Nuhou, Volume II, Number 23, 14 October 1873 — Portsmouth Surveys [ARTICLE]

Portsmouth Surveys

VVq ahaii iook forward wlth mueh iuUTt-»t to th.e retura of the Porlsmouth from her prebeat cruise of obser.vution anu survej, Captaln Skerrett'"groposes, after esamining certain rocks in the vieinity of Niihau, to proceed from ihenee southWardly (possibly ealling afcer a foFtnight outsido of the port fbr a mail) to the i*lands and reefs known as Palinyra, Samtirang, YVushingtoii f Fannipg and ChriBtmas, and 6urvey and cstablleb their DositĪonB. The island3 we have mentioned * * are well 'known» but there are a great mauy namee of ie?lands and reefi sti!l remaining on our iriaps, whieh are the product of the imaginatiōn of old ehart makers. Thc 6upposcd Islund of Santa Roea Laxara ie an instance. It is on Aneon'e cbart of the Pacific 4 and ccyied by hini from the Spanish charts on the gaileon he eap-: tured. The najne has been j3erpetuated on ail mapa ever einee, for map makers, eueh as Arrowsmith in England and Colton in are nothtng but copjists or printerā; and the fact that an island or reef is msirked on oue of their maps is not the elightest evidence of its correctneBs ; but when eapahle and careful officers like those of the Portsmouth eurvey a p»ortion of oeean iand give us the results of their observation f we then have positive informatiou for our guidauee. After their survey of the situation of thc alleged islaud of Spanish discovery named Santa Rosa Lasara, a little to the nortliwest of ,our position, they eome to the conclusion after a careful and estended cruise in all the island eo mentioned lms 110 esistcnce. The eame may be said of numeroiis islands attributed to Gaetano. To those lie did actually ditcove& āear ihe Coaet i>f America t but regarded in his age as more distant from ife than at the present fcinie, wera added many more from imperfect statements. Henee names were multiplied and chaaged by eaeh map maker, for in the group attributed to Gaetano, we ean discover iu over a <3ozen dififcrent old charts a dozen changes and vārieties of namee; and anything like a thorough and critieal etudj of the Bubjeet, wiU show the absurdity of attempting to identify the diBCoveries of Gaetano near the Coast of Ameriea wiih the discoveriea of Cook m the North Paeifie, Perhaps Captain Skerrett may like Cook, take _his ChriBtmas dinner m the vieinity of or ou Christmas Island, We wis!i him some new diseoverj for his Christmas pudding. And we wisli him and his offieers an interesting and useflil cruise, and hope to weleome the Pm*i<moidh iuto port with all.well on board.