[Footnote 52: Mr Green, in the Endeavour; Messrs Wales and Bayly, in the Resolution and the Adventure; Mr Bayly, a second time, jointly with Captains Cook and King in this voyage; and Mr Lyons, who accompanied Lord Mulgrave.—D.]

What real acquisitions have been gained by this munificent attention to science, cannot be better expressed than in the words of Mr Wales, who engaged in one of these voyages himself, and contributed largely to the benefits derived from them.

"That branch of natural knowledge which may be called nautical astronomy, was undoubtedly in its infancy when these voyages were first undertaken. Both instruments and observers, which deserved the name, were very rare; and so late as the year 1770, it was thought necessary, in the appendix to Mayor's Tables, published by the Board of Longitude, to state facts, in contradiction to the assertions of so celebrated an astronomer as the Abbe de la Caille, that the altitude of the sun at noon, the easiest and most simple of all observations, could not be taken with certainty to a less quantity than five, six, seven, or even eight minutes.[53] But those who will give themselves the trouble to look into the astronomical observations, made in Captain Cook's last voyage, will find, that there were few, even of the petty officers, who could not observe the distance of the moon from the sun, or a star, the most delicate of all observations, with sufficient accuracy. It may be added, that the method of making and computing observations for finding the variation of the compass, is better known, and more frequently practised, by those who have been on these voyages, than by most others. Nor is there, perhaps, a person who ranks as an officer, and has been concerned in them, who would not, whatever his real skill may be, feel ashamed to have it thought that he did not know how to observe for, and compute the time at sea; though, but a short while before these voyages were set on foot, such a thing was scarcely ever heard of amongst seamen; and even first-rate astronomers doubted the possibility of doing it with sufficient exactness.[54]

[Footnote 53: The Abbe's words are,—"Si ceux qui promettent une si grande precision dans ces sortes de methodes, avoient navigue quelques temps, ils auroient vu souvent, que dans l'observation la plus simple de toutes, qui est celle de la hauteur du soleil a midi, deux observations, munis de bons quartiers de reflexion, bien rectifies, different entr'eux, lorsqu'ils observent chacun a part, de 5', 6', 7', & 8'."—Ephemer. 1755—1765. Introduction, p. 32.

It must be, however, mentioned, in justice to M. de la Caille, that he attempted to introduce the lunar method of discovering the longitude, and proposed a plan of calculations of the moon's distance from the sun and fixed stars; but, through the imperfection of his instruments, his success was much less than that method was capable of affording. The bringing it into general use was reserved for Dr Maskelyne, our Astronomer Royal. See the preface to the Tables for correcting the Effects of Refraction and Parallax, published by the Board of Longitude, under the direction of Dr Shepherd, Flumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge, in 1772.—D.]

[Footnote 54: In addition, to Mr Wales's remark, it may be observed, that the proficiency of our naval officers in taking observations at sea, must ultimately be attributed to the great attention paid to this important object by the Board of Longitude at home; liberal rewards having been given to mathematicians for perfecting the lunar tables, and facilitating calculations, and to artists for constructing more accurate instruments for observing, and watches better adapted to keeping time at sea. It appears, therefore, that the voyages of discovery, and the operations of the Board of Longitude, went hand in hand; and they must be combined, in order to form a just estimate of the extent of the plan carried into execution since his majesty's accession, for improving astronomy and navigation. But, besides the establishment of the Board of Longitude on its present footing, which has had such important consequences, it must also be ever acknowledged, that his present majesty has extended his royal patronage to every branch of the liberal arts and useful science. The munificent present to the Royal Society for defraying the expence of observing the transit of Venus; the institution of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture; the magnificent apartments allotted to the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, and to the Royal Academy at Somerset-Place; the support of the Garden of Exotics at Kew, to improve which Mr Masson was sent to the extremities of Africa; the substantial encouragement afforded to learned men and learned works in various departments, and particularly that afforded to Mr Herschel, which has enabled him to devote himself entirely to the improvement of astronomy;—these, and many other instances which might be enumerated, would have greatly distinguished his majesty's reign, even if he had not been the patron of those successful attempts to perfect geography and navigation by so many voyages of discovery.—D.

It is scarcely necessary to add to this note by saying, that the period which has elapsed since the first publication of this voyage, has not witnessed any failure of the promises held out by the previous state of science, notwithstanding the calamities and embarrassments attendant on the revolutionary frenzy that, in some degree, infected every country in Europe. Science, indeed, has peculiarly prospered amid the miseries of the world. In pity of the destructive work, in which man's bad passions had been engaged with such industrious ferocity, she has held out in one hand a remedy for the evil, and pointed with the other to the blessings of peace. Is it unreasonable to hope, that the precious seed sown in such tumultuous times as we have witnessed, and are now witnessing, will ere long yield a rich harvest to reward the industry of her labourers? But let, us not limit our expectations and toils to the completion of mere minutiae, as Dr Douglas speaks. The opinion of plenty, says Lord Bacon, is one of the causes of want. A more unfavourable symptom of our condition could hardly be found, than a belief that we had reached perfection. Let us rather think that greater progress may yet be made in beneficial arts and sciences than ever was made hitherto, and be therefore stimulated to more ambitious exertions. It will be no glory to the next generation that we have gone so far, if they themselves are not invited and enabled by our success to get beyond us.—E.]

"The number of places at which the rise and times of flowing of tides have been observed, in these voyages, is very great, and hence an important article of useful knowledge is afforded. In these observations, some very curious, and even unexpected, circumstances, have offered themselves to our consideration. It will be sufficient to instance the exceedingly small height to which the tide rises in the middle of the great Pacific Ocean, where it falls short, two-thirds at least, of what might have been expected from theory and calculation.

