After all, that search, in a lower latitude, which they who give credit (if any such there now be) to the pretended discoveries of De Fonte, affect to wish had been recommended to Captain Cook, has (if that will cure them of their credulity) been satisfactorily made. The Spaniards, roused from their lethargy by our voyages, and having caught a spark of enterprise from our repeated visits to the Pacific Ocean, have followed us more than once into the line of our discoveries within the southern tropic; and have also fitted out expeditions to explore the American continent to the north of California. It is to be lamented, that there should be any reasons why the transactions of those Spanish voyages have not been fully disclosed, with the same liberal spirit of information which other nations have adopted. But, fortunately, this excessive caution of the court of Spain has been defeated, at least in one instance, by the publication of an authentic journal of their voyage of discovery upon the coast of America, in 1775, for which the world is indebted to the honourable Mr Daines Barrington. This publication, which conveys some information of real consequence to geography, and has therefore been referred to more than once in the following work, is particularly valuable in this respect, that some parts of the coast which Captain Cook, in his progress northward, was prevented, by unfavourable winds, from approaching, were seen and examined by the Spanish ships who preceded him; and the perusal of the following extract from their journal may be recommended to those (if any such there be) who would represent it as an imperfection in Captain Cook's voyage, that he had not an opportunity of examining the coast of America, in the latitude assigned to the discoveries of Admiral Fonte. "We now attempted to find out the straits of Admiral Fonte, though, as yet, we had not discovered the Archipelago of St Lazarus, through which he is said to have sailed. With this intent, we searched every bay and recess of the coast, and sailed round every headland, lying-to in the night, that we might not lose sight of this entrance. After these pains taken, and being favoured by a north-west wind, it may be pronounced that no such straits are to be found."[44] [Footnote 44: Journal of a voyage in 1775 by Don Francisco Antonio Maurelle, in Mr Barrington's Miscellanies, p. 508.--D.]