Chapter IV (1)

Narrative of Captain Cook's second Voyage round the World.

On the 13th of July, Captain Cook sailed from Plymouth, and on the 29th of the same month anchored in Funchiale Road, in the island of Madeira. Having obtained a supply of water, wine, and other necessaries at that island, he left it on the 1st of August, and sailed to the southward. As he proceeded in his voyage, he made three puncheons of beer of the inspissated juice of malt; and the liquor produced was very brisk and drinkable. The heat of the weather, and the agitation of the ship, had hitherto withstood all the endeavours of our people to prevent this juice from being in a high state of fermentation. If it could be kept from fermenting, it would be a most valuable article at sea.

The captain, having found that his stock of water would not last to the Cape of Good Hope, without putting his men to a scanty allowance, resolved to stop at St. Jago, one of the Cape de Verd islands, for a supply. At Port Praya, in this island, he anchored on the 10th of August, and by the 14th had completed his water, and procured some other refreshments; upon which he set sail and prosecuted his course. He embraced the occasion, which his touching at St. Jago afforded him, of giving such a delineation and description of Port Praya, and of the supplies there to be obtained, as might be of service to future navigators.

On the 20th of the month, the rain poured down upon our voyagers, not in drops but in streams; and the wind at the same time being variable and rough, the people were obliged to attend so constantly upon the decks, that few of them escaped being completely soaked. This circumstance is mentioned, to show the method that was taken by Captain Cook to preserve his men from the evil consequences of the wet to which they had been exposed. He had every thing to fear from the rain, which is a great promoter of sickness in hot climates. But to guard against this effect, he pursued some hints that had been suggested to him by Sir Hugh Palliser and Captain Campbell, and took care that the ship should be aired and dried with fires made between the decks, and that the damp places of the vessel should be smoked; beside which the people were ordered to air their bedding and to wash and dry their clothes, whenever there was an opportunity. The result of these precautions was, that there was not one sick person on board the Resolution.

Captain Cook, on the 8th of September, crossed the line in the longitude of 8 deg. west, and proceeded, without meeting anything remarkable, till the 11th of October. When at 6h. 24m. 12s. by Mr. Kendal's watch, the moon rose about four digits eclipsed; soon after which the gentlemen prepared to observe the end of the eclipse. The observers were, the captain himself, and Mr. Forster, Mr. Wales, Mr. Pickersgill, Mr. Gilbert, and Mr. Harvey.

Our commander had been informed, before he left England, that he sailed at an improper season of the year, and that he should meet with much calm weather, near and under the line. But though such weather may happen in some years, it is not always, or even generally to be expected. So far was it from being the case with Captain Cook, that he had a brisk south-west wind in those very latitudes where the calms had been predicted: nor was he exposed to any of the tornadoes, which are so much spoken of by other navigators. On the 29th of the month, between eight and nine o'clock at night, when our voyagers were near the Cape of Good Hope, the whole sea, within the compass of their sight, became at once, as it were, illuminated. The captain had been formerly convinced, by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, that such appearances in the ocean were occasioned by insects. Mr. Forster, however, seemed disposed to adopt a different opinion. To determine the question, our commander ordered some buckets of water to be drawn up from alongside the ship, which were found full of an innumerable quantity of small globular insects, about the size of a common pin's head, and quite transparent. Though no life was perceived in them, there could be no doubt of their being living animals, when in their own proper element: and Mr. Forster became now well satisfied that they were the cause of the sea's illumination.

On the 30th, the Resolution and Adventure anchored in Table Bay; soon after which Captain Cook went on shore, and, accompanied by Captain Furneaux, and the two Mr. Forsters, waited on Baron Plettenberg, the governor of the Cape of Good Hope, who received the gentlemen with great politeness, and promised them every assistance the place could afford. From him our commander learned, that two French ships from the Mauritius, about eight months before, had discovered land in the latitude of 48 deg. south, along which they sailed forty miles, till they came to a bay, into which they were upon the point of entering, when they were driven off, and separated in a hard gale of wind. Previously to this misfortune, they had lost some of their boats and people, that had been sent to sound the bay. Captain Cook was also informed by Baron Plettenberg, that in the month of March, two other ships from the island of Mauritius, had touched at the Cape in their way to the South Pacific Ocean; where they were going to make discoveries, under the command of M. Marion.

From the healthy condition of the crews, both of the Resolution and Adventure, it was imagined by the captain that his stay at the Cape would be very short. But the necessity of waiting till the requisite provisions could be prepared and collected, kept him more than three weeks at this place; which time was improved by him in ordering both the ships to be caulked and painted, and in taking care that, in every respect, their condition should be as good as when they left England.

