could have been

unconcerned on such an occasion) would have been amused by the eagerness

with which the various reports from the crow's-nest were received, all,

however, hitherto favourable to our most sanguine hopes."

The weather, most fortunately at this interesting and important period,

continued remarkably clear; and the ships having reached the longitude of

83° 12', the two shores of the sound were ascertained to be still at least

fifty miles asunder, and what was still more encouraging, no land was

discerned to the westward. In fact, there seemed no obstacle; none of those

mountains with which, according to Captain Ross, the passage of the sound

was eternally blocked up, nor even any ice, an object of a less serious and

permanent nature. Other circumstances were also encouraging; the whole

surface of the sea was completely free from ice, no land was seen in the

direction of their course, and no bottom could be reached with one hundred

and seventy fathoms of line, so that "we began," observes Captain Parry,

"to flatter ourselves that we had fairly entered the Polar Sea, and some of

the most sanguine among us had even calculated the bearing and distance of

Icy Cape, as a matter of no very difficult or improbable accomplishment.

This pleasing prospect was rendered the more flattering, by the sea having,

as we thought, regained the usual oceanic colour, and by a long swell which

was rolling in from the southward and eastward." The first circumstance

that threw a damp over their sanguine expectations, was the discovery of

land a-head; they were however renewed by ascertaining that this was only a

small island: but though the insurmountable obstacle of a land termination

of the sound was thus removed, another appeared in its place; as they

perceived that a floe of ice was stretched from the island to the northern

shore. On the southern shore, however, a large inlet was discovered, ten

leagues broad at its entrance, and as no land could be seen in the line of

its direction, hopes were excited that it might lead to a passage into the

Polar Sea, freer from ice than the one above described. At this period of

the voyage a singular circumstance was remarked: during their passage down

Sir James Lancaster's Sound, the compass would scarcely traverse, and the

ship's iron evidently had great influence over it: both these phaenomena

became more apparent and powerful, in proportion as their westerly course

encreased. When they were arrived in the latitude of 73°, the directive

power of the needle became so weak, that it was completely overcome by the

attraction of the iron in the ship, so that the needle might now be said

to point to the north pole of the ship. And by an experiment it was found,

that a needle suspended by a thread, the movements of which were of course

scarcely affected by any friction, always pointed to the head of the ship,

in whatever direction it might be.

To this inlet, which Captain Parry was now sailing down, he gave the name

of the Prince Regent. The prospect was still very flattering: the width

increased as they proceeded, and the land inclined more and more to the

south-westward. But their expectations were again destroyed: a floe of ice

stretched to the southward, beyond which no sea was to be descried. Captain

Parry therefore resolved to return to the wide westerly passage which he

had quitted. On the 22d of August, being in longitude 92-1/4°, they opened

two fine channels, the one named after the Duke of Wellington; this was

eight leagues in width, and neither land nor ice could be seen from the

mast head though the weather was extremely clear; this channel tended to

the N.N.W. The other stretched nearly west: and though it was not so open,

yet as it was more directly in the course which it was their object to

pursue, it was preferred by Captain Parry. By the 25th they had reached 99°

west longitude, about 20 degrees beyond Lancaster Sound. On the 30th they

made the S.E. point of Melville Island. By the 4th of September they had

passed the meridian of 110° west longitude, in latitude 74° 44' 20": this

entitled them to the first sum in the scale of rewards granted by

parliament, namely 5000_l_; as at this part of their course they were

opposite a point of land lying in the S.E. of Melville Island; this point

was called Bounty Cape. On the 6th of September they anchored, for the

first time since they had left England, in a bay, called after the two

ships.

During the remainder of the season of 1819, which however contained only

twenty more days, in which any thing could be done, Captain Parry

prosecuted with much perseverance, and in the midst of infinite

difficulties and obstacles, a plan which had suggested itself to him some

time before; this was to conduct the ships close to the shore, within the

main body of the ice; but their progress was so extremely slow, that,

during the remainder of the year they did not advance more than forty

miles. On the 21st Captain Parry abandoned the undertaking, and returned to

the bay which was called after the two ships. Here they lay ten months; and

the arrangements made by Captain Parry for the safety of the vessels, and

for the health, comfort, and even the amusement of the crew, were planned

and effected with such admirable good sense, that listlessness and fatigue

were strangers, even among sailors, a class of men who, above all others,

it would have been apprehended, would have soon wearied of such a

monotonous life. The commencement of winter was justly dated from the 14th

of September, when the thermometer suddenly fell to 9°. On the 4th of

November the sun descended below the horizon, and did not appear again till

the 8th of February. A little before and after what in other places is

called the shortest day, but which to them was the middle of their long

night, there was as much light as enabled them to read small print, when

held towards the south, and to walk comfortably for two hours. Excessive

cold, as indicated by the thermometer, took place in January: it then sunk

from 30° to 40° below Zero: on the 11th of this month it was at 49°; yet no

disease, or even pain or inconvenience was felt in consequence of this most

excessive cold, provided the proper precautions were used; nor did any

complaint arise from the extreme and rapid change of temperature to which

they were exposed, when, as was often the case, they passed from the

cabins, which were kept heated up to 60° or 70°, to the open air, though

the change in one minute was in several instances 120° of temperature.

Cold, however, as January was, yet the following month, though, as we have

already observed, it again exhibited the sun to them, was much colder; on

the 15th of February the thermometer fell to 55° below Zero, and remained

for fifteen hours not higher than 54°. Within the next fifteen hours it

gradually rose to 34°. But though the sun re-appeared early in February,

they had still a long imprisonment to endure; and Captain Parry did not

consider it safe to leave their winter quarters till the 1st of August,

when they again sailed to the westward: their mode of proceeding was the

same as that which they had adopted the preceding year, viz. crawling along

the shore, within the fast ice; in this manner they got to the west end of

Melville Island. But all their efforts to proceed further were of no avail.

Captain Parry was now convinced, that somewhere to the south-west of this

there must be an immoveable obstacle, which prevented the ice dispersing in

that direction, as it had been found to do in every other part of the

voyage.

At last, on the 16th of August, further attempts were given up, and Captain

Parry determined to return to the eastward, along the edge of the ice, in

order that he might push to the southward if he could find an opening. Such

an opening, however, could not be found; but by coasting southward, along

the west side of Baffin's Bay, Captain Parry convinced himself that there

are other passages into Prince Regent's Inlet, besides that by Lancaster

Sound. The farthest point in the Polar sea reached in this voyage was

latitude 71° 26' 23", and longitude 113° 46' 43:5". On the 26th of

September they took a final leave of the ice, and about the middle of

November they arrived in the Thames.

In every point of view this voyage was extremely creditable to Captain

Parry; it is not surpassed by any for the admirable manner in which it was

conducted, for the presence of mind, perseverance, and skill of all the

arrangements and operations. It has also considerably benefited all those

branches of science to which the observations and experiments of Captain

Ross and his companions were directed, and to which we have already

adverted. Perhaps in no one point has it been of more use to mariners, than

in proving the minute accuracy of going to which chronometers have been

brought.

As this expedition very naturally encouraged the hope that a north-west

passage existed, and might be discovered and effected, and as Captain Parry

was decidedly of this opinion, government very properly resolved to send

him out again; he accordingly sailed in the spring of the year following

that of his return. He recommended that the attempt should be made in a

more southern latitude, and close along the northern coast of America, as

in that direction a better climate might be expected, and a longer season

by at least six weeks; and this recommendation, it is supposed, had its

weight with the admiralty in the instructions and discretionary powers

which they gave him.

We must now direct our attention to the southern polar regions. Geographers

and philosophers supposed that in this portion of the globe there must be

some continent or very large island, which would serve, as it were, to

counterbalance the immense tracts of land which, to the northward,

stretched not only as near the pole, as navigation had been able to

proceed, but also west and east, the whole breadth of Europe and Asia.

The second voyage of Captain Cook was planned and undertaken for the

express purpose of solving the question respecting the Terra Australis

which occupied the older maps. He sailed on this voyage in July 1772,

having under his command two ships, particularly well adapted and fitted up

for such a service, the Resolution and Adventure; he was accompanied by a

select band of officers, most of whom were not only skilful and experienced

navigators, but also scientific astronomers and geographers; there were

also two professed astronomers, two gentlemen who were well skilled in

every branch of natural history, and a landscape painter.

On the 12th of December, Captain Cook entered the loose and floating ice,

in latitude 62° 10'; on the 21st he met with icebergs in latitude 67°; and

by the end of the month he returned to latitude 58°. On the 26th of January

in the following year, he again penetrated within the Antarctic circle, and

on the 30th, had got as far as latitude 71° 16'. This was the utmost point

to which he was able to penetrate; and he was so fully persuaded, not only

of the impracticability of being able to sail further to the south, but

also of remaining in that latitude, that he returned to the northward the

very same day, deeming it, as he expresses it, a dangerous and rash

enterprize to struggle with fields of ice. "I," he continues, "who had

ambition not only to go farther than any one before, but as far as it was

possible for man to go, was not sorry to meet with this interruption." The

existence of a southern continent was thus considered by Captain Cook, and

all other geographers, as disproved to an almost absolute certainty.

In this voyage Captain Cook also obtained a correct knowledge of the land

discovered by La Roche in 1675, and gave to it the name of New Georgia; he

discovered, too, Sandwich land, which was then supposed to be the nearest

land to the South Pole; he ascertained the extent of the Archipelago, of

the New Hebrides, which had been originally seen by Quiros, and

superficially examined by Bougainville. New Caledonia, and many of the

islands among the groupe to which he gave the name of the Friendly Islands,

were also among the fruits of this voyage.

The French government had sent out an expedition, about the same time that

Captain Cook sailed in quest of a southern continent, on a similar pursuit.