"The direction and force of currents at sea, make also an important object. These voyages will be found to contain much useful information on this head, as well relating to seas nearer home, and which, in consequence, are navigated every day, as to those which are more remote, but where, notwithstanding, the knowledge of these things may be of great service to those who are destined to navigate them hereafter. To this head also we may refer the great number of experiments which have been made for enquiring into the depth of the sea, its temperature, and saltness at different depths, and in a variety of places and climates.

"An extensive foundation has also been laid for improvements in magnetism, for discovering the cause and nature of the polarity of the needle, and a theory of its variations, by the number and variety of the observations and experiments which have been made, both on the variation and dip, in almost all parts of the world. Experiments also have been made, in consequence of the late voyages, on the effects of gravity in different and very distant places, which may serve to increase our stock of natural knowledge. From the same source of information we have learned, that the phenomenon, usually called the aurora borealis, is not peculiar to high northern latitudes, but belongs equally to all cold climates, whether they be north or south.

"But, perhaps, no part of knowledge has been so great a gainer by the late voyages as that of botany. We are told,[55] that at least twelve hundred new plants have been added to the known system; and that very considerable additions have been made to every other branch of natural history, by the great skill and industry of Sir Joseph Banks, and the other gentlemen who have accompanied Captain Cook for that purpose."

[Footnote 55: See Dr Shepherd's Preface, as above.]

To our naval officers in general, or to their learned associates in the expeditions, all the foregoing improvements of knowledge may be traced; but there is one very singular improvement indeed, still behind, for which, as we are solely indebted to Captain Cook, let us state it in his own words: "Whatever may be the public judgment about other matters, it is with real satisfaction, and without claiming any merit but that of attention to my duty, that I can conclude this account with an observation, which facts enable me to make, that our having discovered the possibility of preserving health amongst a numerous ship's company for such a length of time, in such varieties of climate, and amidst such continued hardships and fatigues, will make this voyage remarkable in the opinion of every benevolent person, when the disputes about a southern continent shall have ceased to engage the attention and to divide the judgment of philosophers."[56]

[Footnote 56: 34: Cook's second voyage.]

5. But while our late voyages have opened so many channels to an increase of knowledge in the several articles already enumerated; while they have extended our acquaintance with the contents of the globe; while they have facilitated old tracks, and opened new ones for commerce; while they have been the means of improving the skill of the navigator, and the science of the astronomer; while they have procured to us so valuable accessions in the several departments of natural history, and furnished such opportunities of teaching us how to preserve the healths and lives of seamen, let us not forget another very important object of study, for which they have afforded to the speculative philosopher ample materials; I mean the study of human nature in various situations, equally interesting as they are uncommon.

However remote or secluded from frequent intercourse with more polished nations the inhabitants of any parts of the world be, if history or our own observation should make it evident that they have been formerly visited, and that foreign manners and opinions, and languages, have been blended with their own, little use can be made of what is observed amongst such people toward drawing a real picture of man in his natural uncultivated state. This seems to be the situation of the inhabitants of most of the islands that lie contiguous to the continent of Asia, and of whose manners and institutions the Europeans, who occasionally visit them, have frequently given us accounts. But the islands which our enterprising discoverers visited in the centre of the South Pacific Ocean, and are indeed the principal scenes of their operations, were untrodden ground. The inhabitants, as far as could be observed, were unmixed with any different tribe, by occasional intercourse, subsequent to their original settlement there; left entirely to their own powers for every art of life, and to their own remote traditions for every political or religions custom or institution; uninformed by science; unimproved by education; in short, a fit soil from whence a careful observer could collect facts for forming a judgment, how far unassisted human nature will be apt to degenerate, and in what respects it can ever be able to excel. Who could have thought, that the brutal ferocity of feeding upon human flesh, and the horrid superstition of offering human sacrifices, should be found to exist amongst the natives lately discovered in the Pacific Ocean, who, in other respects, appear to be no strangers to the fine feelings of humanity, to have arrived at a certain stage of social life, and to be habituated to subordination and government, which tend so naturally to repress the ebullitions of wild passion, and expand the latent powers of the understanding?

Or, if we turn from this melancholy picture, which will suggest copious matter for philosophical speculation, can we, without astonishment, observe to what a degree of perfection the same tribe (and indeed we may here join, in some of those instances, the American tribes visited in the course of the present voyage) have carried their favourite amusements, the plaintive songs of their women, their dramatic entertainments, their dances, their olympian games, as we may call them, the orations of their chiefs, the chants of their priests, the solemnity of their religious processions, their arts and manufactures, their ingenious contrivances to supply the want of proper materials, and of effective tools and machines, and the wonderful productions of their persevering labour under a complication of disadvantages, their cloth and their mats, their weapons, their fishing instruments, their ornaments, their utensils, which in design and in execution may vie with whatever modern Europe or classical antiquity can exhibit?