On the 22d of November, our commander sailed from the Cape of Good Hope, and proceeded on his voyage, in search of a southern continent. Having gotten clear of the land, he directed his course for Cape Circumcision; and, judging that cold weather would soon approach, he ordered slops to be served to such of the people as were in want of them, and gave to each man the fear-nought jacket and trowsers allowed by the admiralty. On the 29th, the wind, which was west-north-west, increased to a storm, that continued, with some few intervals of moderate weather, till the 6th of December. By this gale, which was attended with hail and rain, and which blew at times with such violence that the ships could carry no sails, our voyagers were driven far to the eastward of their intended course, and no hopes were left to the captain of reaching Cape Circumcision. A still greater misfortune was the loss of the principal part of the live stock on board, consisting of sheep, hogs, and geese. At the same time, the sudden transition from warm mild weather, to weather which was extremely cold and wet, was so severely felt by our people, that it was necessary to make some addition to their allowance of spirits, by giving each of them a dram on particular occasions.

Our navigators, on the 10th of December, began to meet with islands of ice. One of these islands was so much concealed from them by the haziness of the weather, accompanied with snow and sleet, that they were steering directly towards it, and did not see it till it was at a less distance than that of a mile. Captain Cook judged it to be about fifty feet high, and half a mile in circuit. It was flat at the top, and its sides rose in a perpendicular direction, against which the sea broke to a great height. The weather continuing to be hazy, the captain, on account of the ice islands, was obliged to proceed with the utmost caution. Six of them were passed on the 12th, some of which were nearly two miles in circuit, and sixty feet high; nevertheless, such were the force and height of the waves, that the sea broke quite over them. Hence was exhibited a view, that for a few moments was pleasing to the eye; but the pleasure was soon swallowed up in the horror which seized upon the mind, from the prospect of danger. For if a ship should be so unfortunate as to get on the weather side of one of these islands, she would be dashed to pieces in a moment.

The vessels, on the 14th, were stopped by an immense field of low ice, to which no end could be seen, either to the east, west, or south. In different parts of this field were islands or hills of ice, like those which our voyagers had found floating in the sea, and twenty of which had presented themselves to view the day before. Some of the people on board imagined that they saw land over the ice, and Captain Cook himself at first entertained the same sentiment. But upon more narrowly examining these ice hills, and the various appearances they made when seen through the haze, he was induced to change his opinion. On the 18th, though in the morning our navigators had been quite imbayed, they were, notwithstanding, at length enabled to get clear of the field of ice. They were, however, at the same time, carried in among the ice islands, which perpetually succeeded one another; which were almost equally dangerous; and the avoiding of which was a matter of the greatest difficulty. But perilous as it is to sail in a thick fog, among these floating rocks, as our commander properly called them; this is preferable to the being entangled with immense fields of ice under the same circumstances. In this latter case the great danger to be apprehended, is the getting fast in the ice; a situation which would be alarming in the highest degree.

It had been a generally received opinion, that such ice as hath now been described, is formed in bays and rivers. Agreeably to this supposition, our voyagers were led to believe that land was not far distant, and that it lay to the southward behind the ice. As, therefore, they had sailed above thirty leagues along the edge of the ice, without finding a passage to the south, Captain Cook determined to run thirty or forty leagues to the east, and afterward to endeavour to get to the southward. If, in this attempt, he met with no land or other impediment, his design was to stretch behind the ice, and thus to bring the matter to a decision. The weather, at this time, affected the senses with a feeling of cold much greater than that which was pointed out by the thermometer, so that the whole crew complained. In order the better to enable them to sustain the severity of the cold, the Captain directed the sleeves of their jackets to be lengthened with baize; and had a cap made for each man of the same stuff, strengthened with canvass. These precautions greatly contributed to their comfort and advantage. It is worthy of observation, that although the weather was as sharp, on the 25th of December, as might have been expected, in the same month of the year, in any part of England, this was the middle of summer with our navigators. Some of the people now appearing to have symptoms of the scurvy, fresh wort was given them every day, prepared under the direction of the surgeons, from the malt which had been provided for the purpose.

By the 29th, it became sufficiently ascertained, from the course our commander had pursued, that the field of ice, along which the ships had sailed, did not join to any land as had been conjectured. At this time, Captain Cook came to a resolution, provided he met with no impediment, to run as far west as the meridian of Cape Circumcision. While he was prosecuting this design, a gale arose, on the 31st, which brought with it such a sea, as rendered it very dangerous for the vessels to remain among the ice; and the danger was increased by discovering an immense field to the north, which extended farther than the eye could reach. As our voyagers were not above two or three miles from this field, and were surrounded by loose ice, there was no time to deliberate. They hauled to the South; and though they happily got clear, it was not till the ships had received several hard knocks from the loose pieces, which were of the largest kind. On Friday, the 1st of January, 1773, the gale abated; and on the next day, in the afternoon, our people had the felicity of enjoying the sight of the moon, the face of which had not been seen by them but once since they had departed from the Cape of Good Hope. Hence a judgment may be formed of the sort of weather they had been exposed to, from the time of their leaving that place. The present opportunity was eagerly seized, for making several observations of the sun and moon.