A French navigator some time before had stated that he had discovered land,

having been driven far to the south, off the Cape of Good Hope. This

supposed land the expedition alluded to was also to look after. The person

selected to conduct it, M. De Kerguelen, does not seem to have been well

chosen or qualified for such an enterprize; for after having discovered

land, situated in 49° south latitude, and 69° east longitude from

Greenwich, he returned rather precipitately to France, without having

explored this land, concluding very rashly, and without any sufficient

grounds, that the Terra Australis was at length ascertained to exist, and

its exact situation determined. He was received and treated in France as a

second Columbus: but as the French court seems to have had some doubts on

the extent and merit of his alleged discoveries, notwithstanding the

reception which it gave him, he was sent out a second time, with two ships

of war of 64 and 32 guns each, and 700 men, to complete his discovery and

take possession of this new continent. But he soon ascertained, what indeed

he might and ought to have ascertained in his first voyage, that what he

deemed and represented to be the Terra Australis was only a dreary and

inhospitable island, of small size, so very barren and useless, that it

produces no tree or even shrub of any kind, and very little grass. On such

an island, in such a part of the globe, no inhabitants could be looked for;

but it is even almost entirely destitute of animals; and the surrounding

sea is represented as not more productive than the land. The French

navigator was unable to find safe anchorage in this island, though it

abounded in harbours; to this miserable spot he gave his own name. It was

afterwards visited by Captain Cook, in his third voyage, and also by

Peyrouse.

As the southern ocean, in as high a latitude as the climate and the ice

rendered accessible and safe, had been as it were swept carefully,

extensively, and minutely, by Captain Cook, and some subsequent navigators,

without discovering land of any considerable extent, it was naturally

supposed that no southern continent or even large island existed.

In the year 1819, however, this disbelief was partly destroyed by an

unexpected and singular discovery. Mr. Smith, who commanded a vessel

trading between Rio Plato and Chili, was naturally desirous to shorten, as

much as possible, his passage round Cape Horn. With this object in view, he

ran to a higher latitude than is usual in such voyages; and in latitude 62°

30' and in longitude 60° west, he discovered land. This was in his voyage

out to Chili; but as he could not then spare the time necessary to explore

this land, he resolved to follow the same course on his return voyage, and

ascertain its extent, nature, &c. This he accordingly did; and likewise on

a subsequent voyage. "He ran in a westward direction along the coasts,

either of a continent or numerous islands, for 200 or 300 miles, forming

large bays, and abounding with the spermaceti whale, seals, &c. He took

numerous soundings and bearings, draughts and charts of the coast." He also

landed and took possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, and

called his acquisition New South Shetland. He represents the climate as

temperate, the coast mountainous, apparently uninhabited, but not destitute

of vegetation, as he observed firs and pines in many places; and on the

whole, the country appeared to him very much like the coast of Norway.

It may seem extraordinary that land of this extent should not have been

discovered by any former navigator; but the surprise will cease, when we

reflect that though Captain Cook penetrated much further to the south than

the latitude of New South Shetland, yet his meridian was 45 degrees farther

to the west, and that he thus left a large expanse of sea unexplored, on

the parallel of 62° between that and Sandwich land, the longitude of which

is 22° west. He indeed likewise reached 67° south latitude: but this was in

longitude from 137° to 147° west. Now the longitude of New South Shetland

being 60° west, it is evident that Captain Cook in his first attempt, left

unexplored the whole extent of longitude from 28°, the longitude of

Sandwich land, to 60°, the longitude of New South Shetland; and in his

second attempt, he was still further from the position of this new

discovered land. Peyrouse reached no higher than 60° 30' latitude, and

Vancouver only to 55°. Thus we clearly see that this land lay out of the

track, not only of those navigators, whose object being to get into the

Pacific by the course best known, pass through the Straits of Magellan and

Le Maire, or keep as near Cape Horn as possible, but also of those who were

sent out expressly to search for land in a high southern latitude.

The intelligence of the discovery of New South Shetland, and that its

coasts abounded in Spermaceti whales, and in seals, quickly and powerfully

roused the commercial enterprise both of the British and the Americans. In

the course of a short time, numerous ships of both these nations sailed to

its coasts; but from their observations and experience, as well as from a

survey of it which was undertaken by the orders of one of His Majesty's

naval officers, commanding on the southwest coast of America, it was soon

ascertained that it was a most dangerous land to approach and to continue

near. Its sterility and bleak and forbidding appearance, from all the

accounts published respecting it, are scarcely equalled, certainly are not

surpassed, in the most inhospitable countries near the North Pole; while

ships are suddenly exposed to most violent storms, from which there is

little chance of escaping, and in which, during one of the seal-catching

seasons, a great number were lost.

There are, however, counterbalancing advantages: the seals were, at least

during the first seasons, uncommonly numerous, and taken with very little

trouble or difficulty, so that a ship could obtain a full cargo in a very

short time; but, in consequence of a very great number of vessels which

frequented the coasts for the purpose of taking these animals, they became

soon less numerous, and were captured with less ease. The skins of these

seals fetched a very high price in the China market; the Chinese,

especially in the more northern parts of that vast and populous empire, use

these skins for various articles of their dress; and the seal skins of New

South Shetland being much finer and softer than those which were obtained

in any other part of the world, bore a proportionably higher price in the

China market. But the English could not compete with the Americans in this

lucrative trade; for in consequence of the charter of the East India

Company, the English ships were obliged to bring their cargoes of skins to

England; here they were sold, and as none but the East India Company could

export them to China, and consequently none except the Company would

purchase; they in fact had the monopoly of them, and obtained them at their

own price. The English indeed might take them directly from New South

Shetland to Calcutta, whence they might be exported in country ships to

China; but even in this case, which was not likely to happen, as few

vessels, after having been employed in catching seals off such a boisterous

coast, were prepared or able to undertake a voyage to Calcutta; much

unnecessary expence was incurred, additional risk undergone, and time

consumed. To these disadvantages in the sale of their seal skins, the

Americans were not exposed; they brought them into some of their own ports,

and thence shipped them directly and immediately to China.

The last navigator whom we noticed as having added to our knowledge

respecting New Holland, was Dampier, who in this portion of the globe, not

only discovered the Strait that separates New Guinea from New Britain, but

also surveyed the north-west coast of New Holland; and, contrary to the

Dutch charts, laid down De Witt's land as a cluster of islands, and gave it

as his opinion that the northern part of New Holland was separated from the

lands to the southward by a strait. Scarcely any thing was added to the

geography of this portion of the globe, between the last voyage of Dampier,

and the first voyage of Cook. One of the principal objects of this voyage

of our celebrated navigator, was to examine the coast of New Holland; and

he performed this object most completely, so far as the east coast was

concerned, from the 38th degree of latitude to its northern extremity; he

also proved that it was separated from New Guinea, by passing through the

channel, which he called after his ship, Endeavour Strait. In the year

1791, Captain Vancouver explored 110 leagues of the south-west coast, where

he discovered King George's Sound, and some clusters of small islands. In

the same year two vessels were dispatched from France in search of La

Peyrouse; in April 1792, they made several observations on Van Dieman's

Land, the south cape of which they thought was separated from the main

land; they also discovered a great harbour. In the subsequent year 1793,

they again made the coast of New Holland, near Lewin's Land, and they

ascertained that the first discoveries had been extremely accurate in the

latitudes which they had assigned to this part of it.

In consequence of the British forming a settlement at Botany Bay, much

additional information was gained, not only regarding the interior of New

Holland, in the vicinity of the settlement, but also regarding part of its

coast: the most interesting and important discovery relative to the latter

was made towards the end of the year 1797, by Mr. Bass, surgeon of His

Majesty's ship Reliance. He made an excursion in an open boat to the

southward of Port Jackson, as far as 40 degrees of south latitude, and

visited every opening in the coast in the course of his voyage: he observed

sufficient to induce him to believe that Van Dieman's Land was no part of

New Holland. Soon after the return of Mr. Bass, the governor of the English

colony sent out him and Captain Flinders, then employed as a lieutenant of

one of His Majesty's ships on the New South Wales station, with a view to

ascertain whether Mr. Bass's belief of the separation of Van Dieman's Land

was well founded. They embarked on board a small-decked boat of 25 tons,

built of the fir of Norfolk island. In three months they returned to Port

Jackson, after having circumnavigated Van Dieman's Land, and completed the

survey of its coasts. The strait that separates it from New Holland was

named by the governor, Bass's Strait. The importance of this discovery is

undoubted. In voyages from New Holland to the Cape of Good Hope,

considerable time is gained by passing through it, instead of following the

former course. In the year 1800, Captain Flinders was again sent out by the

governor, to examine the coast to the northward of Port Jackson; of this

nothing more was known but what the imperfect notices given of it by

Captain Cook supplied. In this voyage he completely examined all the creeks

and bays as far to the northward as the 25th degree of latitude, and more

particularly Glasshouse and Harvey's Bays. The English government at length

resolved that they would wipe off the reproach, which, as Captain Flinders

observes, was not without some reason attributed to them, "that an

imaginary line of more than 250 leagues of extent, in the vicinity of one

of their colonies, should have been so long suffered to remain traced upon

the charts, under the title of UNKNOWN COAST," and they accordingly

appointed him to the command of an expedition fitted out in England for

this purpose.

Before giving an account of this voyage of Captain Flinders, we shall

abridge, from the Introduction prefixed to it, his clear and methodical

account of the progressive discoveries which have been made on the coast of

New Holland, and of what was still to be explored. He particularly dwelt on

the advantages that would result from a practicable passage through Torres'

Strait; if this could be discovered, it would shorten the usual route by

the north of New Guinea, or the Eastern Islands, in the voyage to India and

China. The immense gulf of Carpentaria was unknown, except a very small

portion of its eastern side. The lands called after Arnheim and Van Dieman

also required and deserved a minute investigation, especially the bays,

shoals, islands, and coasts of the former, and the northern part of the

latter. The north-west coast had not been examined since the time of

Dampier, who was of opinion that the northern portion of New Holland was

separated from the lands to the northward by a strait. The existence of

such a strait, Captain Flinders completely disproved.

With respect to the south coast, at least 250 leagues were unexplored.

Captain Flinders had examined with considerable care and minuteness the

east coast and Van Dieman's Land; but there were still several openings

which required to be better explored.