It is a favourite study with the scholar to trace the remains of Grecian or Roman workmanship; he turns over his Montfaucon with learned satisfaction; and he gazes with rapture on the noble collection of Sir William Hamilton. The amusement is rational and instructive. But will not his curiosity be more awakened, will he not find even more real matter for important reflection, by passing an hour in surveying the numerous specimens of the ingenuity of our newly-discovered friends, brought from the utmost recesses of the globe to enrich the British Museum, and the valuable repository of Sir Ashton Lever? If the curiosities of Sir Ashton's Sandwich-room alone were the only acquisition gained by our visits to the Pacific Ocean, who, that has taste to admire, or even eyes to behold, could hesitate to pronounce that Captain Cook had not sailed in vain? The expence of his three voyages did not, perhaps, far exceed that of digging out the buried contents of Herculaneum. And we may add, that the novelties of the Society or Sandwich Islands seem better calculated to engage the attention of the studious in our times, than the antiquities which exhibit proofs of Roman magnificence.

The grounds for making this remark cannot be better explained, than in the words of a very ingenious writer: " In an age," says Mr Warton,[57] "advanced to the highest degree of refinement, that species of curiosity commences, which is busied in contemplating the progress of social life, in displaying the gradation of science, and in tracing the transition from barbarism to civility. That these speculations should become the favourite topics of such a period, is extremely natural. We look back on the savage condition of our ancestors with the triumph of superiority; and are pleased to mark the steps by which we have been raised from rudeness to elegance; and our reflections on this subject are accompanied with a conscious pride, arising, in a great measure, from a tacit comparison of the infinite disproportion between the feeble efforts of remote ages, and our present improvements in knowledge. In the mean time, the manners, monuments, customs, practices, and opinions of antiquity, by forming so strong a contrast with those of our own times, and by exhibiting human nature and human inventions in new lights, in unexpected appearances, and in various forms, are objects which forcibly strike a feeling imagination. Nor does this spectacle afford nothing more than a fruitless gratification to the fancy. It teaches us to set a just estimation on our own acquisitions, and encourages us to cherish that cultivation, which is so closely connected with the existence and the exercise of every social virtue." We need not here observe, that the manners, monuments, customs, practices, and opinions of the present inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean, or of the west side of North America, form the strongest contrast with those of our own time in polished Europe; and that a feeling imagination will probably be more struck with the narration of the ceremonies of a Natche at Tongataboo, than of a Gothic tournament at London; with the contemplation of the colossuses of Easter Island, than of the mysterious remains of Stonehenge.[58]

[Footnote 57: Preface to his History of English Poetry.]

[Footnote 58: This may be disputed, both in point of fact, and on principles of reasoning. As to the first, the fact, let readers in general enquire as to the comparative degree and frequency of attention bestowed on the different kinds of topics alluded to by the doctor. What is the conclusion from their observations on the subject? The writer for one, does not hesitate to assert, that he is convinced, the evidence bears against the opinion of the learned editor. So far as his notice extends, it appears, that the fooleries of a superstitious age, the lies of legendary fabulists, the incomprehensible relics of long-forgotten delusions, really obtain more regard as objects of curiosity, than whatever of ingenuity or labour is to be found in the history of presently existing savages. Then again as to the reasons for such a preference. Is there not a sort of fashionable taste for the productions of antiquity, the want of which is quite unpardonable in our polished and literary circles? Does not the attainment of this taste, in any meritorious degree, by necessarily requiring much study, operate as preclusive of information to the possession of which no peculiar epithet of a commendatory nature has hitherto been awarded? Nay, is there not a sort of prejudice allied to a notion of vulgarity, directed against almost any shew of acquaintance with the habits and histories of uncultivated nations? But it would be unpardonable to imagine, there were not other reasons of a less invidious nature to explain the fact. We must certainly be allowed to pay higher respect to the particular concerns of those people with whom we stand in the light of offspring or relatives, or whose transactions and fates have rendered the history of the world what it is, almost superlatively important to every intelligent mind. If time shall witness the triumph of civilization over the savages of the southern hemisphere, then, it is highly probable, a similar enthusiasm will prevail among their literary descendants; and objects regarded by us as mere dust in the high road of nature, will be enshrined with all the partiality and fondness of national idolatry.—E.]

Many singularities, respecting what may be called the natural history of the human species, in different climates, will, on the authority of our late navigators, open abundant sources for philosophical discussion. One question of this sort, in particular, which had formerly divided the opinions of the inquisitive, as to the existence, if not of "giants on the earth," at least of a race, (inhabiting a district bordering on the north side of the strait of Magalhaens,) whose stature considerably exceeds that of the bulk of mankind, will no longer be doubted or disbelieved. And the ingenious objections of the sceptical author of Recherches sur les Americains,[59] will weigh nothing in the balance against the concurrent and accurate testimony of Byron, Wallis, and Carteret.

[Footnote 59: Tom. i. p. 331.]