Captain Cook was now nearly in the same longitude which is assigned to Cape Circumcision, and about ninety-five leagues to the south of the latitude in which it is said to lie. At the same time the weather was so clear, that land might have been seen at the distance of fourteen or fifteen leagues. He concluded it, therefore, to be very probable, that what Bouvet took for land was nothing but mountains of ice, surrounded by loose or field ice. Our present navigators had naturally been led into a similar mistake. The conjecture, that such ice as had lately been seen was joined to land, was a very plausible one, though not founded on fact. Upon the whole, there was good reason to believe, that no land was to be met with, under this meridian, between the latitude of fifty-five and fifty-nine, where some had been supposed to exist.

Amidst the obstructions Captain Cook was exposed to, from the ice islands which perpetually succeeded each other, he derived one advantage from them, and that was, a supply of fresh water. Though the melting and stowing away of the ice takes up some time, and is, indeed, rather tedious, this method of watering is otherwise the most expeditious our commander had ever known. The water produced was perfectly sweet and well tasted. Upon the ice islands, penguins, albatrosses, and other birds were frequently seen. It had hitherto been the received opinion, that such birds never go far from land, and that the sight of them is a sure indication of its vicinity. That this opinion is not well founded, at least where ice islands exist, was now evinced by multiplied experience.

By Sunday the 17th of January, Captain Cook reached the latitude of 67 deg. 15' south, when he could advance no farther. At this time the ice was entirely closed to the south, in the whole extent from east to west-south-west, without the least appearance of any opening. The captain, therefore, thought it no longer prudent to persevere in sailing southward; especially as the summer was already half spent, and there was little reason to hope that it would be found practicable get round the ice. Having taken this resolution, he determined to proceed directly in search of the land which had lately been discovered by the French; and as, in pursuing his purpose, the weather was clear at intervals, he spread the ships abreast four miles from each other, in order the better to investigate any thing that might lie in their way. On the 1st of February our voyagers were in the latitude of 48 deg. 30' south, and in longitude 58 deg. 7' east, nearly in the meridian of the island of St. Mauritius. This was the situation in which the land said to have been discovered by the French was to be expected; but as no signs of it had appeared, our commander bore away to the east. Captain Furneaux, on the same day, informed Captain Cook, that he had just seen a large float of sea, or rock weed, and about it several of the birds called divers. These were certain signs of the vicinity of land, though whether it lay to the east or west could not possibly be known. Our commander, therefore, formed the design of proceeding in his present latitude four or five degrees of longitude to the west of the meridian he was now in, and then to pursue his researches eastward. The west and north-west winds, which had continued for some days, prevented him from carrying this purpose into execution. However, he was convinced from the perpetual high sea he had lately met with, that there could be no great extent of land to the west.

While Captain Cook, on the next day, was steering eastward, Captain Furneaux told him that he thought the land was to the north-west of them; as he had, at one time, observed the sea to be smooth, when the wind blew in that direction. This observation was by no means conformable to the remarks which had been made by our commander himself. Nevertheless, such was his readiness to attend to every suggestion, that he resolved to clear up the point, if the wind would admit of his getting to the west in any reasonable time. The wind, by veering to the north, did admit of his pursuing the search; and the result of it was, his conviction that if any land was near, it could only be an island of no considerable extent.

Captain Cook and his philosophical friends, while they were traversing this part, of the southern ocean, paid particular attention to the variation of the compass, which they found to be from 27 deg. 50' to 30 deg. 26' west. Probably the mean of the two extremes, viz. 29 deg. 4', was the nearest the truth, as it coincided with the variation observed on board the Adventure. One unaccountable circumstance is worthy of notice, though it did not now occur for the first time. It is, that when the sun was on the starboard of the ship, the variation was the least; and when on the larboard side, the greatest.

On the 8th, our commander, in consequence of no signals having been answered by the Adventure, had reason to apprehend that a separation had taken place. After waiting two days, during which guns were kept discharging, and false fires were burned in the night, the fact was confirmed; so that the Resolution was obliged to proceed alone in her voyage. As she pursued her course, penguins and other birds, from time to time, appeared in great numbers; the meeting with which gave our navigators some hopes of finding land, and occasioned various speculations with regard to its situation. Experience, however, convinced them, that no stress was to be laid on such hopes. They were so often deceived, that they could no longer look upon any of the oceanic birds, which frequent high latitudes, as sure signs of the vicinity of land.

In the morning of the 17th, between midnight and three o'clock, lights were seen in the heavens, similar to those which are known in the northern hemisphere, by the name of the Aurora Borealis. Captain Cook had never heard that an Aurora Australis had been seen before. The officer of the watch observed, that it sometimes broke out in spiral rays, and in a circular form; at which time, its light was very strong, and its appearance beautiful. It was not perceived to have any particular direction. On the contrary, at various times, it was conspicuous in different parts of the heavens, and diffused its light throughout the whole atmosphere.

