Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/203

Rh acerda. ploring fame. rc of cas- ed. ‘.CC8.- CPS. EIGHTEENTII cE.'TU1:v.] graphical memoir by I-iennell, was published in 1799. .Five years afterwards he accepted an offer from the Government to command an expedition into the interior of Africa, the plan being to cross from the Gambia. to the Niger, and descend. the latter river to the sea. Park left the factory of Pisani-.1, on the Gambia, on tl1e 4th of May 1805, accon1- panied by Lieutcnant llartyn and 35 soldiers, besides guides. All died but four during the rainy season, and the rest, including iIungo Park, perished in a rapid on the Niger, having been attacked from the shore by order of a chief who thought he had not received suitable presents. Park was only thirty-ﬁve at the time of l1is death. The details respecting the fate of the ill—fated explorer and his party were obtained from the guide. While the English were at work in the direction of the Niger, the Portuguese were not unmindful of their old ex- In 1793 Dr Lacerda, an accomplished astronomer, was appointed to command a scientific expedi- tion of discovery to the north of the Zan1l)esi. in July, crossed the Muehenja Mountains, and reached the capital of the Cazembe, where he died of fever. ])r Lacerda left a valuable record of his adventurous journey ; but with Mung.) Park and Lacerda the history of African exploration in the 18th century closes. In South America scientiﬁc exploration was busily at work during this period. The great event of the century, as regards that continent-, was the measurement of an are l Cfidiﬂn of the meridian. The undertaking was proposed by the French Academy, and a commission left Paris in 1735, con- sisting of La Condamine, Bouguer, and Godin. Spain appointed two accomplished naval oflicers, the brothers Ulloa, as coadjutors. The operations were carried on during eight years on a plain to the south of Quito ; and, in addition to his memoir on this memorable and most important measurement, La Condamine collected much valuable nreographical information during a voyage down the Amazon. The arc measured was 3° 7'3" in length; and the work consisted of two measured bases connected by a series of triangles, one north and the other south of the equator, on the meridian of Quito. Contemporaneously, in 1738, M. Maupertuis of St Male measured an arc of the meridian in Lapland. Another result of this expedition was the publication of a valuable work by the brothers Ulloa. The English and French Governments despatched several expeditions of discovery into the Paciﬁc and round the world during the 18th century. They were preceded by these wonderful and romantic voyages of the buccaneers, of such men as Woodes logers, Davis, Shelvocke, Clap- perton, and Dampier, which can never fail to interest, while they are not without geographical value. The works of Dampier are especially valuable, and the narratives of William Fu11nell and Lionel Wafer furnished the best accounts then extant of the isthmus of Darien. Dampier’s literary ability eventually secured for him a commission in the king’s service; and he was sent on a voyage of dis- covery, during which he explored part of the coasts of Australia and New Guinea, and discovered the strait which bears his name between New Guinea and New Britain, re- turning in 1701. In 1721 Jacob Roggewein was despatched . on a voyage of some importance across the Paciﬁc by the Dutch West India Company, during which he discovered Easter Island on April 6, 1722. The voyage of Lord Anson to the Paciﬁc in 1740-44 was of a predatory character_. and he lost more than half his men from scurvy; while it is not pleasant to reﬂect that at the very time when the French and Spaniards were measuring an arc of the meridian at Quito, the English under Anson were pillaging along the coast of the Paciﬁc, and burning the town of Payta. But a romantic interest GEOGRAPHY He started l attaches to the wreck of the “Wager,” one of Anson’s ﬂeet, on a desert island near Chiloe, for it bore fruit in the 3 charming narrative of Byron, which will endure for all time. In 1764 Captain Byron himself was sent on a voyage of discovery round the world, which led immediately after his return, to the despatch of another to complete his work, under the command of Captain Wallis. separated on entering the Paciﬁc from the Straits of Magellan. Wallis discovered Tahiti on June 19, 1767, of which island he gave a detailed account, and Sir Charles Sannders’s Island; he returned to England on May 1 7, 1768. Carteret discovered the Charlotte and Gloucester Islands, and Pitcairn Island on July 2, 1767; revisited the Santa Cruz group, which was discovered by Mendaﬁa and Quiros ; u and discovered the strait separating New Britain from New Ireland. He reached Spithead again on February 20, 1769. Wallis and Carteret were followed very closely by the French expedition of Bougainville, which sailed from Nantes in November 1766. Bougainville had ﬁrst to perform to him the unpleasant task of delivering up the Falkland Islands (Malouines), where he had encouraged the formation of a French settlement, to the Spaniards. H c then entered the Paciﬁc, and reached Tahiti on April 2, 1768. Passing through the New Hebrides group he touched at Batavia, and arrived at St Malo after an absence of two years and four months. The three voyages of Cook form an era in the history of Cook. geographical discovery. All his work was thoroughly and completely done. He systematically surveyed every land he discovered, collecting information touching every branch of inquiry, so that his labours form a very large addition to geographical knowledge. James Cook was born near Whitby, Yorkshire, in 1728, and had been marine surveyor of, Newfoundland and Labrador from 1763 to 1767. In the latter year he commissioned the “ Endeavour” and sailed l for Tahiti, with the object of observing the transit of - Venus, accompanied by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Solander, a pupil of Linnaeus. The transit was observed at Tahiti on June 3, 1769. After exploring Tahiti and the Society group, Cook was six months surveying the two islands of New Zealand, and the coast of New South Wales from latitude 38° S. to the northern extremity. Passing through Torres Strait, he touched at Batavia, and arrived in England on June 1'3, 1771. Cook’s second voyage was mainly intended to explore the region round the Antarctic Circle ; and it may be mentioned that meanwhile a French ship, commanded by M. Kerguelen, had sailed southwards in 1771, and discovered the island which bears his name. Captain Cook was provided with two vessels built at Whitby, the “ Resolution,” which he himself commanded, and the “ Adventure ” under Captain Furneaux, who had been with Wallis. After rounding the Cape the two vessels reached a south latitude of 57° 15'. On March 26, 1773, Captain Cook arrived at New Zealand and proceeded to the Society Islands, whence he made another voyage southwards between the meridians of 170° E. and 106° 54' IV. On this occasion he was stopped by ice in 71° 10' S. During the second voyage Cook visited Easter Island, discovered several islands of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia ; and 011 his way home by Cape Horn, in March 1774, he discovered the Sandwich Island group. Arrived at Spithead on July 30,1774. The account of the second voyage was written by the young naturalist George Forster, whose subsequent work was so justly eulogized by Humboldt. The third voyage was intended to attempt the passage from the Paciﬁc to the Atlantic by the north-east. The “ Resolution ” and “ Discovery ” sailed 18$ ""' The expedition, consisting of the “ Dolphin ” commanded Polyne- by Captain Wallis, and the “Swallow” under Captain -‘-ia!1'~'X- Carteret, sailed in September 1766, but the ships were P.lO°_:“' .’-