Perhaps there cannot be a more interesting enquiry than to trace the migrations of the various families or tribes that have peopled the globe; and in no respect have our late voyages been more fertile in curious discoveries. It was known in general, (and I shall use the words of Kaempfer,[60]) that the Asiatic nation called Malayans "in former times, had by much the greatest trade in the Indies, and frequented with their merchant ships, not only all the coasts of Asia, but ventured even over to the coasts of Africa, particularly to the great island of Madagascar.[61] The title which the king of the Malayans assumed to himself, of Lord of the Winds and Seas to the East and to the West, is an evident proof of this; but much more the Malayan language, which spread most all over the East, much after the same manner as formerly the Latin, and of late the French, did all over Europe." Thus far, I say, was known. But that from Madagascar to the Marqueses and Easter Island, that is, nearly from the east side of Africa, till we approach toward the west side of America, a space including above half the circumference of the globe, the same tribe or nation, the Phoenicians, as we may call them, of the oriental world, should have made their settlements, and founded colonies throughout almost every intermediate stage of this immense tract, in islands at amazing distances from the mother continent, and ignorant of each other's existence; this is an historical fact, which could be but very imperfectly known before Captain Cook's two first voyages discovered so many new-inhabited spots of land lurking in the bosom of the South Pacific Ocean; and it is a fact which does not rest solely on similarity of customs and institutions, but has been established by the most satisfactory of all proofs, that drawn from affinity of language. Mr Marsden, who seems to have considered this curious subject with much attention, says, "that the links of the latitudinal chain remain yet to be traced."[40] The discovery of the Sandwich Islands in this last voyage, has added some links to the chain. But Captain Cook had not an opportunity of carrying his researches into the more westerly parts of the North Pacific. The reader, therefore, of the following work will not, perhaps, think that the editor was idly employed when he subjoined some notes, which contain abundant proof that the inhabitants of the Ladrones, or Marianne islands, and those of the Carolines, are to be traced to the same common source, with those of the islands visited by our ships. With the like view of exhibiting a striking picture of the amazing extent of this oriental language, which marks, if not a common original, at least an intimate intercourse between the inhabitants of places so very remote from each other, he has inserted a comparative table of their numerals, upon a more enlarged plan than any that has hitherto been executed.

[Footnote 60: History of Japan, vol. i. p. 93.]

[Footnote 61: That the Malayans have not only frequented Madagascar, but have also been the progenitors of some of the present race of inhabitants there, is confirmed to us by the testimony of Monsieur de Pages, who visited that island so late as 1774. "Ils m'ont paru provenir des diverses races; leur couleur leur cheveux, et leur corps l'indiquent. Ceux que je n'ai pas cru originaires des anciens naturels du pays, sont petits et trapus; ils ont les cheveux presque unis, et sont olivatres comme les Malayes, avec qui ils ont, en general, une espece de resemblance."—Voyages des M. des Pages, tom. ii. p. 90.—D.]

[Footnote 40: Archaeolog. vol. vi. p. 155. See also his History of Sumatra, p. 166, from which the following passage is transcribed:— "Besides the Malaye, there are a variety of languages spoken in Sumatra, which, however, have not only a manifest affinity among themselves, but also to that general language which is found to prevail in, and to be indigenous to, all the islands of the eastern seas; from Madagascar to the remotest of Captain Cook's discoveries, comprehending a wider extent than the Roman or any other tongue has yet boasted. In different places, it has been more or less mixed and corrupted; but between the most dissimilar branches, an eminent sameness of many radical words is apparent; and in some very distant from each other, in point of situation: As, for instance, the Philippines and Madagascar, the deviation of the words is scarcely more than is observed in the dialects of neighbouring provinces of the same kingdom."—D.]

Our British discoverers have not only thrown a blaze of light on the migrations of the tribe which has so wonderfully spread itself throughout the islands in the eastern ocean, but they have also favoured us with much curious information concerning another of the families of the earth, whose lot has fallen in less hospitable climates. We speak of the Esquimaux, hitherto only found seated on the coasts of Labradore and Hudson's Bay, and who differ in several characteristic marks from the inland inhabitants of North America. That the Greenlanders and they agree in every circumstance of customs, and manners, and language, which are demonstrations of an original identity of nation, had been discovered about twenty years ago.[62] Mr Hearne, in 1771, traced this unhappy race farther back, toward that part of the globe from whence they had originally coasted along in their skin boats, having met with some of them at the mouth of the Copper-mine River, in the latitude of 72 deg., and near five hundred leagues farther west than Pickersgill's most westerly station in Davis's Strait. Their being the same tribe who now actually inhabit the islands and coasts on the west side of North America, opposite Kamtschatka, was a discovery, the completion of which was reserved for Captain Cook. The reader of the following work will find them at Norton Sound, and at Oonalashka and Prince William's Sound; that is, near 1500 leagues distant from their stations in Greenland and on the Labradore coast. And lest similitude of manners should be thought to deceive us, a table exhibiting proofs of affinity of language, which was drawn up by Captain Cook, and is inserted in this work, will remove every doubt from the mind of the most scrupulous enquirer after truth.[63]

[Footnote 62: See Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. i. p. 262; where we are told that the Moravian brethren, who, with the consent and furtherance of Sir Hugh Palliser, then governor of Newfoundland, visited the Esquimaux on the Labradore coast, found that their language, and that of the Greenlanders, do not differ so much as that of the High and Low Dutch.—D.]

[Footnote 63: The Greenlanders, as Crantz tells us, call themselves Karalit; a word not very unlike Kanagyst, the name assumed by the inhabitants of Kodiack, one of the Schumagin islands, as Staehlin informs us.—D.]

There are other doubts of a more important kind, which, it may be hoped, will now no longer perplex the ignorant, or furnish matter of cavil to the ill-intentioned. After the great discovery, or at least the full confirmation of the great discovery, of the vicinity of the two continents of Asia and America, we trust that we shall not, for the future, be ridiculed, for believing that the former could easily furnish its inhabitants to the latter. And thus, to all the various good purposes already enumerated, as answered by our late voyages, we may add this last, though not the least important, that they have done service to religion, by robbing infidelity of a favourite objection to the credibility of the Mosaic account of the peopling of the earth.[64]

[Footnote 64: A contempt of revelation is generally the result of ignorance, conceited of its possessing superior knowledge. Observe how the author of Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains, expresses himself on this very point. "Cette distance que Mr Antermony veut trouver si peu impotante, est a-peu-pres de huit cent lieus Gauleises au travers d'un ocean perilleux, et impossible a franchir avec des canots aussi chetifs et aussi fragiles que le sont, au rapport d'Ysbrand Ides, les chaloupes des Tunguses," &c. &c. t. i. p. 156. Had this writer known that the two continents are not above thirteen leagues (instead of eight hundred) distant from each other, and that, even in that narrow space of sea, there are intervening islands, he would not have ventured to urge this argument in opposition to Mr Bell's notion of the quarter from which North America received its original inhabitants.—D.