On the 20th, our navigators imagined that they saw land to the south-west. Their conviction of its real existence was so strong, that they had no doubt of the matter; and accordingly they endeavoured to work up to it, in doing which the weather was favourable to their purpose. However what had been taken for land proved only to be clouds, that in the evening entirely disappeared, and left a clear horizon, in which nothing could be discerned but ice islands. At night the Aurora Australis was again seen, and the appearance it assumed was very brilliant and luminous. It first discovered itself in the east, and in a short time spread over the whole heavens.

In the night of the 23rd, when the ship was in latitude 61 deg. 52' south, and longitude 95 deg. 2' east, the weather being exceedingly stormy, thick, and hazy, with sleet and snow, our voyagers were on every side surrounded with danger. In such a situation it was natural for them to wish for daylight: but daylight, when it came, served only to increase their apprehensions, by exhibiting those huge mountains of ice to their view, which the darkness had prevented them from seeing. These unfavourable circumstances, at so advanced a season of the year, discouraged Captain Cook from putting into execution a resolution he had formed, of once more crossing the antarctic circle. Accordingly, early in the morning of the 24th, he stood to the north, with a very hard gale, and a very high sea, which made great destruction among the ice islands. But so far was this incident from being of any advantage to our navigators, that it greatly increased the number of pieces they had to avoid. The large pieces, which broke from the ice islands, were found to be much more dangerous than the islands themselves. While the latter rose so high out of the water, that they could generally be seen, unless the weather was very thick and hazy, before our people nearly approached them, the others could not be discerned, in the night, till they were under the ship's bows. These dangers, however, were now become so familiar to the captain and his company, that the apprehensions they caused were never of long duration; and a compensation was, in some degree, made for them, by the seasonable supplies of fresh water, which the ice islands afforded, and by their very romantic appearance. The foaming and dashing of the waves into the curious holes and caverns which were formed in many of them greatly heightened the scene; and the whole exhibited a view, that at once filled the mind with admiration and horror, and could only be described by the hand of an able painter.

In sailing from the 25th to the 28th, the wind was accompanied with a large hollow sea, which rendered Captain Cook certain, that no land, of any considerable extent, could lie within a hundred or a hundred and fifty leagues from east to south-west. Though this was still the summer season in that part of the world, and the weather was become somewhat warmer than it had been before, yet such were the effects of the cold, that a sow having farrowed nine pigs in the morning, all of them, notwithstanding the utmost care to prevent it, were killed before four o'clock in the afternoon. From the same cause, the captain himself and several of his people had their fingers and toes chilblained. For some days afterward, the cold considerably abated; but still it could not be said that there was summer weather, according to our commander's ideas of summer in the northern hemisphere, as far as sixty degrees of latitude, which was nearly as far as he had then been.

As he proceeded on his voyage, from the 28th of February to the 11th of March, he had ample reason to conclude, from the swell of the sea and other circumstances, that there could be no land to the south, but what must lie at a great distance.

The weather having been clear on the 13th and 14th, Mr. Wales had an opportunity of getting some observations of the sun and moon; the results of which, reduced to noon, when the latitude was 58 deg. 22' south, gave 136 deg. 22' east longitude. Mr. Kendal's and Mr. Arnold's watches gave each of them 134 deg. 42'; and this was the first and only time in which they had pointed out the same longitude, since the ships had departed from England. The greatest difference, however, between them, since our voyagers had left the Cape, had not much exceeded two degrees.

From the moderate, and what might almost be called pleasant weather, which had occurred for two or three days, Captain Cook began to wish that he had been a few degrees of latitude farther south; and he was even tempted to incline his course that way. But he soon met with weather which convinced him that he had proceeded full far enough; and that the time was approaching when these seas could not be navigated without enduring intense cold. As he advanced in his course, he became perfectly assured, from repeated proofs, that he had left no land behind him in the direction of west-south-west; and that no land lay to the south on this side sixty degrees of latitude. He came, therefore, to a resolution, on the 17th, to quit the high southern latitudes, and to proceed to New Zealand, with a view of looking for the Adventure, and of refreshing his people. He had, also, some thoughts, and even a desire, of visiting the east coast of Van Dieman's Land, in order to satisfy himself whether it joined the coast of New South Wales. The wind however, not permitting him to execute this part of his design, he shaped his course for New Zealand, in sight of which he arrived on the 25th, and where he came to anchor on the day following, in Dusky Bay. He had now been a hundred and seventeen days at sea, during which time he had sailed three thousand six hundred and sixty-leagues without having once come within sight of land.

After so long a voyage, in a high southern latitude, it might reasonably have been expected, that many of Captain Cook's people would be ill of the scurvy. This, however, was not the case. So salutary were the effects of the sweet wort, and several articles of provision, and especially of the frequent airing and sweetening of the ship, that there was only one man on board who could be said to be much afflicted with the disease; and even in that man, it was chiefly occasioned by a bad habit of body, and a complication of other disorders.