Such were the principal objects which Captain Flinders had in view in his

voyage; and no person could have been found better qualified to accomplish

these objects. On the 18th of July, 1801, he sailed from England in the

Investigator, of 334 tons: there were on board, beside the proper and

adequate complement of men, an astronomer, a naturalist, a natural history

painter, a landscape painter, a gardener, and a miner. As soon as he

approached the south coast of New Holland, he immediately began his

examination of the coasts, islands, and inlets of that large portion of it,

called Nuyts' Land; he particularly examined all that part of the coast,

which lies between the limit of the discoveries of Nuyts and Vancouver, and

the eastern extremity of Bass' Straits, where he met a French ship,

employed on the same object. In the month of July, 1802, he left Port

Jackson, whither he had gone to refit, and sailing through Torres' Straits

in 36 hours, he arrived in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the latter end of the

season. In the course of this part of his voyage, he examined

Northumberland and Cumberland islands, and the great barrier reefs of coral

rock; and every part of the eastern side of the Gulf of Carpentaria; not a

cape, creek, bay, or island on this coast of the gulf escaped his notice

and examination. It was his intention to have pursued the same mode of

close and minute examination: "following the land so closely, that the

washing of the surf upon it should be visible, and no opening nor any thing

of importance escape notice;" but he was prevented by ascertaining that the

vessel was in such a crazy state, that, though in fine weather she might

hold together for six months longer, yet she was by no means fit for such

an undertaking. After much deliberation what conduct he ought to pursue

under these circumstances, as it was impossible, with such a vessel, he

could at that season return to Port Jackson by the west route, in

consequence of the monsoon (and the stormy weather would render the east

passage equally improper) he resolved to finish the survey of the Gulf of

Carpentaria. This occupied him three months: at the end of this period he

was obliged, by the sickness of his crew, to sail for Timor, which he

reached on the 31st of March, 1803.

As the Investigator was no longer fit for service, she was condemned.

Captain Flinders resolved, as he could not finish the survey, to return to

England, in order to lay his journals and charts before the Admiralty: he

accordingly embarked on board the Porpoise store ship, which, in company

with the Cato and Bridgwater, bound to Batavia, sailed in August, 1803. The

Porpoise and Cato were wrecked on a reef of rocks nearly 800 miles from

Botany Bay: most of the charts, logs, and astronomical observations were

saved; but the rare plants, as well as the dried specimens, were lost or

destroyed. On the 26th of August, Captain Flinders left the reef in the

cutter, and after a passage of considerable danger, reached Port Jackson on

the 8th of September. As he was extremely anxious to lodge his papers as

soon as possible with the Lords of the Admiralty, he embarked from Port

Jackson in a vessel, something less than a Gravesend passage boat, being

only 29 tons burden. Even in such a vessel, Captain Flinders did not lose

sight of the objects nearest his heart: he passed through Torres' Straits,

examined Pandora's entrance, explored new channels among the coral reefs,

examined Prince of Wales Island, crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria, and after

anchoring at some islands on the western side of the gulf, directed his

route to Timor: here he refitted his vessel, and then sailed for the Isle

of France, where it was absolutely necessary he should touch, in order that

she might undergo a repair, as she was very leaky. Though he possessed

passports from the French government, he was detained at the Isle of

France, under the absurd pretence that he was a spy. All his books, charts,

and papers were seized; and he himself was kept a prisoner in a miserable

room for nearly four months. He was afterwards removed to the garden

prison, a situation not so uncomfortable and prejudicial to his health as

that from which he was taken; at length, in consequence of an application

from the Royal Society to the National Institute, the French government

sent an order for his liberation; but it was not received, or, at least, it

was not acted upon till the year 1810; for it was not till that year that

Captain Flinders was permitted to leave the Isle of France: he arrived in

England on the 24th of October of that year.

There are few voyages from which more important accessions to geographical

knowledge have been derived, than from this voyage of Captain Flinders,

especially when we reflect on the great probability that New Holland will

soon rank high in population and wealth. Before his voyage, it was

doubtful, whether New Holland was not divided into two great islands, by a

strait passing between Bass' Straits and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Captain

Flinders has put an end to all doubts on this point: he examined the coast

in the closest and most accurate manner: he found indeed two great

openings; these he sailed up to their termination; and, consequently, as

there were no other openings, and these were mere inlets, New Holland can

no longer be supposed to be divided into two great islands, but must be

regarded as forming one very large one; or, rather, from its immense size,

a species of continent. He made another important and singular discovery,

viz. that there are either no rivers of any magnitude in New Holland, or

that if there be such, they do not find their way to the sea coast. This

country seems also very deficient in good and safe ports: in his survey of

the south coast, he found only one. He completed the survey of the whole

eastern coast; of Bass's Straits and Van Dieman's Land, observing very

carefully every thing relative to the rocks, shoals, tides, winds,

currents, &c. Coral reefs, which are so common in most parts of the

Pacific, and which, owing their origin entirely to worms of the minutest

size, gradually become extensive islands, stretch along the eastern coast

of New Holland. These were examined with great care by Captain Flinders: he

found that they had nearly blocked up the passage through Torres' Straits,

so that it required great care and caution to pass it with safety. But one

of the most important results of this voyage respects the survey of the

Gulf of Carpentaria; previously the extent and bearings of this gulf were

not known; but from Captain Flinders's geography we have received an

accurate and full survey of it. Its extent was ascertained to be 5 1/2

degrees of longitude, and 7 degrees of latitude; and its circuit nearly 400

leagues. On the coast of this gulf he found a singular trade carried on.

Sixty proas, each about the burden of 25 tons, and carrying as many men,

were fitted out by the Rajah of Boni, and sent to catch a small animal

which lives at the bottom of the sea, called the sea slug, or _biche de

mer_. When caught, they are split, boiled, and dried in the sun, and

then carried to Timorlaot, when the Chinese purchase them: 100,000 of these

animals is the usual cargo of each proa, and they bring from 2000 to 4000

Spanish dollars.

Notwithstanding the English had had settlements in New Holland for upwards

of 26 years, little progress had been made in exploring the interior of the

country even in the immediate vicinity of Botany Bay. It was supposed that

a passage across the Blue Mountains, which are within sight of that

settlement, opposed insurmountable obstacles. At length, about the end of

the year 1813, the Blue Mountains were crossed for the first time, by Mr.

Evans, the deputy surveyor of the colony. He found a fertile and pleasant

district, and the streams which took their rise in the Blue Mountains,

running to the westward; to one of the most considerable of these he gave

the name of Macquarrie river; the course of this river he pursued for ten

days. On his return to the colony, the governor, Mr. Macquarrie ordered

that a road should be made across the mountains; this extended 100 miles,

and was completed in 1815. Mr. Evans soon afterwards discovered another

river, which he called the Lachlan.

As it was of great consequence to trace these rivers, and likewise to

examine the country to the west of the Blue Mountains more accurately, and

to a greater distance than it had been done, the governor ordered two

expeditions to be undertaken. Lieutenant Oxley, the surveyor-general of the

colony had the command of both. It does not fall within our plan or limits

to follow him in these journeys; we shall therefore confine ourselves to an

outline of the result of his discoveries. He ascertained that the country

in general is very unfertile: the Lachlan he traced, till it seemed to

loose itself in a multitude of branches among marshy flats. "Perhaps,"

observes Lieutenant Oxley, "there is no river, the history of which is

known, that presents so remarkable a termination as the present: its

course, in a strait line from its source to its termination, exceeds 500

miles, and including its windings, it may fairly be calculated to run at

least 1200 miles; during all which passage, through such a vast extent of

country, it does not receive a single stream in addition to what it derives

from its sources in the Eastern mountains."--"One tree, one soil, one

water, and one description of bird, fish, or animal, prevails alike for ten

miles, and for 100." There were, however, tracks, especially where the

limestone formation prevailed, of great beauty and fertility; but these

were comparatively rare and of small extent. Level, bare, sandy wastes,

destitute of water, or morasses and swamps, which would not support them,

formed by far the greatest part of the country through which they

travelled.

The second object Lieutenant Oxley had in view was the survey of the course

of the Macquarrie river; this he knew to be to the north-west of the

Lachlan. In crossing from the banks of the latter in search of the former,

they reached a beautiful valley; in the centre of which flowed a clear and

strong rivulet. This they traced till it joined a large river, which they

ascertained to be the Macquarrie. From this point to Bathurst Plains, the

country was rich and beautiful.

As from the size of the Macquarrie where they fell in with it, it seemed

probable that it either communicated with the sea itself or flowed into a

river which did, the governor sent Lieutenant Oxley on another expedition

to trace its course, and thus settle this point. For twelve days the

country was rich and beautiful: the river was wide, deep, and navigable.

The country then changed its character: no hill was to be seen; on all

sides it was as level and uninteresting as that through which thay had

traced the Lachlan in their former journey. Soon afterwards it overflowed

its banks; and as the country was very flat, it spread over a vast extent.

Under these circumstances, Lieutenant Oxley proceeded down it in a boat for

thirty miles, till he lost sight of land and trees. About four miles

farther it lost all appearance of a river; but he was not able to continue

his route, and was obliged to return, without having ascertained whether

this great inland lake, into which the Macquarrie fell, was a salt or fresh

water lake.

On his return he crossed the highest point of the mountains which divides

the waters running west from those which run into the east; the most

elevated peak he calculates to be from 6000 to 7000 feet. Here he found a

river rising, which flowed to the east; and following it, he arrived at the

place where it fell into the ocean.

It is pretty certain from these expeditions, that no river of any size

empties itself into the sea, on the northern, western, or southern coasts

of New Holland. Captain Flinders and the French navigators had examined all

the line of coast on the western side, except from latitude 22° to 11°

south; it might therefore be supposed that the Macquarrie, after freeing

itself from the inland lake to which Lieutenant Oxley had traced it, might

fall into the sea, within these limits. This, however, is now proved not to

be the case. In the year 1818, Lieutenant King was sent by the Board of

Admiralty, to survey the unexplored coast, from the southern extremity of

Terre de Witt. He began his examination at the north-west cape, in latitude

21° 45', from this to latitude 20° 30', and from longitude 114° to 118°, he

found an archipelago, which he named after Dampier, as it was originally

discovered by this navigator. Dampier had inferred, from a remarkable

current running from the coast beyond these islands, that a great strait,

or river, opened out behind them. Lieutenant King found the tide running

strong in all the passages of the archipelago, but there was no appearance

of a river; the coast was in general low, and beyond it he descried an

extensive tract of inundated marshy country, similar to that described by

Lieutenant Oxley. Cape Van Diemen, Lieutenant King ascertained to be the

northern extremity of an island, near which was a deep gulf. Although we

have not learnt that Lieutenant King has completed his survey, 8 or 9

degrees of latitude on the north-west coast still remaining to be explored,

yet we think it may safely be inferred that no great river has its exit

into the ocean from the interior of New Holland. This circumstance, added

to the singular nature of the country through which Lieutenant Oxley

journeyed, and the peculiar and unique character of many of its animals,

seems to stamp on this portion of the globe marks which strongly and widely

separate it from every other portion.

