of the Hindus (_Id._,
1792), and an improved method of graduating astronomical instruments
(_Id._, 1809). Cavendish also had a taste for geology, and made several
tours in England for the purpose of gratifying it.

A life by George Wilson (1818-1859), printed for the Cavendish Society
in 1851, contains an account of his writings, both published and
unpublished, together with a critical inquiry into the claims of all
the alleged discoverers of the composition of water. Some of his
instruments are preserved in the Royal Institution, London, and his
name is commemorated in the Cavendish Physical Laboratory at
Cambridge, which was built by his kinsman the 7th duke of Devonshire.

CAVENDISH [CANDISH], THOMAS (1555?-1592), the third circumnavigator of
the globe, was born at Trimley St Martin, Suffolk. On quitting Corpus
Christi College, Cambridge (without a degree), he almost ruined himself
by his extravagance as a courtier. To repair his fortune he turned to
maritime and colonial enterprise, and in 1585 accompanied Sir Richard
Grenville to America. Soon returning to England, he undertook an
elaborate imitation of Drake's great voyage. On the 21st of July 1586,
he sailed from Plymouth with 123 men in three vessels, only one of which
(the "Desire," of 140 tons) came home. By way of Sierra Leone, the Cape
Verde Islands and C. Frio in Brazil, he coasted down to Patagonia (where
he discovered "Port Desire," his only important contribution to
knowledge), and passing through Magellan's Straits, fell upon the
Spanish settlements and shipping on the west coast of South and Central
America and of Mexico. Among his prizes were nineteen vessels of worth,
and especially the treasure-galleon, the "Great St Anne," which he
captured off Cape St Lucas, the southern extremity of California
(November 14, 1587). After this success he struck across the Pacific for
home; touched at the Ladrones, Philippines, Moluccas and Java; rounded
the Cape of Good Hope; and arrived again at Plymouth (September 9-10,
1588), having circumnavigated the globe in two years and fifty days. It
is said that his sailors were clothed in silk, his sails were damask,
and his top-mast covered with cloth of gold. Yet by 1591 he was again in
difficulties, and planned a fresh American and Pacific venture. John
Davis (q.v.) accompanied him, but the voyage (undertaken with five
vessels) was an utter failure, much of the fault lying with Cavendish
himself,