[112]. Vol. IV. p. 244.
[113]. Captain Cook was not the original discoverer of these small islands which he now fell in with. It is certain that they had been seen and named by Kerguelen, on his second voyage, in December, 1773. Their position, relatively to each other, and to the adjoining coasts of the greater land, as represented on the annexed chart, bears a striking resemblance to Kerguelen’s delineation of them; whose chart, however, the public may be assured, was unknown in England till after our’s had been engraved.
[114]. This is the isle to which Kerguelen gave the name of Croy or Crouy. Besides delineating it upon his chart, he has added a particular view of it, exactly corresponding with Captain Cook’s account of its being of considerable height.
[115]. Kerguelen called this Isle Rolland, after the name of his own ship. There is also a particular view of it on the French chart.
[116]. The observations of the French and English navigators agree exactly, as to the position of these smaller isles.
[117]. The situation of Kerguelen’s Isle de Clugny, as marked on his chart, shows it to be the third high island seen by Captain Cook.
[118]. This isle, or rock, was the single point about which Captain Cook had received the least information at Teneriffe; and we may observe how sagacious he was in tracing it. What he could only speak of as probable, a comparison of his chart with that lately published by Kerguelen, proves to be certain; and if he had even read and copied what his predecessors in the discovery says of it, he could scarcely have varied his account of its shape. Kerguelen’s words are, “Isle de Réunion, qui n’est qu’une roche, nous servoit de rendezvous, ou de point de ralliement; et resemble à un coin de mire.”
[119]. The French and English agree very nearly (as might be expected) in their accounts of the latitude of this island; but the observations by which they fix its longitude, vary considerably.
The pilot at Teneriffe made it only 64° 57ʹ E. from Paris, which is about 67° 16ʹ E. from London; or 1° 24ʹ more, westerly than Captain Cook’s observations fix it.
Monsieur de Pagés says it is 66° 47ʹ E. from Paris, that is 69° 6ʹ E. from London, or twenty-six miles more easterly than it is placed by Captain Cook.