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 deg. south latitude, and 69 deg. 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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 708 of 1007
Words from 193797 to 194091
of 273188