As our commander did not like the place in which he had anchored, he sent Lieutenant Pickersgill over to the south-east side of the bay, in search of a better; and the lieutenant succeeded in finding a harbour that was in every respect desirable. In the meanwhile, the fishing-boat was very successful; returning with fish sufficient for the whole crew's supper and in the morning of the next day, as many were caught as served for dinner. Hence were derived certain hopes of being plentifully supplied with this article. Nor did the shores and woods appear more destitute of wild fowl; so that our people had the prospect of enjoying, with ease, what, in their situation, might be called the luxuries of life. These agreeable circumstances determined Captain Cook to stay some time in the bay, in order to examine it thoroughly; as no one had ever landed before on any of the southern parts of New Zealand.

On the 27th, the ship entered Pickersgill Harbour; for so it was called, from the name of the gentleman by whom it had first been discovered. Here wood, for fuel and other purposes, was immediately at hand; and a fine stream of fresh water was not above a hundred yards from the stern of the vessel. Our voyagers, being thus advantageously situated, began vigorously to prepare for their necessary occupations by clearing places in the woods, in order to set up the astronomer's observatory, and the forge for the iron work, and to erect tents for the sailmakers and coopers. They applied themselves, also, to the brewing of beer from the branches or leaves of a tree, which greatly resembled the American black spruce. Captain Cook was persuaded, from the knowledge which he had of this tree, and from the similarity it bore to the spruce, that, with the addition of inspissated juice of wort and molasses, it would make a very wholesome liquor, and supply the want of vegetables, of which the country was destitute. It appeared, by the event, that he was not mistaken in his judgment.

Several of the natives were seen on the 28th, who took little notice of the English, and were very shy of access; and the captain did not choose to force an intercourse with them, as he had been instructed, by former experience, that the best method of obtaining was to leave time and place to themselves. While our commander continued in his present situation, he took every opportunity of examining the bay. As he was prosecuting his survey of it, on the 6th of April, his attention was directed to the north side, where he discovered a fine capacious cove, in the bottom of which is a fresh-water river. On the west side are several beautiful cascades; and the shores are so steep that water might directly be conveyed from them into the ship. Fourteen ducks, besides, other birds, having been shot in this place, he gave it the name of Duck Cove. When he was returning in the evening, he met with three of the natives, one man and two women, whose fears he soon dissipated, and whom he engaged in a conversation, that was little understood on either side. The youngest of the women had a volubility of tongue that could not be exceeded; and she entertained Captain Cook, and the gentlemen who accompanied him with a dance.

By degrees, our commander obtained the good will and confidence of the Indians. His presents, however, were at first received with much indifference, hatchets and spike-nails excepted. At a visit, on the 12th, from a family of the natives, the captain, perceiving they approached the ship with great caution, met them in a boat, which he quitted when he came near them, and went into their canoe. After all, he could not prevail upon them to go on board the Resolution; but at length they put on shore in a little creek, and seating themselves abreast the English vessel, entered into familiar conversation with several of the officers and seamen; in which they paid a much greater regard to some, whom they probably mistook for females, than to others. So well indeed, were they now reconciled to our voyagers, that they took up their quarters nearly within the distance of a hundred yards from the ship's watering place. Captain Cook, in his interview with them, had caused the bagpipes and fife to play, and the drum to beat. The two former they heard with apparent insensibility; but the latter excited in them a certain degree of attention.

On the 18th, a chief, with whom some connexions had already been formed, was induced, together with his daughter, to come on board the Resolution. Previously to his doing it, he presented the captain with a piece of cloth and a green talk hatchet. He gave also a piece of cloth to Mr. Forster; and the girl gave another to Mr. Hodges. Though this custom of making presents, before any are received, is common with the natives of the South Sea isles, our commander had never till now seen it practised in New Zealand. Another thing performed by the chief before he went on board was the taking of a small green branch in his hand, with which he struck the ship's side several times, repeating a speech or prayer. This manner, as it were, of making peace is likewise prevalent among all the nations of the South Seas. When the chief was carried into the cabin, he viewed every part of it with some degree of surprise; but it was not possible to fix his attention to any one object for a single moment. The works of art appeared to him in the same light as those of nature, and were equally distant from his powers of comprehension. He and his daughter seemed to be the most struck with the number of the decks, and other parts of the ship.

As Captain Cook proceeded in examining Dusky Bay, he occasionally met with some few more of the natives, with regard to whom he used every mode of conciliation. On the 20th the chief and his family, who had been more intimate with our navigators than any of the rest of the Indians, went away, and never returned again. This was the more extraordinary, as in all his visits he had been gratified with presents. From different persons, he had gotten nine or ten hatchets, and three or four times that number of large spike nails, besides a variety of other articles. So far as these things might be deemed riches in New Zealand, he was undoubtedly become by far the most wealthy man in the whole country.

