voyage of
discovery upon the coast of America, in 1775, for which the world is
indebted to the honourable Mr Daines Barrington. This publication, which
conveys some information of real consequence to geography, and has
therefore been referred to more than once in the following work, is
particularly valuable in this respect, that some parts of the coast
which Captain Cook, in his progress northward, was prevented, by
unfavourable winds, from approaching, were seen and examined by the
Spanish ships who preceded him; and the perusal of the following extract
from their journal may be recommended to those (if any such there be)
who would represent it as an imperfection in Captain Cook's voyage, that
he had not an opportunity of examining the coast of America, in the
latitude assigned to the discoveries of Admiral Fonte. "We now attempted
to find out the straits of Admiral Fonte, though, as yet, we had not
discovered the Archipelago of St Lazarus, through which he is said to
have sailed. With this intent, we searched every bay and recess of the
coast, and sailed round every headland, lying-to in the night, that we
might not lose sight of this entrance. After these pains taken, and
being favoured by a north-west wind, it may be pronounced that no such
straits are to be found."[44]

[Footnote 44: Journal of a voyage in 1775 by Don Francisco Antonio
Maurelle, in Mr Barrington's Miscellanies, p. 508.--D.]

In this journal, the Spaniards boast of "having reached so high a
latitude as 58 deg., beyond what any other navigators had been able to
effect in those seas."[45] Without diminishing the merit of their
performance, we may be permitted to say, that it will appear very
inconsiderable indeed, in comparison of what Captain Cook effected, in
the voyage of which an account is given in these volumes. Besides
exploring, the land in the South Indian Ocean, of which Kerguelen, in
two voyages, had been able to obtain but a very imperfect knowledge;
adding also many considerable accessions to the geography of the
Friendly Islands; and discovering the noble group, now called Sandwich
Islands, in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, of which not the
faintest trace can be met with in the account of any former voyage;
besides these preliminary discoveries, the reader of the following work
will find, that in one summer, our English navigator discovered a much
larger proportion of the north-west coast of America than the Spaniards,
though