No intelligent reader needs to be informed, that a much closer approach of the two continents of Asia and America than is here alleged to exist, would be inadequate to account for the peopling of the latter, throughout its immense extent and very important diversities of appearance. The opinion is more plausible, and gains ground in the world, that much of South America derived its original inhabitants from the opposite coast of Africa. It is enough to state this opinion, without occupying a moment's attention, in discussing the arguments which can be adduced in its support. The truth of Revelation, it may be remarked, is quite unaffected by the controversy, and, in fact, can receive neither injury nor advantage from any decision that is given to it. The real friends of that cause attach little importance to any weight of human argument in its favour, and rest entirely on divine evidence, for both the painful and the comfortable effects it produces on their consciences. Any other, they are sure, may indeed furnish matter for the display of ingenuity and learning, but will fall short of that conviction which secures self-denied obedience to its precepts.—E.]

6. Hitherto we have considered our voyages as having benefited the discoverers. But it will be asked, Have they conveyed, or are they likely ever to convey, any benefit to the discovered? It would afford exquisite satisfaction to every benevolent mind, to be instructed in facts, which might enable us, without hesitation, to answer this question in the affirmative. And yet, perhaps, we may indulge the pleasing hope, that, even in this respect, our ships have not sailed in vain. Other discoveries of new countries have, in effect, been wars, or rather massacres; nations have been no sooner found out, than they have been extirpated; and the horrid cruelties of the conquerors of Mexico and Peru can never be remembered, without blushing for religion and human nature. But when the recesses of the globe are investigated, not to enlarge private dominion, but to promote general knowledge; when we visit new tribes of our fellow-creatures as friends; and wish only to learn that they exist, in order to bring them within the pale of the offices of humanity, and to relieve the wants of their imperfect state of society, by communicating to them our superior attainments; voyages of discovery planned with such benevolent views by George the Third, and executed by Cook, have not, we trust, totally failed in this respect. Our repeated visits, and long-continued intercourse with the natives of the Friendly, Society, and Sandwich Islands, cannot but have darted some rays of light on the infant minds of those poor people. The uncommon objects they have thus had opportunities of observing and admiring, will naturally tend to enlarge their stock of ideas, and to furnish new materials for the exercise of their reason. Comparing themselves with their visitors, they cannot but be struck with the deepest conviction of their own inferiority, and be impelled, by the strongest motives, to strive to emerge from it, and to rise nearer to a level with those children of the Sun, who deigned to look upon them, and left behind so many specimens of their generous and humane attention. The very introduction of our useful animals and vegetables, by adding fresh means of subsistence, will have added to their comforts of life, and immediate enjoyments; and if this be the only benefit they are ever to receive, who will pronounce that much has not been gained? But may we not carry our wishes and our hopes still farther? Great Britain itself, when, first visited by the Phoenicians, was inhabited by painted savages, not, perhaps, blessed with higher attainments than are possessed by the present natives of New Zealand; certainly less civilized than those of Tongataboo or Otaheite. Our having opened an intercourse with them, is the first step toward their improvement. Who knows, but that our late voyages may be the means appointed by Providence, of spreading, in due time, the blessings of civilization amongst the numerous tribes of the South Pacific Ocean; of abolishing their horrid repasts and their horrid rites; and of laying the foundation for future and more effectual plans, to prepare them for holding an honourable station amongst the nations of the earth? This, at least, is certain, that our having, as it were, brought them into existence by our extensive researches, will suggest to us fresh motives of devout gratitude to the Supreme Being, for having blessed us with advantages hitherto withheld from so great a proportion of the human race; and will operate powerfully to incite us to persevere in every feasible attempt, to be his instruments in rescuing millions of fellow-creatures from their present state of humiliation.[65]

[Footnote 65: It is painful to a liberal mind to question the basis of any hope, or to doubt the validity of any expectations, in behalf of our species. One would rather foster a mistaken benevolence, which, scorning selfish interests, embraced the future welfare of distant and unknown people, were it not that the indulgence of them might tend to prevent the very object which they regard from being attained. Does not the well-meaning editor anticipate too much from the diffusion of foreign knowledge among the tribes of whom he speaks? Is he not somewhat inattentive to the mass of inseparable evil which every such accession brings along with it? Does he not seem to confound together the acquisition of knowledge, and the ability to do what is requisite for human happiness? May we not perceive by the very items of his calculation, that he has neglected to consider that nice adjustment of the faculty and the means of enjoyment, which evinces the general care and universal affection of Providence? The consequence of such neglect or mistake, would be an injudicious and hasty effort to induce what we call civilization, on the too much commiserated objects of our philanthropy. Without disputing for a moment, that the intercourse with Europeans has proved beneficial to these people, though, as every intelligent reader knows well, a thousand arguments would be thrown away on an attempt to shew there was no occasion to do so, we may fairly enough affirm, that such zealous exertions as are here virtually recommended, are liable to the charge of being premature, and not altogether according to knowledge. We are too apt to imagine that barbarous people are easily made to believe their institutions and manners are erroneous, or impolitic; and that they will accordingly readily listen to the suggestions of those who, they acknowledge, are in many respects superior to themselves. But, in fact, the very reverse is the case, and it will ever be found that the simplest states of society are least sensible of inconveniences, and therefore most averse to innovation. Besides, it ought to be remembered, that, independent of any adventitious assistance, there is implanted in every such society, how contemptible soever it may seem to others, a certain principle of amelioration, which never fails, in due time, to yield its fruit, and which, there is some reason to apprehend, may receive detriment from obtrusive solicitude to hasten its product. Every boy has within him the seeds of manhood, which, at the period appointed by nature, germinate, blossom, and fructify; but anxiety to accelerate the process too often ruins the soil on which they grow, and mars the hopes of the cultivator, by unseasonable maturity and rapid decay. So is it with societies. The progress of human affairs on the large scale, is precisely similar to what we daily witness on the small. It has been described, with equal beauty and correctness, by the judicious Ferguson, in his Essays on the History of Civil Society. "What was in one generation," says he, "a propensity to herd with the species, becomes, in the ages which follow, a principle of natural union. What was originally an alliance for common defence, becomes a concerted plan of political force; the care of subsistence becomes an anxiety for accumulating wealth, and the foundation of commercial arts."—Who can say that the officiousness of friendship is not likely to disorder the series, and, though it escape the charge and the fate of presumption, is not deserving to be considered as unnecessary enthusiasm?—E.]