One employment of our voyagers, while in Dusky Bay, consisted in seal hunting, an animal which was found serviceable for three purposes. The skins were made use of for rigging, the fat afforded oil for the lamps, and the flesh was eaten. On the 24th, the captain, having five geese remaining of those he had brought with him from the Cape of Good Hope, went and left them at a place to which he gave the name of Goose Cove. This place he fixed upon for two reasons; first, because there were no inhabitants to disturb them; and, secondly, because here was the greatest supply of proper food; so that he had no doubt of their breeding, hoped that in time they might spread over the whole country, to its eminent advantage. Some days afterward, when everything belonging to the ship had been removed from the shore, he set fire to the top-wood in order to dry a piece of ground, which he dug up, and sowed with several sorts of garden seeds. The soil, indeed, was not such as to promise much success to the planter; but it was the best that could be discovered.

The 25th of April was the eighth fair day our people had successively enjoyed; and there was reason to believe that such a circumstance was very uncommon in the place where they now lay, and at that season of the year. This favourable weather afforded them the opportunity of more speedily completing their wood and water, and of putting the ship into a condition for sea. On the evening of the 25th, it began to rain; and the weather was afterwards extremely variable, being, at times, in a high degree wet, cold, and stormy. Nothing, however, prevented Captain Cook from prosecuting, with his usual sagacity and diligence, his search into every part of Dusky Bay; and, as there are few places in New Zealand where necessary refreshments may be so plentifully obtained, as in this bay, he hath taken care to give such a description of it, and of the adjacent country, as may be of service to succeeding navigators. Although this country lies far remote from what is now the trading part of the world, yet, as he justly observes, we can by no means tell what use future ages may derive from the discoveries made in the present.

The various anchoring places are delineated on our commander's chart, and the most convenient of them he has particularly described. Not only about Dusky Bay, but through all the southern part of the western coast of Tavai-poenammo, the country is exceedingly mountainous. A prospect more rude and craggy is rarely to be met with; for, inland, there are only to be seen the summits of mountains of a tremendous height, and consisting of rocks that are totally barren and naked, excepting where they are covered with snow. But the land which borders on the sea-coast is thickly clothed with wood almost down to the water's edge; and this is the case with regard to all the adjoining islands. The trees are of various kinds, and are fit for almost every possible use. Excepting in the river Thames, Captain Cook had not found finer timber in all New Zealand; the most considerable species of which is the spruce tree; for that name he had given it, from the similarity of its foliage to the American spruce, though the wood is more ponderous, and bears a greater resemblance to the pitch pine. Many of these trees are so large, that they would be able to furnish mainmasts for fifty-gun ships. Amidst the variety of aromatic trees and shrubs which this part of New Zealand produced, there was none which bore fruit fit to be eaten. The country was not found so destitute of quadrupeds as was formerly imagined.

As Dusky Bay presented many advantages to our navigators, so it was attended with some disagreeable circumstances. There were great numbers of small black sandflies, which were troublesome to a degree that our commander had never experienced before. Another evil arose from the continual quantity of rain that occurred in the bay. This might, indeed, in part proceed from the season of the year: but it is probable that the country must at all times be subject to much wet weather, in consequence of the vast height and vicinity of the mountains. It was remarkable that the rain, though our people were perpetually exposed to it, was not productive of any evil consequences. On the contrary, such of the men as were sick and complaining when they entered the bay, recovered daily, and the whole crew soon became strong and vigorous. So happy a circumstance could only be attributed to the healthiness of the place, and the fresh provisions it afforded; among which the beer was a very material article.

The inhabitants of Dusky Bay are of the same race with the other natives of New Zealand, speak the same language, and adhere nearly to the same customs. Their mode of life appears to be a wandering one; and though they are few in number, no traces were remarked of their families being connected together In any close bonds of union or friendship.

While the Resolution lay in the bay, Mr. Wales made a variety of scientific observations relative to latitude and longitude, the variation of the compass, and the diversity of the tides.

When Captain Cook left Dusky Bay, he directed his course for Queen Charlotte's Sound, where he expected to find the Adventure. This was on the 11th of May, and nothing remarkable occurred till the 17th, when the wind at once flattened to a calm, the sky became suddenly obscured by dark dense clouds, and there was every prognostication of a tempest. Soon after, six waterspouts were seen, four of which rose and spent themselves between the ship and the land; the fifth was at a considerable distance, on the other side of the vessel; and the sixth, the progressive motion of which was not in a straight, but in a crooked line, passed within fifty yards of the stern of the Resolution, without producing any evil effect. As the captain had been informed that the firing of a gun would dissipate waterspouts, he was sorry that he had not tried the experiment. But, though he was near enough, and had a gun ready for the purpose, his mind was so deeply engaged in viewing these extraordinary meteors, that he forgot to give the necessary directions.

