In a French atlas, dated 1762, in my possession, amongst the numerous
non-existing islands laid down in the map of the Pacific, and the still
more numerous cases of omission inevitable at so early a period of
Polynesian discovery, there is inserted an island styled "I. St. Francois,"
or "I. S. Francisco," which lies in {7} about 20deg N. and 224deg E. from
the meridian of Ferro, and, of course, almost exactly in the situation of
Owhyhee. That this large and lofty group may have been seen by some other
voyager long before, is far from improbable; but, beyond a question, Cooke
was the first to visit, describe, and lay them down correctly in our maps.
Professor Meyen, however, as quoted in Johnston's _Physical Atlas_,
mentions these islands in terms which would almost lead one to suppose that
he, the Professor, considered them to have been known to the Spaniards in
Anson's time or earlier, and that they had been regular calling places for
the galleons in those days! It is difficult to conceive such a man capable
of such a mistake; but if he did not suppose them to have been discovered
before Cook's voyage in 1778, his words are singularly calculated to
deceive the reader on that point.