fail of proving highly honourable to themselves, and extremely beneficial to their country; for it is sufficiently evident, that whatever improvements navigation shall receive, either by the invention of methods by which its practice may be rendered less hazardous, or by the more accurate delineation of the coasts, roads, and harbours already known, or by the discovery of new countries and nations, or of new species and sources of commerce, the advantages thence arising must ultimately redound to the emolument of Great Britain.  Since, as our fleets are at present superior to those of the whole world united, it must be a matchless degree of supineness or meanness of spirit, if we permit any of the advantages deriveable from new discoveries, or from a more extended navigation, to be ravished from us.

Since it appears, from what has been already said, that all our future expeditions to the South Seas must run a considerable risk of proving abortive, while we remain under the necessity of touching at Brazil in our passage thither, the discovery of some place more to the southward, where ships might refresh, and supply themselves with the necessary sea stock for their passage round Cape Horn, would relieve us from this embarrassment, and would surely be a matter worthy of the attention of the public.  Neither does this seem difficult to be effected, as we already have an imperfect knowledge of two places, which might perhaps prove, on examination, extremely convenient for this purpose.  One of these is Pepy’s Island, in the latitude of 47 deg.  S. and laid down by Dr Bailey about eighty leagues to the eastward of Cape Blanco, on the coast of Patagonia.[1] The other is Falkland’s Islands, in lat. 51 deg. 30’ S.[2] nearly south of Pepy’s Island.

[Footnote 1:  Isla Grande, supposed to be the Pepy’s Island discovered by Cowley, is in lat. 46 deg. 34’ S. and is placed by Mr Dalrymple in long. 46 deg. 40’ W. while the illustrious navigator Cook makes its long. 35 deg. 40’ W. a difference of longitude of no less than eleven degrees.]

[Footnote 2:  The centre of Falkland’s Islands is in 51 deg. 45’ S. Janson’s Islands, the most north-westerly of the group, or the Sebaldines, is in 51 deg.; and Beauchene’s Isle, the most southerly, in 53 deg.  S.—­E.]

The first of these was discovered by Captain Cowley in 1683, during his voyage round the world, and is represented by that navigator as a commodious place for ships to wood and water at, being provided with a good and capacious harbour, where a thousand sail of ships might ride at anchor in great safety, being also the resort of vast numbers of fowls; and as its shores consist of either rocks or sands, it seems to promise great plenty of fish.  Falkland’s Islands have been seen by many navigators, both French and English.  It is laid down by Frezier, in his chart of the extremity of South America, under the name of the New Islands.  Woods Rogers, who ran along the N.E. coasts of these islands in 1708, says they extend about two degrees in length,[3] and appeared with gentle descents from hill to hill, seeming to be good ground, interspersed with woods, and not destitute of harbours.