The several topics which occurred, as suitable to this general Introduction, being now discussed, nothing remains but to state a few particulars, about which the reader of these volumes has a right to expect some information.

Captain Cook, knowing, before he sailed upon this last expedition, that it was expected from him to relate, as well as to execute, its operations, had taken care to prepare such a journal as might be made use of for publication. This journal, which exists in his own hand-writing, has been faithfully adhered to. It is not a bare extract from his logbooks, but contains many remarks which, it appears, had not been inserted by him in the nautical register; and it is also enriched with considerable communications from Mr Anderson, surgeon of the Resolution. The confessed abilities, and great assiduity, of Mr Anderson, in observing every thing that related either to natural history, or to manners and language, and the desire which, it is well known, Captain Cook, on all occasions, shewed to have the assistance of that gentleman, stamped a great value on his collections. That nothing, therefore, might be wanting to convey to the public the best possible account of the transactions of the voyage, his journal, by the order of Lord Sandwich, was also put into the hands of the editor, who was authorised and directed to avail himself of the information it might be found to contain, about matters imperfectly touched, or altogether omitted, in Captain Cook's manuscript. This task has been executed in such a manner, that the reader will scarcely ever be at a loss to distinguish in what instances recourse has been had to Mr Anderson. To preclude, if possible, any mistake, the copy of the first and second volumes, before it went to the printer, was submitted to Captain King; and after it had been read over and corrected by one so well qualified to point out any inaccuracies, the Earl of Sandwich had the goodness to give it a perusal. As to the third volume, nothing more need be said, than that it was completely prepared for the press by Captain King himself. All that the editor of the work has to answer for, are the notes occasionally introduced in the course of the two volumes contributed by Captain Cook; and this Introduction, which was intended as a kind of epilogue to our Voyages of Discovery. He must be permitted, however, to say, that he considers himself as entitled to no inconsiderable share of candid indulgence from the public; having engaged in a very tedious and troublesome undertaking upon the most disinterested motives; his only reward being the satisfaction he feels, in having been able to do an essential service to the family of our great navigator, who had honoured him, in the journal of this voyage, with the appellation of friend.

They who repeatedly asked why this publication was so long delayed, needed only to look at the volumes, and their attendant illustrations and ornaments, to be satisfied that it might, with at least equal reason, be wondered at, that it was not delayed longer. The journal of Captain Cook, from the first moment that it came into the hands of the editor, had been ready for the press; and Captain King had left with him his part of the narrative, so long ago as his departure for the West Indies, when he commanded the Resistance man-of-war. But much, besides, remained to be done. The charts, particularly the general one, were to be prepared by Mr Roberts; the very numerous and elegant drawings of Mr Webber were to be reduced by him to the proper size; artists were next to be found out who would undertake to engrave them; the prior engagements of those artists were to be fulfilled before they could begin; the labour and skill to be exerted in finishing many of them, rendered this a tedious operation; paper fit for printing them upon was to be procured from abroad; and after all these various and unavoidable difficulties were surmounted, much time was necessarily required for executing a numerous impression of the long list of plates, with so much care as might do justice both to Mr Webber, and to his several engravers.

And here it seems to be incumbent upon us to add, as another instance of munificent attention, that care was taken to mark, in the most significant manner, the just sense entertained of the human and liberal relief afforded to our ships in Kamtachatka. Colonel Behm, the commandant of that province, was not rewarded merely by the pleasure which a benevolent mind feels in reflecting upon the blessings it confers, but also thanked in a manner equally consistent with the dignity of his own sovereign and of ours, to whose subjects he extended protection. A magnificent piece of plate was presented to him, with an inscription, worthy of a place in the same book where the history of his humanity to our countrymen is recorded, and which, while it does honour to our national gratitude, deserves also to be preserved as a monument of our national taste for elegant composition. It is as follows:

_VIRO EGREGIO MAGNO DE BEHM; _qui, Imperatricis Augustissimae Catherinae auspiciis, summaque animi benignitate, saeva, quibus praeerat, Kamtschatkae littora, navibus nautisque Britannicis, hospita praebuit; eosque, in terminis, si qui essent Imperio Russico, frustra explorandis, mula multa perpessos, iterata vice excepit, refecit, recreavit, et commeatu omni cumulate auctos dimisit_; REI NAVALIS BRITANNICAE SEPTEMVIRI _in aliquam benevolentiae tam insignis memoriam, amicissimo, gratissimoque animo, suo, patriaeque nomine_, D.D.D. MDCCLXXXI.

