ainly discovered. To prevent, however, the
reader's making any mistake, I will take this opportunity of laying
before him some remarks on the whole southern hemisphere, which will
enable him immediately to comprehend all that I have afterwards to say on
this subject.

If we suppose the south pole to be the centre of a chart of which the
equinoctial is the circumference, we shall then discern four quarters, of
the contents of which, if we could give a full account, this part of the
world would be perfectly discovered. To begin then with the first of
these, that is, from the first meridian, placed in the island of Fero.
Within this division, that is to say, from the first to the nineteenth
degree of longitude, there lies the great continent of Africa, the most
southern point of which is the Cape of Good Hope, lying in the latitude
of 34 degrees 15 minutes south. Between that and the pole, several small
but very inconsiderable islands have been discovered, affording us only
this degree of certainty, that to the latitude of 50 degrees there is no
land to be found of any consequence; there was, indeed, a voyage made by
Mr. Bovet in the year 1738, on purpose to discover whether there were any
lands to the south in that quarter or not. This gentleman sailed from
Port l'Orient July the 18th, 1738, and on the 1st of January, 1739,
discovered a country, the coasts of which were covered with ice, in the
latitude of 54 degrees south, and in the longitude of 28 degrees 30
minutes, the variation of the compass being there 6 degrees 45 minutes,
to the west.

In the next quarter, that is to say, from 90 degrees longitude to 180
degrees, lie the countries of which we have been speaking, or that large
southern island, extending from the equinoctial to the latitude of 43
degrees 10 minutes, and the longitude of 167 degrees 55 minutes, which is
the extremity of Van Diemen's Land.

In the third quarter, that is, from the longitude of 150 degrees to 170
degrees, there is very little discovered with any certainty. Captain
Tasman, indeed, visited the coast of New Zealand, in the latitude of 42
degrees 10 minutes south, and in the longitude of 188 degrees 28 minutes;
but besides this, and the islands of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, we know
very little; and therefore, if there be any doubts about the reality of
Terra Australis, it must be with respect to that part of it which lies
within this quarter, through which Schovten and Le Maire saile