On the next day, the Resolution came within sight of Queen Charlotte's Sound, where Captain Cook had the satisfaction of discovering the Adventure; and both ships felt uncommon joy at thus meeting again after an absence of fourteen weeks. As the events which happened to Captain Furneaux, during the separation of the two vessels, do not fall within the immediate design of the present narrative, it may be sufficient to observe, that he had an opportunity of examining, with somewhat more accuracy than had hitherto been done, Van Dieman's Land, and his opinion was, that there are no straits between this land and New Holland, but a very deep bay. He met, likewise, with farther proofs, that the natives of New Zealand are eaters of human flesh.

The morning after Captain Cook's arrival in Queen Charlotte's Sound, he went himself, at daybreak, to look for scurvy-grass, celery, and other vegetables; and he had the good fortune to return with a boatload, in a very short space of time. Having found, that a sufficient quantity of these articles might be obtained for the crews of both the ships, he gave orders that they should be boiled with wheat and portable broth, every day for breakfast; and with pease and broth for dinner. Experience had taught him, that the vegetables now mentioned, when thus dressed, are extremely beneficial to seamen, in removing the various scorbutic complaints to which they are subject.

Our commander had entertained a desire of visiting Van Dieman's Land, in order to inform himself whether it made a part of New Holland. But as this point had been, in a great measure, cleared up by Captain Furneaux, he came to a resolution to continue his researches to the east, between the latitudes of 41 deg. and 46 deg.; and he directed accordingly, that the ships should be gotten ready for putting to sea as soon as possible. On the 20th, he sent on shore the only ewe and ram that remained of those which, with the intention of leaving them in this country, he had brought from the Cape of Good Hope. Soon after he visited several gardens, that by order of captain Furneaux had been made and planted with various articles; all of which were in such a flourishing state, that, if duly attended to, they promised to be of great utility to the natives. The next day, Captain Cook himself set some men to work to form a garden on Long Island, which he stocked with different seeds, and particularly with the roots of turnips, carrots, parsnips, and potatoes. These were the vegetables that would be of the most real use to the Indians, and of these it was easy to give them an idea, by comparing them with such roots as they themselves knew. On the 22nd, Captain Cook received the unpleasant intelligence, that the ewe and ram, which with so much care and trouble he had brought to this place, were both of them found dead. It was supposed that they had eaten some poisonous plant; and by this accident all the captain's hopes of stocking New Zealand with a breed of sheep were instantly blasted.

The intercourse which our great navigator had with the inhabitants of the country, during this his second visit to Queen Charlotte's Sound, was of a friendly nature. Two or three families took up their abode near the ships, and employed themselves daily in fishing, and in supplying the English with the fruits of their labour. No small advantage hence accrued to our people, who were by no means such expert fishers as the natives, nor were any of our methods of fishing equal to theirs. Thus, in almost every state of society, particular arts of life are carried to perfection; and there is something which the most polished nations may learn from the most barbarous.

On the 2nd of June, when the Resolution and Adventure were almost ready to put to sea, Captain Cook sent on shore, on the east side of the sound, two goats, a male and female; and Captain Furneaux left, near Cannibal Cove, a boar and two breeding sows. The gentlemen had little doubt but that the country would, in time, be stocked with these animals, provided they were not destroyed by the Indians before they became wild. Afterwards there would be no danger; and as the natives knew nothing of their being left behind, it was hoped that it might be some time before they would be discovered.

It is remarkable that, during Captain Cook's second visit to Charlotte Sound, he was not able to recollect the face of any one person whom he had seen there three years before. Nor did it once appear, that even a single Indian had the least knowledge of our commander, or of any of our people who had been with him in his last voyage. Hence he thought it highly probable, that the greatest part of the natives who inhabited this sound to the beginning of the year 1770, had either since been driven out of it, or had removed, of their own accord, to some other situation. Not one-third of the inhabitants were there now, that had been seen at that time. Their strong hold on the point of Motuara was deserted, and in every part of the sound many forsaken habitations were discovered. In the captain's opinion, there was not any reason to believe, that the place had ever been very populous. From comparing the two voyages together, it may be collected that the Indians of Eahei-nomauwe are in somewhat of a more improved state of society than those of Tavai-poenammo.

Part of the 4th of June was employed by Captain Cook in visiting a chief and a whole tribe of the natives, consisting of between ninety and a hundred persons, including men, women and children. After the captain had distributed some presents among these people, and shewn to the chief the gardens which had been made, he returned on board, and spent the remainder of the day in the celebration of his royal master's nativity. Captain Furneaux and all his officers were invited upon the occasion; and the seamen were enabled, by a double allowance, to partake of the general joy.