This testimony of public gratitude, reminds the editor that there are similar calls upon himself. He owes much to Captain King for his advice and direction, in a variety of instances, where Captain Cook's journal required explanation; for filling up several blanks with the proper longitude and latitude; and for supplying deficiencies in the tables of astronomical observations.

Lieutenant Roberts was also frequently consulted, and was always found to be a ready and effectual assistant, when any nautical difficulties were to be cleared up.

But particular obligations are due to Mr Wales, who, besides his valuable communications for this Introduction, seconded most liberally the editor's views of serving Mrs Cook, by cheerfully taking upon himself the whole trouble of digesting, from the log-books, the tables of the route of the ships, which add so greatly to the utility of this publication.

Mr Wegg, besides sharing in the thanks so justly due to the committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, for their unreserved communications, was particularly obliging to the editor, by giving him repeated opportunities of conversing with Governor Hearne and Captain Christopher.

The Honourable Mr Daines Barrington had the goodness to interest himself, with his usual zeal for every work of public utility, in procuring some necessary information, and suggesting some valuable hints, which were adopted.

It would be great injustice not to express acknowledgements to Mr Pennant, who, besides enriching the third volume with references to his Arctic Zoology, the publication of which is an important accession to natural history, also communicated some very authentic and satisfactory manuscript accounts of the Russian discoveries.

The vocabularies of the Friendly and Sandwich Islands, and of the natives of Nootka, had been furnished to Captain Cook, by his most useful associate in the voyage, Mr Anderson; and a fourth, in which the language of the Esquimaux is compared with that of the Americans on the opposite side of the continent, had been prepared by the captain himself. But the comparative Table of Numerals was very obligingly drawn up, at the request of the editor, by Mr Bryant, who, in his study, followed Captain Cook, and, indeed, every traveller and historian, of every age, into every part of the globe. The public will consider this table as a very striking illustration of the wonderful migrations of a nation, about whom so much additional information has been gained by our voyages, and be ready to acknowledge it as a very useful communication.

One more communication remains to be not only acknowledged, but to be inserted at the close of this Introduction. The testimonies of learned contemporaries, in commendation of a deceased author, are frequently displayed in the front of his book. It is with the greatest propriety, therefore, that we prefix to this posthumous work of Captain Cook, the testimony of one of his own profession, not more distinguished by the elevation of rank, than by the dignity of private virtues. As he wishes to remain concealed, perhaps this allusion, for which we entreat his indulgence, may have given too exact direction to the eyes of the public where to look for such a character.[66] Let us, however, rest satisfied with the intrinsic merit of a composition, conveyed under the injunction of secrecy; and conclude our long preliminary dissertation with expressing a wish, or rather a well-grounded hope, that this volume may not be the only place where posterity can meet with a monumental inscription, commemorative of a man, in recounting and applauding whose services, the whole of enlightened Europe will equally concur with Great Britain.

[Footnote 66: This is understood to be spoken of the Honourable Admiral Forbes, Admiral of the Fleet, and General of the Marines, to whom, on the authority of Sir Hugh Palliser, the eulogium is ascribed in the Biog. Brit. He is said to have known Cook only by his eminent merit and extraordinary actions. The testimony, therefore, is the more to be prized, as it cannot be charged with the partiality of friendship.—E.]

TO THE MEMORY OF

CAPTAIN JAMES COOK,

The ablest and most renowned Navigator this or any other country hath produced.

He raised himself, solely by his merit, from a very obscure birth, to the rank of Post Captain in the royal navy, and was, unfortunately, killed by the savages of the island Owhyhee, on the 14th of February, 1779; which island he had, not long before, discovered, when prosecuting his third voyage round the globe.

He possessed, in an eminent degree, all the qualifications requisite for his profession and great undertakings; together with the amiable and worthy qualities of the best men.

Cool and deliberate in judging; sagacious in determining; active in executing; steady and persevering in enterprising vigilance and unremitting caution; unsubdued by labour, difficulties, and disappointments; fertile in expedients; never wanting presence of mind; always possessing himself, and the full use of a sound understanding.

Mild, just, but exact in discipline: He was a father to his people, who were attached to him from affection, and obedient from confidence.

His knowledge, his experience, his sagacity, rendered him so entirely master of his subject, that the greatest obstacles were surmounted, and the most dangerous navigations became easy, and almost safe, under his direction.

He explored the southern hemisphere to a much higher latitude than had ever been reached, and with fewer accidents than frequently befal those who navigate the coasts of this island.

By his benevolent and unabating attention to the welfare of his ship's company, he discovered and introduced a system for the preservation of the health of seamen in long voyages, which has proved wonderfully efficacious; for in his second voyage round the world, which continued upwards of three years, he lost only one man by distemper, of one hundred and eighteen, of which his company consisted.

The death of this eminent and valuable man was a loss to mankind in general; and particularly to be deplored by every nation that respects useful accomplishments, that honours science, and loves the benevolent and amiable affections of the heart. It is still more to be deplored by this country, which may justly boast of having produced a man hitherto unequalled for nautical talents; and that sorrow is farther aggravated by the reflection, that his country was deprived of this ornament by the enmity of a people, from whom, indeed, it might have been dreaded, but from whom it was not deserved. For, actuated always by the most attentive care and tender compassion for the savages in general, this excellent man was ever assiduously endeavouring, by kind treatment, to dissipate their fears, and court their friendship; overlooking their thefts and treacheries, and frequently interposing, at the hazard of his life, to protect them from the sudden resentment of his own injured people.