It is remarked in the Quarterly Review, that, before Captain Flinder's

voyage, "the great Gulf of Carpentaria had as yet no definite outline on

our nautical charts. It was the imaginary tracing of an undulating line,

intended to denote the limits between land and water, without a promontory,

or an island, a bay, harbour, or inlet, that was defined by shape or

designated by name. This blank line was drawn and copied by one chart maker

from another, without the least authority, and without the least reason to

believe that any European had ever visited this wide and deeply-indented

gulf; and yet, when visited, this imaginary line was found to approximate

so nearly to its true form, as ascertained by survey, as to leave little

doubt that some European navigator must at one time or other have examined

it, though his labours have been buried, as the labours of many thousands

have been before and since his time, in the mouldy archives of a jealous

and selfish government."

This remark may be extended and applied to other parts of the globe beside

Australasia; but it is particularly applicable to this portion of it. There

can be no doubt that many islands and points of land were discovered, which

were never traced in maps, even in the vague and indistinct manner in which

the Gulf of Carpentaria was traced; that many discoveries were claimed to

which no credit was given; and that owing to the imperfect mode formerly

used to determine the longitude, some, from being laid down wrong, were

afterwards claimed as entirely new discoveries.

We have stated that this remark is particularly applicable to Australasia:

to the progress of geography in this division of the globe (including under

that appellation, besides New Holland, Papua or New Guinea, New Britain,

New Ireland, Solomon's Isles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, &c.) we are now

to direct our attention; and the truth of the remark will soon appear to be

confirmed in more than one instance.

One of the objects of Rogewein, a Dutch navigator, who, sailed from

Amsterdam in 1721, was to re-discover Solomon's Islands, and the lands

described by Quitos. In this voyage he visited New Britain, of which he has

enlarged our information; and be discovered Aurora Island, and a very

numerous archipelago, to which he gave the name of the Thousand Islands.

Captain Carteret, who sailed from England in 1767, along with Captain

Wallis, but who was separated from him in the Straits of Magellan,

discovered several isles in the South Pacific, the largest of which there

is little doubt is that which was visited by Mandana in 1595, and called by

him Santa Cruz. In prosecuting his voyage in the track pursued by Dampier,

Captain Carteret arrived on the east coast of the land named New Britain,

by that celebrated navigator. This he found to consist of two islands,

separated by a wide channel; to the northern island he gave the name of New

Ireland.

At this period the French were prosecuting voyages of discovery in the same

portion of the globe. An expedition sailed from France in 1766, commanded

by M. Bougainville: he arrived within the limits of Australasia in May,

1768. Besides visiting a group of islands, named by him Navigators'

Islands, but which are supposed to have been discovered by Rogewein, and a

large cluster, which is also supposed to be the archipelago of the same

navigator, M. Bougainville discovered a beautiful country, to which he gave

the name of Louisiade: he was not able to examine this country, and as it

has not been visited by subsequent navigators, it is generally believed to

be an extension of the coast of Papua. After discovering some islands not

far from this land, M. Bougainville directed his course to the coast of New

Ireland; he afterwards examined the north coast of New Guinea.

About the same time, M. Surville, another Frenchman, in a voyage from the

East Indies into the Pacific, landed on the north coast of a country east

of New Guinea; he had not an opportunity of examining this land, but it

seems probable that it was one of Solomon's Islands.

We have already had occasion to notice the first voyage of Captain Cook,

during which he traced the eastern coast of New Holland, and ascertained

that it was separated from New Guinea. In this voyage he made further

additions to our geographical knowledge of Australasia; for he visited New

Zealand, which Tasman had discovered in 1642, but on which he did not even

land. Captain Cook examined it with great care; and ascertained not only

its extent, but that it was divided into two large islands, by a strait,

which is called after him. During his second voyage he explored the New

Hebrides, the most northern of which is supposed to be described by Quitos:

Bougainville had undoubtedly sailed among them. The whole lie between the

latitude of 14° 29' and 24° 4' south, and between 166° 41' and 170° 21'

east longitude. After having completed his examination of these islands, he

discovered an extensive country, which he called New Caledonia. In his

passage from this to New Zealand he discovered several islands, and among

the rest Norfolk Island. The great object of his third voyage, which was

the examination of the north-west coast of America, did not afford him an

opportunity of visiting for any length of time Australasia; yet he did

visit it, and examined New Zealand attentively, obtaining much original and

important information respecting it, and the manners, &c. of its

inhabitants.

The voyages which we have hitherto noticed, were principally directed to

the southern parts of Australasia. Between the years 1774 and 1776, some

discoveries were made in the northern parts of it by Captain Forrest: he

sailed from India in a vessel of only ten tons, with the intention of

ascertaining whether a settlement could not be formed on an island near the

northern promontory of Borneo. In the course of this voyage he examined the

north coast of Waygiou; and after visiting several small islands, he

arrived on the north coast of Papua.

The next accessions that were made to our geographical knowledge of

Australasia, are derived from the voyage in search of La Peyrouse. The

object of La Peyrouse's voyage was to complete the discoveries made by

former navigators in the southern hemisphere: in the course of this voyage

he navigated some portion of Australasia; but where he and his crew

perished is not known. As the French government were naturally and very

laudably anxious to ascertain his real fate, two vessels were despatched

from France in the year 1791, for that purpose. In April, 1792, they

arrived within the limits of Australasia: after having examined Van

Diemen's Land, they sailed along an immense chain of reefs, extending

upwards of 3OO miles on the east coast of New Caledonia. As Captain Cook

had confined his survey to the north, they directed their attention to the

south-west coast. After visiting some islands in this sea, they arrived at

New Ireland, part of which they carefully explored. In 1793, after having

visited New Holland, they sailed for New Zealand; and near it they

discovered an island which lies near the eastern limit of Australasia: to

this they gave the name of Recherche. The New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and

New Britain, were also visited and examined; near the coast of the last

they discovered several mountainous islands. Beside the accessions to our

geographical knowledge of Australasia which we derived from this voyage, it

is particularly valuable "on account of the illustrations of the natural

history of the different countries, and the accuracy with which the

astronomical observations were made." It is worthy of remark that the two

ships lost nearly half their men; whereas, British navigators have been out

as long, in a climate and circumstances as unfavourable to health, and have

scarcely lost a single man.

At the beginning of this century, the French government planned a voyage of

discovery, the chief object of which was to explore the seas of

Australasia. Those parts of New Holland which were entirely unknown, or but

imperfectly ascertained, were to be examined; the coast of New Guinea to be

surveyed, principally in the search of a strait which was supposed to

divide it into two parts; a passage by Endeavour Straits to the eastern

point of the Gulf of Carpentaria was to be attempted; and then the

expedition was to sail to Cape Northwest. Besides these objects in

Australasia, the Indian Ocean was to be navigated.

Two vessels, the Geographe and Naturaliste, sailed on this expedition in

October, 1800; but they did not by their discoveries add much that was

important to the geography of Australasia. They indeed have made known to

future navigators, reefs and shoals on the coast of New Holland; have fixed

more accurately, or for the first time, some latitudes and longitudes

belonging to this and other parts of Australasia, and have traced some

small rivers in New Holland. They also confirmed the accuracy and justice

of preceding observations in several points; particularly relative to the

singular fineness of the weather, and serenity of the heavens in these

seas.

Their greatest discovery undoubtedly consisted in a great archipelago,

which they named after Bonaparte: the islands that composed it were in

general small; some volcanic or basaltic; others sandy. After examining

these, they were obliged to return to Timor, in consequence of the sickness

of their crews. After they were recovered, they returned to the grand

object of their expedition, which, though interesting and important to the

navigator, or to the minute researches of the geographer, presents nothing

that requires to be noticed in this place.

Such is the sum of the additions to our geographical knowledge of

Australasia which has resulted from the voyages of discovery during the

last one hundred years. The great outline, and most of the subordinate

parts, are filled up; and little remains to be discovered or ascertained

which can greatly alter our maps, as they are at present drawn. Additions,

however, will gradually be made; errors will be corrected; a stronger and

clearer light will be thrown on obscure points. Much of this will be done

by the accidental discoveries and observations of the many ships which are

constantly sailing from England to New Holland; or which trade from the

latter country to New Zealand or other parts of Australasia, to India, or

to China. By means of these voyages, additions have already been made to

our knowledge, especially of New Zealand; and its inhabitants are beginning

to feel and acknowledge the benefits which must always be derived from the

intercourse of civilized people with savages.

Polynesia, extending from the Pelew Isles on the west, to the Isle of All

Saints on the north-east, and the Sandwich Isles in the east, and having

for its other boundaries the latitude of 20° north, and of 50° south, near

the latter of which it joins Australasia, is the only remaining division of

the globe which remains to come under our cognizance, as having been

explored by maritime expeditions; and as it consists entirely of groups of

small islands, we shall not be detained long in tracing the discoveries

which have been made in these seas.

The Pelew Islands, one of the divisions of Polynesia, though they probably

had been seen, and perhaps visited by Europeans before 1783, were certainly

first made completely known to them at this period, in consequence of the

shipwreck of Captain Wilson on them. The Sandwich Isles, the next group,

have been discovered within the last century by Captain Cook, on his last

voyage. The Marquesas, discovered by Mandana, were visited by Captain Cook

in 1774, by the French in 1789, and particularly and carefully examined

during the missionary voyage of Captain Wilson in 1797. Captain Wallis, who

sailed with Captain Carteret in 1766, but was afterwards separated from him

in his course across the South Pacific, discovered several islands,

particularly Otaheite; to this and the neighbouring islands the name of

Society Isles was given. Such are the most important discoveries that have

been made in Polynesia during the last century; but besides these, other

discoveries of less importance have been made, either by navigators who

have sailed expressly for the purpose, as Kotzebue, &c., or by accident,

while crossing this immense ocean. In consequence of the advances which the

Sandwich Islands have made in civilization, commerce, and the arts, there

is considerable intercourse with them, especially by the Americans; and

their voyages to them, and from thence to China, whither they carry the

sandal wood, &c. which they obtain there, as well as their voyages from the

north-west coast of America with furs to China, must soon detect any isles

that may still be unknown in this part of the Pacific Ocean.