As some might think it an extraordinary step in our commander, to proceed in discoveries so far south as forty-six degrees of latitude in the very depth of winter, he has recorded his motives for this part of his conduct. Winter, he acknowledges, is by no means favourable for discoveries. Nevertheless, it appeared to him to be necessary that something should be done in that season, in order to lessen the work in which he was engaged; and lest he should not be able to finish the discovery of the southern part of the south Pacific Ocean in the ensuing summer. Besides, if he should discover any land in his route to the east, he would be ready to begin to explore it, as soon as ever the season should be favourable. Independently of all these considerations, he had little to fear; having two good ships well provided, and both the crews being healthy. Where then could he better employ his time? If he did nothing more, he was at least in hopes of being enabled to point out to posterity, that these seas may be navigated, and that it is practicable to pursue discoveries even in the depth of winter. Such was the ardour of our navigator for prosecuting the ends of his voyage, in circumstances which would have induced most men to act a more cautious part!

During Captain Cook's stay in the sound, he had observed, that the second visit to this country had not mended the morals of the natives of either sex. He had always looked upon the females of New Zealand as more chaste than the generality of Indian women. Whatever favours a few of them might have granted to the people in the Endeavour, such intercourse usually took place in a private manner, and did not appear to be encouraged by the men. But now the captain was told, that the male Indians were the chief promoters of this shameful traffic, and that, for a spikenail, or any other thing they valued, they would oblige the women to prostitute themselves, whether it were agreeable or contrary to their inclinations. At the same time no regard was paid to the privacy which decency required. The account of this fact must be read with concern by every wellwisher to the good order and happiness of society, even without adverting to considerations of a higher nature.

On the 7th of June, Captain Cook put to sea from Queen Charlotte's Sound, with the Adventure in company. I shall omit the nautical part of the route from New Zealand to Otaheite, which continued till the 15th of August; and shall only select such circumstances as are more immediately suitable to the design of the present narrative. It was found, on the 29th of July, that the crew of the Adventure were in a sickly state. Her cook was dead, and about twenty of her best men were rendered incapable of duty by the scurvy and flux. At this time, no more than three men were on the sick list on board the Resolution; and only one of these was attacked with the scurvy. Some others, however, began to discover the symptoms of it; and, accordingly, recourse was had to wort, marmalade of carrots, and the rob of lemons and oranges, with the usual success.

Captain Cook could not account for the prevalence of the scurvy being so much greater in the Adventure than in the Resolution, unless it was owing to the crew of the former being more scorbutic when they arrived in New Zealand than the crew of the latter, and to their eating few or no vegetables while they lay in Queen Charlotte's Sound. This arose partly from their want of knowing the right sorts, and partly from the dislike which seamen have to the introduction of a new diet. Their aversion to any unusual change of food is so great, that it can only be overcome by the steady and persevering example and authority of a commander. Many of Captain Cook's people, officers as well as common sailors, disliked the boiling of celery, scurvy-grass, and other greens with pease and wheat; and by some the provision, thus prepared, was refused to be eaten. But, as this had no effect on the captain's conduct, their prejudice gradually subsided: they began to like their diet as much as the rest of their companions; and, at length, there was hardly a man in the ship who did not attribute the freedom of the crew from the scurvy, to the beer and vegetables which had been made use of at New Zealand. Henceforward, whenever the seamen came to a place where vegetables could be obtained, our commander seldom found it necessary to order them to be gathered; and, if they were scarce, happy was the person who could lay hold on them first.

On the 1st of August, when the ships were in the latitude of 25 deg. 1', and the longitude of 130 deg. 6' west, they were nearly in the same situation with that which is assigned by Captain Carteret for Pitcairn's Island, discovered by him in 1767. For this island, therefore, our voyagers diligently looked; but saw nothing. According to the longitude in which he had placed it, Captain Cook must have passed it fifteen leagues to the west. But as this was uncertain, he did not think it prudent to lose any time in searching for it, as the sickly state of the Adventure's people required as speedy an arrival as possible at a place of refreshment. A sight of it, however, would have been of use in verifying or correcting, not only the longitude of Pitcairn's Island, but of the others discovered by Captain Carteret in that neighbourhood. It is a diminution of the value of that gentleman's voyage, that his longitude was not confirmed by astronomical observations, and that hence it was liable to errors, the correction of which was out of his power.

As Captain Cook had now gotten to the northward of Captain Carteret's tracks, he no longer entertained any hopes of discovering a continent. Islands were all that he could expect to find, until he returned again to the south. In this and his former voyage, he had crossed the ocean in the latitude of 40 deg. and upwards, without meeting any thing which could, in the least, induce him to believe that he should attain the great object of his pursuit. Every circumstance concurred to convince him, that, between the meridian of America and New Zealand, there is no southern continent; and that there is no continent farther to the south, unless in a very high latitude. This, however; was a point too important to be left to opinions and conjectures. It was to be determined by facts; and the ascertainment of it was appointed, by our commander, for the employment of the ensuing summer.