Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

GENERAL REMARKS 35 phical knowledge. The name stamped upon a place by tlie first discoverer should be held sacred by the common consent of all nations ; and in new discoveries it would be far more beneficial to make the name convey some idea of the nature of the place ; or if it be inhabited, to adopt the native appellation, than to exhaust the catalogue of pubhc characters or private friends at home. The officers and crews, indeed, have some claim on such distinction, which, slight as it is, helps to excite an interest in the voyage. " Constant observations on the tides, including their set, force, and duration, the distance to which they carry salt water up the rivers, their rise at the different periods of the lunation, and the extent to which they ai-e influenced by the periodic winds, by the sea currents, or by the river freshes, form so prominent a part of every surveyor's duty, that no specific directions on this subject can be necessary. Nor is there any occasion to insist here on the equally important subject of currents ; for it is only by a great accumulation of data that we can ever hope to reduce them to regular systems, or that we can detect the mode in which they are affected by change of seasons, or influenced by distant winds. " The periods and limits of the monsoons and trade-winds will naturally be a continual object of the Commander''s ob- servation and study. It is true that he can only witness what occurs during his voyage ; but besides collecting facts on this and the last subject, on which others can hereafter reason, it will be of immense advantage that he should endeavour to digest them with the remarks of former voyagers when on the spot. " On the western coast of South America, for instance, some skill is required in making passages at different periods, and much scattered experience has been gained by seamen who have been long occupied there ; but this information has not yet been presented to the public in an intelligible form ; and it seems to be the peculiar province of an officer expressly em- ployed on a scientific mission like this, to combine that infor- mation with his own, and to render it accessible to every navi- gator.