Although, therefore, much remains yet to be accomplished by maritime

expeditions, towards the extension and correction of our geographical

knowledge, so far as the bearings of the coast, and the latitudes and

longitudes of various places are concerned, there seems no room for what

may properly and strictly be called discovery, at least of any thing but

small and scattered islands.

It is otherwise with the accessions which land expeditions may still make

to geographical knowledge; for though within these one hundred years the

European foot has trodden where it never trod before, and though our

geographical knowledge of the interior of Africa, Asia, and America, has

been, rendered within that period not only more extensive, but also more

accurate and minute than it previously was, yet much remains to be done and

known.

In giving a short and rapid sketch of the progress of discovery, so far as

it has been accomplished by land expeditions during the period alluded to,

we are naturally led to divide what we have to say according to the three

great portions of the globe which have been the objects of these

expeditions, viz. Africa, Asia, and America.

1. Africa. This country has always presented most formidable obstacles to

the progress of discovery: its immense and trackless deserts, its burning

and fatal climate, its barbarous and treacherous inhabitants, have united

to keep a very large portion of it from the intercourse, and even the

approach of European travellers. Even its northern parts, which are most

accessible to Europe, and which for 2000 years have been occasionally

visited by Europeans, are guarded by the cruel jealousy of its inhabitants;

or, if that is overcome, advances to any very great distance from the coast

are effectively impeded by natives still more savage, or by waterless and

foodless deserts.

The west coast of Africa, ever since it was ascertained that slaves, ivory,

gold dust, gums, &c. could be obtained there, has been eagerly colonized by

Europeans; and though these colonies have now existed for upwards of three

hundred years, and though the same love of gain which founded them must

have directed a powerful wish on those interior countries from which these

precious articles of traffic were brought, yet such have been the

difficulties, and dangers, and dread, that the most enthusiastic traveller,

and the most determined lover of gain, have scarcely penetrated beyond the

very frontier of the coast. If we turn to the east coast, still less has

been done to explore the interior from that side; the nature, bearings, &c.

of the coast itself are not accurately known; and accessions to our

knowledge respecting it have been the result rather of accident than of a

settled plan, or of any expedition with that view. The Cape of Good Hope

has now been an European settlement nearly two hundred years: the

inhabitants in that part of Africa, though of course barbarians, are

neither so formidable for their craft and cruelty, and strength, nor so

implacable in their hatred of strangers, as the inhabitants of the north

and of the interior of Africa; and yet to what a short distance from the

Cape has even a solitary European traveller ever reached!

But though a very great deal remains to be accomplished before Africa will

cease to present an immense void in its interior, in our maps, and still

more remains to be accomplished before we can become acquainted with the

manners, &c. of its inhabitants, and its produce and manufactures, yet the

last century, and what has passed of the present, have witnessed many bold

and successful enterprizes to extend our geographical knowledge of this

quarter of the globe.

As the sovereigns of the northern shores of Africa were, from various

causes and circumstances, always in implacable hostility with one another,

and as, besides this obstacle to advances into Africa from this side, it

was well known that the Great Desert spread itself an almost impassable

barrier to any very great progress by the north into the interior, it was

not to be expected that any attempts to penetrate this quarter of the globe

by this route would be made. On the other hand, the Europeans had various

settlements on the western coast: on this coast there were many large

rivers, which apparently ran far into the interior; these rivers,

therefore, naturally seemed the most expeditious, safe, and easy routes, by

which the interior might, at least to a short distance from the shore, be

penetrated.

But it was very long before the Senegal, one of the chief of these rivers,

was traced higher than the falls of Felu; or the Gambia, another river of

note and magnitude, than those of Baraconda. In the year 1723, Captain

Stebbs, who was employed by the Royal African Company, succeeded in going

up this river as far as the flats of Tenda. Soon afterwards, some

information respecting the interior of Africa, especially respecting Bonda,

(which is supposed to be the Bondou of Park, in the upper Senegal,) was

received through an African prince, who was taken prisoner, and carried as

a slave to America.

All the information which had been drawn from these, and other sources,

respecting the interior, was collected and published by Moore, the

superintendent of the African Company's settlements on the Gambia; but

though the particulars regarding the manners, &c. of the inhabitants are

curious, yet this work adds not much to our geographical knowledge of the

interior of this part of the world.

In the year 1788, the African Institution was formed: its object was to

send persons properly qualified to make discoveries in the interior of

Africa. The first person engaged by them was Mr. Ledyard; and, from all

accounts of him, no person could have been better qualified for such an

arduous enterprise: he was strong, healthy, active, intelligent,

inquisitive, observant, and undaunted; full of zeal, and sanguine of

success; and, at the same time, open, kind, and insinuating in his looks

and manners. At Cairo he prepared himself for his undertaking, by visiting

the slave market, in order to converse with the merchants of the various

caravans, and learn all the particulars connected with his proposed

journey, and the countries from which they came. But be proceeded no

farther than Cairo: here he was seized with an illness, occasioned or

aggravated by the delay in the caravans setting out for Sennaar, which

proved fatal.

Mr Lucas was the next person employed by the African Institution. In

October, 1788, he arrived at Tripoli, from whence he set out with two

shereefs for Fezzan, by the way of Mescerata. On the fourth day after his

departure, he reached Lebida, on the sea coast, the Leptis Magna of the

Romans. He found, on his arrival at Mescerata, that he should not be able

to procure the number of camels necessary to convey his goods to Fezzan;

and was obliged to abandon his enterprize. From the information which he

derived, at Mescerata, confirmed as it was by what the Association had

learnt from the narrative of a native of Morocco, the geography of Africa

was extended from Fezzan, across the eastern division of the Desert, to

Bornou, Cashna, and the Niger.

In a year or two after the return of Mr. Lucas, the African Association,

who were indefatigable in endeavouring to obtain information from all

sources, learnt some interesting and original circumstances from an Arab.

This person described a large empire on the banks of the Niger, in the

capital of which, Housa, he had resided two years: this city he rather

vaguely and inconsistently described as equalling London and Cairo in

extent and population. As it was necessary to scrutinize the truth and

consistency of his narrative, what he related was at first received with

caution and doubt, but an incidental circumstance seemed to prove him

worthy of credit; for in describing the manner in which pottery was

manufactured at Housa, which he did by imitating the actions of those who

made it, it was remarked that he actually described the ancient Grecian

wheel.

In order to learn whether the accounts of this man were true and accurate,

the African Institution sent out Major Houghton: he was instructed to

ascertain the course, and, if possible, the rise and termination of the

Niger; to visit Tombuctoo and Housa, and to return by the Desert.

Accordingly he sailed up the Gambia to Pisania, and thence he proceeded to

Medina, the capital of the Mandingo kingdom. His course from this city was

north-east, which led him beyond the limit of European discovery, to the

uninhabited frontier which separates Bondou and Mandingo. After some time

spent in endeavouring to ingratiate himself with the king of the latter

country, but in vain, he resolved to proceed into Bambouk. On arriving at

Firbanna, the capital, he was hospitably treated by the king. Here be

formed a plan to go with a merchant to Tombuctoo; but on his way he was

robbed, and either perished of hunger, or was murdered: the exact

particulars are not known. To Major Houghton we are indebted for our first

knowledge of the kingdom of Bondou; and for the names of several cities on

the Niger, as well as the course of that river.

Mr. Park was next employed by the African Association; and what he learnt,

observed, did, and suffered, fully justified them in the choice of such a

man. "His first journey was unquestionably the most important which any

European had ever performed in the interior of Africa. He established a

number of geographical positions, in a direct line of eleven hundred miles

from Cape de Verde: by pointing out the positions of the sources of the

Senegal, Gambia, and Niger, he has given a new aspect to the physical

geography of this continent; he has fixed the boundaries of the Moors and

Negroes; unfolded to us the empire of Ludamar; and described, from personal

observation, some important towns on the banks of the Niger, or Joliba. The

information which he has communicated concerning this part of Africa, and

their manners, is equally new and interesting. He has traced with accuracy

the distinction betwixt the Mahometans and Pagans." This journey was

accomplished between the 2d of December, 1795, when he left Pisania, a

British factory two hundred miles up the Gambia, and the 10th of June,

1797, when he returned to the same place, an interval of eighteen months.

Notwithstanding the dangers and fatigues which he had undergone;

notwithstanding that, on his return to his native country, he had married,

and entered on a life which promised him competence and domestic happiness;

yet his mind yearned for a repetition of those scenes and adventures to

which he had lately been accustomed. No sooner, therefore, did he learn

that another mission to Africa was in contemplation, than he set his

inclination on undertaking it, if it were offered to him. This it was: he

accepted the offer; and on the 30th of January, 1805, he left Portsmouth.

It is surprising and lamentable, that notwithstanding his knowledge and

experience of the climate of the country to which he was going, he should

have begun his expedition at a time when her was sure to encounter the

rainy season long before he could reach the Niger.

The expedition was most unfortunate: Mr. Park perished in it, after having

undergone dreadful hardships, and witnessed the death of several of his

companions; and of one of them who was his most intimate friend. The exact

place and circumstances of his own fate are not known: it is known,

however, from his own journal, which he transmitted to England, that he had

reached Sansandang, which is considerably short of Silla, which he had

reached in his first journey; and from other sources, it is known, that

from the former place he went to Yaour in Haoussa, where he is supposed to

have been killed by the natives.

The African Association were still indefatigable in their endeavours to

explore the interior of Africa; and they found little difficulty in meeting

with persons zealously disposed, as well as qualified, to second their

designs. Mr. Horneman, a German, who possessed considerable knowledge, such

as might be of service to him on such an enterprise, and who was besides

strong, active, vigorous, undaunted, endowed with passive courage, (a most

indispensable qualification,) temperate, and in perfect health, was next

selected. He prepared himself by learning such of the Oriental languages as

might be useful to him; and on the 10th of September, 1797, arrived at

Alexandria. Circumstances prevented him from pursuing his route for nearly

two years, when he left Cairo, along with a caravan for Fezzan. His

subsequent fate is unknown; but there is reason to believe that he died

soon after his departure from Fezzan.

