French nation, and that only six of them have been made with the spirit of discovery; viz. those of Magalhaens, Drake, Le Maire, Roggewein, Byron, and Wallace; the other navigators, who had no other view than to enrich themselves by their attacks upon the Spaniards, followed the known tracks, without increasing the knowledge of geography.
In 1714, a Frenchman, called la Barbinais le Gentil, sailed, on board a private merchant ship, in order to carry on an illicit trade, upon the coast of Chili and Peru. From thence he went to China, where, after staying some time in various factories, he embarked in another ship than that which had brought him, and returned to Europe, having indeed gone in person round
14. Woodes Rogers, an Englishman, sailed from Bristol, June 15th, 1708, and returned 1712.
15. Clipperton and Shelvocke, two Englishmen, sailed the 13th of February, 1719, and returned in 1722; the former to Galway in Ireland, in the beginning of June, the latter to London, on the first of August.
16. Roggewein, a Mecklenburger, in the Dutch service, sailed the 16th of July, 1721, and returned the 11th of July, 1723.
17. Lord Anson, 1740—1744.
18. Commodore Byron, 1764—1766.
19. The Dolphin and Swallow sloops. The first 1766—1768. The second
1766—1769.
20. M. de Bougainville, 1766—1769.
21. The Endeavour sloop, captain Cooke, which sailed in August, 1768, to observe the transit of Venus, came to Batavia the latter end of 1770, and returned to England in July 1771.
From this list, it appears that the English have undertaken the greatest number of voyages, with a design to make discoveries, unattended by that selfishness with which most of the Dutch voyages were entered upon, merely with a view to promote the knowledge of geography, to make navigation more safe, and likewise to throw further lights on the study of nature. F.