It is not necessary to mention any of the subsequent expeditions which were

sent by the Association into the interior of Africa; since none of them

have added to our knowledge of this portion of the globe. There have,

indeed, been communications received from some of the merchants trading

from the north of Africa to the Niger, which confirm the accounts of large

and powerful kingdoms on its banks, and the inhabitants of these kingdoms

are comparatively far advanced in manufactures and commerce; but, besides

these particulars, little respecting the geography of the interior has been

ascertained. The course of the Niger is proved beyond a doubt to be, as

Herodotus described it, upwards of 2000 years ago, from west to east; but

the termination of this large river is utterly unknown. Some think it

unites with the Nile, and forms the great western branch of that river,

called the Bahr el Abiad, or White River; others think that it loses itself

in the lakes or swamps of Wangara, or Ghana, and is there wasted by

evaporation; while another opinion is, that its course takes a bend to the

west, and that it falls into the Atlantic, or that it discharges itself

into the Indian Ocean.

The British government, anxious to determine, if possible, this curious and

important question, sent out two expeditions, about seven years since, to

explore in every possible way the course and termination of the Niger. The

first, under the conduct of Captain Tuckey, proceeded up the Zaire; the

other ascended the Nunez in north Africa, in order, if possible, to reach

the navigable part of the Niger by a shorter course than that followed by

Park, and with the design of proceeding down the river till it reached its

termination. The issue of both these expeditions, particularly of the

former, was singularly melancholy and unfortunate: Captain Tuckey, and

fifteen persons out of the thirty who composed it, perished in consequence

of the excessive fatigue which they underwent after they had reached above

the cataracts of the river, the want of sufficient and proper food, and a

fever brought on, or aggravated, by these causes. Captain Tuckey was the

last who fell a victim, after having traced the Zaire, till it became from

four to five miles in breadth. The mountains were no longer seen, and the

course of the river inclined to the north; these circumstances, joined to

that of its becoming broader, render the opinion that it is the same with

the Niger more probable than it previously was: the accounts given to

Captain Tuckey were also to the same effect. The second expedition, under

the direction of Major Peddir, reached Kauendy on the Nunez, where he died:

his successor in the command, Captain Campbell, penetrated about 150 miles

beyond this place, but not being able to procure the means of proceeding,

he was obliged to return to it, where he also died.

Within 150 miles of the British settlement at Cape Coast Castle, there is a

powerful and rich nation, called the Aahantees: they seem first to have

been heard of by Europeans about the year 1700; but they were not seen near

the coast, nor had they any intercourse with our factories till the year

1807: they visited the coast again in 1811, and a third time in 1816. These

invasions produced great distress among the Fantees, and even were highly

prejudicial to our factory; in consequence of which, the governor resolved

to send a mission to them. Of this journey an account has been published by

Mr. Bowdich, one of those engaged in it. The travellers passed through the

Fantee and Assen territories. The first Ashantee village was Quesha; the

capital is Coomastee, which the mission reached on the 19th of May, 1817.

Mr. Bowdich paints the splendour, magnificence, and richness of the

sovereign of the Ashantees in the most gorgeous manner; and even his

manners as dignified and polished. But though his work is very full of what

almost seems romantic pictures and statements of the civilization and

richness of the Ashantees, and gives accurate accounts of their kingdom,

yet, in other respects, it is not interesting or important, in a

geographical point of view. There are, indeed, some notices which were

collected from the natives or the travelling Moors, regarding the countries

beyond Ashantee, and some of their opinions respecting the Niger. The most

important point which he ascertained was, that the route from the capital

to Tombuctoo is much travelled; and it is now supposed that this is the

shortest and best road for Europeans to take, who wish to reach the Niger

near that city. Indeed, we understand that merchants frequently come to the

British settlement at Sierra Leone, who represent the route into the

interior of Africa and the neighbourhood of the Niger from thence, as by no

means arduous or dangerous.

We shall next direct our attention to the north of Africa.

The hostility of the Mahometans, who possessed the north of Africa, to

Christians, presented as serious an obstacle to travels in that quarter as

the barbarism and ferocity of the native tribes on the west coast did to

discoveries into the interior in that direction. In the sixteenth century,

Leo Africanus gave an ample description of the northern parts; and in the

same century, Alvarez, who visited Abyssinia, published an account of that

country. In the subsequent century, this part of Africa was illustrated by

Lobo, Tellea, and Poncet; the latter was a chemist and apothecary, sent by

Louis XIV to the reigning monarch of Abyssinia; the former were

missionaries. From their accounts, and those of the Portuguese, all our

information respecting this country was derived, previously to the travels

of Mr. Bruce.

Pocock and Norden are the most celebrated travellers in Egypt in the

beginning of the seventeenth century; but as their object was rather the

discovery and description of the antiquities of this country, what they

published did not much extend our geographical knowledge: the former spent

five years in his travels. The latter is the first writer who published a

picturesque description of Egypt; every subsequent traveller has borne

evidence to the accuracy and fidelity of his researches and descriptions.

He was the first European who ventured above the cataracts.

The great ambition and object of Mr. Bruce was to discover the source of

the Nile; for this purpose he left Britain in 1762, and after visiting

Algiers, Balbec, and Palmyra, he prepared for his journey into Abyssinia.

He sailed up the Nile a considerable way, and afterwards joined a caravan

to Cosseir on the Red Sea. After visiting part of the sea coast of Arabia,

he sailed for Massoucut, by which route alone an entrance into Abyssinia

was practicable. In this country he encountered many obstacles, and

difficulties, and after all, in consequence of wrong information he

received from the inhabitants, visited only the Blue River, one of the

inferior streams of the Nile, instead of the White River, its real source.

This, however, is of trifling moment, when contrasted with the accessions

to our geographical knowledge of Abyssinia, the coast of the Red Sea, &c.,

for which we are indebted to this most zealous and persevering traveller.

Since Mr. Bruce's time, Abyssinia has been visited by Mr. Salt, who has

likewise added considerably to our knowledge of this country, though on

many points he differs from Mr. Bruce.

The most important and interesting accession to our knowledge of the north

of Africa was made between the years 1792 and 1795, by Mr. Browne. This

gentleman seems to have equalled Mr. Bruce in his zeal and ardour, but to

have surpassed him in the soundness and utility of his views; for while the

former was principally ambitious of discovering the sources of the Nile,--a

point of little real moment in any point of view,--the latter wished to

penetrate into those parts of the north of Africa which were unknown to

Europeans, but which, from all accounts of them, promised to interest and

benefit, not only commerce, but science. His precise and immediate object

was Darfur, some of the natives of which resided in Egypt: from their

manners and account of their country, Mr. Browne concluded the inhabitants

were not so hostile to Christians and Europeans as Mahometans are in

general. He therefore resolved to go thither; as from it he could either

proceed into Abyssinia by Kordofan, or traverse Africa from east to west.

He therefore left Assiou in Egypt with the Soudan caravan in 1793, passed

through the greater Oasis, and arrived at Sircini in Darfur: here he

resided a considerable time, but he found insurmountable obstacles opposed

to his grand and ulterior plan. He ascertained, however, the source and

progress of the real Nile or White River. The geography of Darfur and

Kordofan is illustrated by him in a very superior and satisfactory manner.

The geography of Africa to the west of these countries is likewise

elucidated by him: he mentions and describes a large river which takes its

rise among the mountains of Kumri, and flows in a north-west course. This

river is supposed to be that described by Ptolemy under the name of Gir,

and by Edrisi as the Nile of the Negroes. The fate of Mr. Browne, who from

all the accounts of him seems to have been admirably fitted by nature and

habits for a traveller, was very melancholy. After his return to England

from Darfur he resolved to visit the central countries of Asia: he

accordingly set out, but on his way thither he was murdered in Persia.

At the commencement of this century, circumstances occurred Which rendered

Egypt and the countries adjacent more accessible to Europeans than they had

ever been before. In the first place, the French, who most unjustly invaded

it, took with their invading army a number of literary and scientific men,

by whom were published several splendid works, principally on the

antiquities of this ancient country. In the second place, the English, by

driving out the French, and by their whole conduct towards the ruling men

and the natives in general, not only weakened in a very considerable degree

the dislike to Europeans and Christians which the Mahomedans here, as

elsewhere, had ever entertained, but also created a grateful sense of

obligation and of favour towards themselves. Lastly, the pacha, who

obtained the power in Egypt, was a man of liberal and enlightened views,

far above those who had preceded him, and disposed to second and assist the

researches and journies of travellers.

In consequence of these favourable circumstances, and the additional

circumstance, that by the conquests and influence of Bonaparte English

travellers were shut out from a great part of Europe, they directed their

course towards Egypt. Their object was chiefly to investigate the numerous,

stupendous, and interesting antiquities.

In the year 1813, Mr. Legh, a member of the House of Commons, performed a

journey in this country, and beyond the cataracts. Above the cataracts he

entered Nubia, and proceeded to Dehr, its capital. These travels are,

however, chiefly interesting and instructive for that which indeed must

give the chief interest to all travels in Egypt and Nubia--the description

of antiquities.

The second cataract continued the limit of the attempts of European

travellers, till it was reached and passed, first by Mr. Burckhardt, and

afterwards by Mr. Banks. No modern traveller has excelled Mr. Burckhardt in

the importance of his travels; and-few, in any age, have equalled him in

zeal, perseverance, fortitude, and success.

He was employed by the African Association to explore the interior of

Africa. Having perfected himself in the knowledge of the religion, manners,

and language of the Mahomedan Arabs, by frequent and long residences among

the Bedouins, he proceeded to Cairo. Here, finding that the opportunity of

a caravan to Fezzan or Darfur was not soon likely to occur, he resolved to

explore Egypt and the country above the cataracts. He accordingly

"performed two very arduous and interesting journies into the ancient

Ethiopia; one of them along the banks of the Nile from Assouan to Dar al

Mahas on the frontiers of Dongola, in the months of February and March,

1813, during which he discovered many remains of ancient Egyptian and

Nubian architecture, with Greek inscriptions; the other between March and

July in the following year, through Nubia to Souakun. The details of this

journey contain the best notices ever received in Europe of the actual

state of society, trade, manufactures, and government, in what was once the

cradle of all the knowledge of the Egyptians."

Although it will carry us a little out of our regular and stated course, to

notice the other travels of this enterprising man in the place, yet we

prefer doing it, in order that our readers, by having at once before them a

brief abstract of all he performed for geography, may the better be enabled

to appreciate his merits.

Soon after his second return to Cairo, he resolved to penetrate into

Arabia, and to visit Mecca and Medina. In order to secure his own safety,

and at the same time gain such information as could alone be obtained in

the character of a Mahomedan, he assumed the dress, and he was enabled to

personate the religion, manners, and language of the native Hadje, or

pilgrims. Thus secure and privileged, he resided between four and five

months in Mecca. Here he gained some authentic and curious information

respecting the rise, history, and tenets of the Wahabees, a Mahomedan sect.

These travels have not yet been published.

The last excursion of Mr. Burckhardt was from Cairo to Mount Sinai and the

eastern head of the Red Sea. This journey was published in 1822, along with

the travels in Syria and the Holy Land; the latter of which he accomplished

while he was preparing himself at Aleppo for his proposed journey into the

interior of Africa. These travels, therefore, are prior in date to those in

Nubia, though they were published afterwards.

He spent nearly three, years in Syria: his most important geographical

discoveries in this country relate to the nature of the district between

the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Elana; the extent, conformation, and detailed

topography of the Haouran; the situation of Apanea on the river Orontes,

which was one of the most important cities of Syria under the Macedonian

Greeks; the site of Petreea; and the general structure of the peninsula of

Mount Sinai. Perhaps the most original and important of these illustrations

of ancient geography is that which relates to the Elanitic Gulph: its

extent and form were previously so little known, that it was either

entirely omitted, or very erroneously laid down in maps. From what he

observed here, there is good reason to believe that the Jordan once

discharged itself into the Red Sea; thus confirming the truth of that

convulsion mentioned and described in the nineteenth chapter of Genesis,

which interrupted the coarse of this river; converted the plain in which

Sodom and Gomorrah stood into a lake, and changed the valley to the

southward of this district into a sandy desert.

But Mr. Burckhardt, considering all these excursions, and their consequent

numerous and important accessions to geographical knowledge, as only

preludes to the grand expedition for which he had expressly come to the

East, still looked forward to the interior of Africa. This, however, he was

not destined to reach; for while at Cairo, waiting for a caravan, which was

to proceed by Mourzouck,--a. route which he had long decided on as the most

likely to answer his purpose,--he was suddenly seized with a dysentery, on

the 5th of October, 1817, and died on the 15th.

Travellers in. Egypt and Nubia have been numerous since the time of Mr.

Burckhardt; but as they chiefly directed their investigations and inquiries

to the antiquities of the country, they do not come within our proper

notice; we shall therefore merely mention the names of Belzoni, (whose

antiquarian discoveries have been so numerous and splendid,) Mr. Salt, Mr.

Bankes, &c. To this latter gentleman, however, geography is also indebted

for important additions to its limits; or, rather, for having illustrated

ancient geography. He penetrated, as we have already mentioned, as far as

the second cataract: he visited some of the most celebrated scenes in

Arabia, and made an excursion to Waadi Mooza, or the Valley of Moses. He

also visited Carrac; but the most important discovery of this gentleman

relates to the site of the ancient Petraea, which was also visited by

Burckhardt. Onr readers will recollect that this city has been particularly

noticed in our digression on the early commerce of the Arabians, as the

common centre for the caravans in all ages; and that we traced its ancient

history as far down as there were any notices of it. Its ruins Mr. Bankes

discovered in those of Waadi Mooza, a village in the valley of the same

name.

Since Mr. Burckhardt travelled, geographical discoveries have been made in

this part of the world by Messrs. Ritchie and Lyon, Lord Belmore and Dr.

Richardson, Messrs. Waddington and Hanbury, Messrs. Caillaud and Drovetti,

Sir Archibald Edmonstone, Sir Frederick Henniker, and by an American of the

name of English. The travels of Messrs. Ritchie and Lyon were confined to

Fezzan, and are chiefly curious for the notices they give, derived from

native merchants, of the course of the Niger, By means of the travels of

Lord Belmore and Dr. Richardson, the latitudes and longitudes on the Nile

have been corrected from Assouan to the confines of Dongola. Mr. Waddington

and Mr. Hanbury, taking advantage of an expedition sent into Ethiopia by

the pacha of Egypt, examined this river four hundred miles beyond the place

to which Burckhardt advanced. The travels of the two French gentlemen

extended to the Oasis of Thebes and Dakel, and the deserts situated to the

east and west of the Thebaid. In the Thebaic Oasis some very interesting

remains of antiquity were discovered: the great Oasis was well known to the

ancients; but the Thebaic Oasis has seldom been visited in modern times.

Brown and Poncet passed through its longest extent, but did not see the

ruins observed by Mr. Caillaud.

This gentleman, who was employed by the pacha to search for gold, silver,

and precious stones, after a residence of five months at Sennaar, traversed

the province of Fazocle, and followed the Arrek, till it entered the

kingdom of Bertot. At a place called Singue, in the kingdom of Dar-foke,

which is the southern boundary of Bertot, situated on the tenth parallel of

latitude, and five days' journey to the westward of the confines of

Abyssinia, the conquests of Ishmaei Pacha terminated. Only short notices of

these travels of Mr. Caillaud have as yet been published.

Sir A. Edmonstone's first intention was to visit the Thebaic Oasis; but

understanding from Mr. Belzoni that Mr. Caillaud had already been there,

but that there was another Oasis to the westward, which had never been

visited by any European, he resolved to proceed thither. This Oasis was

also visited by Drovetti much about I he same time: he calls it the Oasis

of Dakel. It seems to have escaped the notice of all the ancient authors

examined by Sir Archibald, except Olympiodorus. Speaking of the Thebaic

Oasis, he mentions an interior and extensive one, lying opposite to the

other, one hundred miles apart, which corresponds with the actual distance

between them.

The American traveller accompanied the expedition of the pacha of Egypt as

far as Sennaar. He commences the account of his voyage up the Nile at the

second cataract; and as far as the pyramids of Meroe, where the voyage of

Messrs. Waddington and Hanbury terminated, his accounts correspond with

what they give. He did not, however, follow the great bend of the river

above Dongola: this he describes as 250 miles long, and full of rocks and

rapid. He again reached the Nile, having crossed the peninsula in a direct

line, at Shendi. Near this place he discovered the remains of a city,

temples, and fifty-four pyramids, which are supposed, by a writer in the

Quarterly Review, to be the ruins of the celebrated Meroc, as their

position agrees with that assigned them by a draughtsman employed by Mr.

Bankes. The army halted on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Halfaia:

about five hours' march above this place the Bahr el Abiad, or White River,

flows into the Bahr el Azreck, or Nile of Bruce. In thirteen days from the

junction of these two rivers, the army, marching along the left, or western

branch of the Azreck, reached Sennaar.

In the year 1817, Delia Cella, an Italian physician, accompanied the army

of the bashaw of Tripoli as far as Bomba, on the route towards Egypt, and

near the frontiers of that country. He had thus an opportunity "of visiting

one of the oldest and most celebrated of the Greek colonies, established

upwards of seven hundred years before the birth of Christ; and in being the

first European to follow the footsteps of Cato round the shores of the

Syrtis, and to explore a region untrodden by Christian foot since the

expulsion of the Romans, the Huns, and the Vandals, by the enterprising

disciples of Mahomet." In this journey he necessarily passed the present

boundary between Tripoli and Bengaze, the same which was anciently the

boundary between Carthage and Cyrene; and our author confirms the account

of Sallust, that neither river nor mountain marks the confines. He also

confirms the description given by Herodotus of the dreadful storms of sand

that frequently arise and overwhelm the caravans in this part of the

Syrtis. At the head of the Syrtis the ground is depressed, and this

depression, our author supposes, continues to the Great Desert. Soon after

he left this barren country, he entered Cyrenaica, the site of Cyrene: that

most ancient and celebrated colony of the Greeks was easily ascertained by

its magnificent ruins. From Cyrene the army marched to Derna, and from this

to the gulf of Bomba, an extensive arm of the sea, where the expedition

terminated.

Such are the most recent discoveries in this portion of Africa.

The settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, originally established by the

Dutch, and at present in possession of the English, was naturally the point

from which European travellers set out to explore the southern parts of

Africa. Their progress hitherto has not been great, though, as far as they

have advanced, the information they have acquired of the face of the

country, its productions, the tribes which inhabit it, and their habits,

manners, &c. may be regarded as full and accurate. The principal travellers

who have visited this part of Africa, and from whose travels the best

information may be obtained of the settlement of the Cape, and of the

country to the north of it for about 900 miles, are Kolbein, Sparman, Le

Vaillant, Barrow, Lichtenstein, La Trobe, Campbell, and Burcheli. To the

geography of the east coast of Africa, and of the adjacent districts,

little or no addition has been made for a very considerable length of time.

II. The discoveries in Asia may in general be divided into those which the

vast possessions of the Russians in this quarter of the globe, and the

corresponding interest which they felt to become better acquainted with

them, induced them to make, and into those to which the English were

stimulated, and which they were enabled to perform, from the circumstance

of their vast, important, and increasing possessions in Hindostan.

The most important and instructive travels which spring from the first

source, are those of Bell of Antermony, Pallas, Grnelin, Guldenstedt,

Lepechin, &c. Bell was a Scotchman, attached to the Russian service: his

work, which was published about the middle of the last century, contains an

account of the embassy sent by Peter the Great to the emperor of China, and

of another embassy into Persia; of an expedition to Derbent by the Russian

army, and of a journey to Constantinople. Of the route in all these

directions he gives an interesting and accurate account, as well as of the

manners, &c. of the people. Indeed, it is a valuable work, especially that

portion of it which conducts us through the central parts of Asia,--an

immense district, which, as we have already remarked, is not much better

known at present, (at least considerable portions of it,) than it was three

or four centuries ago. The travels of Pallas, &c. were undertaken by order

of the Russian government, for the purpose of gaining a fuller and more

accurate account of the provinces of that immense empire, especially those

to the south, which, from climate, soil, and productions were most

valuable, and most capable of improvement.

The English possessions in Hindostan have led the way to two sets of

discoveries, or rather advancements in geographical knowledge: one which

was derived from the journies frequently made overland from India to

Europe; and the other, which was derived from embassies, &c. from Calcutta

to the neighbouring kingdoms. In general, however, the journies overland

from India, having been undertaken expressly for the purpose of expedition,

and moreover being through countries which required the utmost caution on

the part of the travellers to preserve them from danger, did not admit of

much observation being made, or much information being acquired, respecting

the districts that were passed through. The travels of Jackson, Forster,

and Fitzclarence, are perhaps as valuable as any which have been given to

the public respecting the route from India to Europe, and the countries,

and their inhabitants, passed through in this route.

From the embassies and the wars of the British East India Company in

Hindostan, we have derived much valuable information respecting Persia,

Thibet, Ava, Caubul, &c.; and from their wars, as well as from the

institution of the Asiatic Society, and the facilities which their

conquests afforded to travellers, the whole of the peninsula of Hindostan,

as well as the country to the north of it, as far as Cashmere and the

Himaleh mountains, may be regarded as fully explored. Perhaps the most

valuable accession to geographical knowledge through the English conquests,

relates to these mountains. They seem to have been known to Pliny under the

name of Imaus: they are described by Plotemy; and they were crossed by some

of the Jesuit missionaries about the beginning of the seventeenth century;

but they were not thoroughly explored till the beginning of the nineteenth.

Mr. Moorcroft was the first European, after the missionaries, who

penetrated into the plains of Tartary through these mountains. The fullest

account, however, of the singular countries which lie among them, is given

by Mr. Frazer, who in 1814 passed in a straight line, in a direction of

this chain, between 60 and 70 miles, and also visited the sources of the

Ganges.

Our commerce with China for tea, and the hope of extending that commerce to

other articles, produced, towards the end of the last century and the

beginning of this, two embassies to China, from both of which, but

especially from the first, much additional information has been gained

respecting this extensive country, and its singular inhabitants; so that,

regarding it and them, from these embassies, and the works of the Jesuit

missionaries, we possess all the knowledge which we can well expect to

derive, so long as the Chinese are so extremely jealous of strangers.

The British embassies to China, besides making us better acquainted with

this country, added no little to our information respecting those places

which were visited in going to and returning from China. Perhaps the most

important correction of geography is that which was made by Captains

Maxwell and Hall, who took out the second embassy: we allude to what they

ascertained respecting the kingdom of Corea. They found a bay, which,

according to the charts of this country, would be situated 120 miles in the

interior; and at the same time they ascertained, that along the southern

coast of Corea there was an archipelago of more than 1000 islands. These

discoveries; the valuable additions which were made during the voyage of

Captain Maxwell to the geography and hydrography of the Yellow Sea; the

correction of the vague and incorrect notions which were long entertained

respecting the isles of Jesso and the Kuriles, by the labours of La

Perouse, Broughton, Krusentein, &c., and the full and minute information

given to the public respecting Java, and other parts of the southern Indian

archipelago, by Raffles, Craufurd, &c. seem to leave little to be added to

our geographical knowledge of the eastern and southeastern portions of

Asia.

III. We come now to America;--and though Africa is one of the most ancient

seats of the human race, and of civilization and science, and America has

been discovered only about 350 years, yet we know much more respecting the

coasts and interior of the latter than of the former portion of the globe.

Although the Spaniards and Portuguese, who, till very lately, possessed

nearly the whole of South America, guarded their possessions strictly from

the curious intrusion of foreigners, and were themselves very sparing in

giving to the world the information respecting them which they must have

acquired,--yet, even during their power there, the geography of this part

of America was gradually developed and extended; the face of the country;

the great outline of those immense mountains, which, under the torrid zone,

are visited by the cold of the Pole; the nature of the vast plains which

lie between the offsets of these mountains; and the general direction of

the rivers, not less remarkable for their size than the mountains and

plains, were generally known. The geography of South America, however,

taking the term in the most philosophical and comprehensive sense, has been

principally enriched within these few years, by the labours of Humboldt and

his fellow-traveller Bompland, of Depons, Koster, Prince Maximilian,

Luccock, Henderson, and by those Englishmen who joined the Spanish

Americans during their struggle with the mother country. From the

observations, enquiries, and researches of these travellers, our

information respecting all those parts of South America which constituted

the Spanish and Portuguese dominions there, especially of Mexico, Terra

Firma, Brazil, and Buenos Ayres, and generally the eastern and middle

portions, has been much extended, as well as rendered more accurate and

particular. Humboldt, especially, has left little to be gleaned by any

future traveller, from any of those countries which he has visited and

described.

The rapid and wonderful increase in the territories and inhabitants of the

United States, has necessarily laid open the greater part of North America

to our acquaintance. The United States, limited in their wish and

endeavours to extend themselves on the north by the British possessions

there, and on the south by the Spanish territories, and moreover drawn

towards the interior and the shores of the Pacific by the grand natural

navigation which the Mississippi and its numerous streams afford for inland

commerce, and by the commercial access to the wealth of the East which the

possession of the shores of the Pacific would open to them, have pushed

their territories towards the west. First, the Alleghany Mountains, a

feeble barrier to an encreasing population, and a most enterprising as well

as unsettled people, were passed; then the Mississippi was reached and

crossed; and at present the government of the United States are preparing

the way for extending their territories gradually to the Western Ocean

itself, and for spreading their population, as they go westwards, to the

north and the south, as far as their limits, will admit.

All those countries, over which they have spread themselves, are of course

now well known, principally from the accounts published by Europeans, and

especially Englishmen, who have been tempted to explore them, or to settle

there. The government of the United States itself has not been backward in

setting on foot exploratory travels into the immense districts to the west

of the Mississippi: to these enterprizes they seem to have been

particularly directed and stimulated by the acquisition of Louisiana from

France, a country "rich and varied in its soil, almost inexhaustible in

natural resources, and almost indefinite in extent."

This acquisition was made in the year 1803, and within four years of this

period, three exploratory expeditions were sent out by the United States.

The principal object of the first, which was under the direction of Major

Pike, was to trace the Mississippi to its source, and to ascertain the

direction of the Arkansa and Red Rivers, further to the west. In the course

of this journey, an immense chain of mountains, called the Rocky Mountains,

was approached, which appeared to be a continuation of the Andes. The

ulterior grand object, however, of this expedition was not obtained, in

consequence of the Spaniards compelling Major Pike to desist and return. A

second attempt was made, by another party, but the Spaniards stopped them

likewise. In the years 1804, 5, and 6, Captains Lewis and Clarke explored

the Missouri to its source, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and proceeding

towards the North Pacific Ocean, ascertained, the origin and course of the

River Columbia.

In the years 1819 and 1820, several persons, well qualified for the

undertaking by their science, spirit, and enterprize, accompanied by

riflemen, hunters, and assistants, were sent out by the government of the

United States, for the purpose of gaining a more full and accurate

knowledge of the chain of the Rocky Mountains, and of the rivers, winch,

rising there, flowed into the Mississippi. After passing through a great

extent and variety of country, and gaining some curious information

respecting various Indian tribes, especially of those who inhabit the upper

course of the Missouri, they reached the Mountains: these and the adjacent

districts they carefully examined. They next separated, one party going

towards the Red River, and the other descending the Arkansa. The former

party were misled and misinformed by the Indians, so that they mistook and

followed the Canadian River, instead of the Red River, till it joined the

Arkansa. They were, however, too exhausted to remedy their error. The

latter party were more successful.

The great outline of the coast, as well as of the greater portion of the

vast continent of America, is now filled up. In the northernmost parts of

North America, the efforts of the British government to find a north-west

passage, the spreading of the population of Canada, and the increasing

importance of the fur trade, bid fair to add the details of this portion;

the spread of the population of the United States towards the west, will as

necessarily give the details of the middle portion; while, with respect to

the most southern portions of North America, and the whole of South

America, with the exception of the cold, bleak, and barren territory of

Patagonia, the changes which have taken place, and are still in operation,

in the political state of the Spanish and Portuguese provinces, must soon

fill up the little that has been left unaccomplished by Humboldt, &c.

What portions, then, of Asia, America, and Africa, are still

_unknown?_--and what comparison, in point of extent and importance, do

they bear to what was _known_ to the ancients? In Asia, the interior

of the vast kingdom of China is very imperfectly known, as well as Daouria

and other districts on the confines of the Chinese and Russian empires;

central Asia in general, and all that extensive, populous, and fertile

region which extends from the southern part of Malaya, nearly under the

equator, in a northerly direction, to the fortieth degree of latitude, are

still not explored, or but very partially so, by European travellers. This

region comprehends Aracan, Ava, Pegu, Siam, Tsiompa, and Cambodia. The

south and east coasts of Arabia still require to be more minutely and

accurately surveyed. In the eastern archipelago, Borneo, Celebes, and

Papua, are scarcely known. Though all these bear but a small proportion to

the vast extent of Asia, yet some of them, especially the country to the

north of the Malay peninsula, and the islands in the eastern archipelago,

may justly be regarded as not inferior, in that importance which natural

riches bestows, to any part of this quarter of the globe.

Still, however, we possess some general notice, and some vague reports of

all these countries; but it is otherwise with respect to the unknown

portions of Africa. The whole of this quarter of the world, from the Niger

to the confines of the British settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, may,

with little limitation, be considered as unknown. Travellers have indeed

penetrated a short distance from the western coast into the interior, in

some parts between the latitude of the Niger and the latitude of the

extreme northern boundary of the Cape settlement: and a very little is

known respecting some small portions of the districts closely adjoining to

the eastern coast; but the whole of central Africa is still unexplored, and

presents difficulties and dangers which it is apprehended will not be

speedily or easily overcome. To the north of the Niger lies the Sahara, or

Great Desert; of this, probably, sufficient is known to convince us that

its extent is such, that no country that would repay a traveller for his

fatigue and risk, is situated to the north of it. To the east of the Niger,

however, or rather along its course, and to the north of its course, as it

flows to the east, much remains to be explored; many geographical details

have been indeed gathered from the Mahomedan merchants of this part of

Africa, but these cannot entirely be trusted. The course and termination of

the Niger itself is still an unsolved problem.

Captain Scoresby, a most intelligent and active captain in the whale

fishery trade, has very lately succeeded in reaching the eastern coasts of

Greenland, and is disposed to think that the descendants of the Danish

colonists, of whose existence nothing is known since this coast was

blocked, up by ice at the beginning of the fifteenth century, still inhabit

it. The northern shores of Greenland, and its extent in this direction are

still unknown.