The object of his last mission was to discover and ascertain the boundaries of Asia and America, and to penetrate into the northern ocean by the north-east Cape of Asia.

Traveller! contemplate, admire, revere, and emulate this great master in his profession; whose skill and labours have enlarged natural philosophy; have extended nautical science; and have disclosed the long-concealed and admirable arrangements of the Almighty in the formation of this globe, and, at the same time, the arrogance of mortals, in presuming to account, by their speculations, for the laws by which he was pleased to create it. It is now discovered, beyond all doubt, that the same Great Being who created the universe by his fiat, by the same ordained our earth to keep a just poise, without a corresponding southern continent—and it does so! "He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing."—Job, xxvi. 7.

If the arduous but exact researches of this extraordinary man have not discovered a new world, they have discovered seas unnavigated and unknown before. They have made us acquainted with islands, people and productions, of which we had no conception. And if he has not been so fortunate as Americus to give his name to a continent, his pretensions to such a distinction remain unrivalled; and he will be revered, while there remains a page of his own modest account of his voyages, and as long as mariners and geographers shall be instructed, by his new map of the southern hemisphere, to trace the various courses and discoveries he has made.

If public services merit public acknowledgments; if the man who adorned and raised the fame of his country is deserving of honours, then Captain Cook deserves to have a monument raised to his memory, by a generous and grateful nation.

Virtutis uberrimum alimentum est honos. VAL. MAXIMUS, lib. ii. cap. 6.



COOK'S VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.



CHAPTER I.

TRANSACTIONS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE TILL OUR DEPARTURE FROM NEW ZEALAND.

SECTION I.

Various Preparations for the Voyage.—Omais Behaviour on embarking.—Observations for determining the Longitude of Sheerness, and the North Foreland.—Passage of the Resolution from Deptford to Plymouth.—Employments there.—Complements of the Crews of both Ships, and Names of the Officers.—Observations to fix the Longitude of Plymouth.—Departure of the Resolution.

Having, on the 9th day of February, 1776, received a commission to command his majesty's sloop the Resolution, I went on board the next day, hoisted the pendant, and began to enter men. At the same time, the Discovery, of three hundred tons burthen, was purchased into the service, and the command of her given to Captain Clerke, who had been my second lieutenant on board the Resolution, in my second voyage round the world, from which we had lately returned.

These two ships were, at this time, in the dock at Deptford, under the hands of the shipwrights; being ordered to be equipped to make farther discoveries in the Pacific Ocean, under my direction.

On the 9th of March, the Resolution was hauled out of dock into the river; where we completed her rigging, and took on board the stores and provisions requisite for a voyage of such duration. Both ships, indeed, were supplied with as much of every necessary article as we could conveniently stow, and with the best of every kind that could be procured. And, besides this, every thing that had been found, by the experience acquired during our former extensive voyages, to be of any utility in preserving the health of seamen, was supplied in abundance.

It was our intention to have sailed to Long Reach on the 6th of May, when a pilot came on board to carry us thither; but it was the 29th before the wind would permit us to move, and the 30th before we arrived at that station, where our artillery, powder, shot, and other ordnance stores were received.

While we lay in Long Reach, thus employed, the Earl of Sandwich, Sir Hugh Palliser, and others of the Board of Admiralty, as the last mark of the very great attention they had all along shewn to this equipment, paid us a visit on the 8th of June, to examine whether every thing had been completed conformably to their intentions and orders, and to the satisfaction of all who were to embark in the voyage. They, and several other noblemen and gentlemen their friends, honoured me with their company at dinner on that day; and, on their coming on board, and also on their going ashore, we saluted them with seventeen guns, and three cheers.

With the benevolent view of conveying some permanent benefit to the inhabitants of Otaheite, and of the other islands in the Pacific Ocean, whom we might happen to visit, his majesty having commanded some useful animals to be carried out, we took on board, on the 10th, a bull, two cows with their calves, and some sheep, with hay and corn for their subsistence; intending to add to these other useful animals, when I should arrive at the Cape of Good Hope.

I was also, from the same laudable motives, furnished with a sufficient quantity of such of our European garden-seeds, as could not fail to be a valuable present to our newly discovered islands, by adding fresh supplies of food to their own vegetable productions.

Many other articles, calculated to improve the condition of our friends in the other hemisphere in various ways, were, at the same time, delivered to us by order of the Board of Admiralty. And both ships were provided with a proper assortment of iron tools and trinkets, as the means of enabling us to traffic, and to cultivate a friendly intercourse with the inhabitants of such new countries as we might be fortunate enough to meet with.

The same humane attention was extended to our own wants. Some additional clothing, adapted to a cold climate, was ordered for our crews; and nothing was denied to us that could be supposed in the least conducive to health, or even to convenience.

Nor did the extraordinary care of those at the head of the naval department stop here. They were equally solicitous to afford us every assistance towards rendering our voyage of public utility. Accordingly, we received on board, next day, several astronomical and nautical instruments, which the Board of Longitude entrusted to me, and to Mr King, my second lieutenant; we having engaged to that board to make all the necessary observations, during the voyage, for the improvement of astronomy and navigation; and, by our joint labours, to supply the place of a professed observator. Such a person had been originally intended to be sent out in my ship.

The board, likewise, put into our possession the same watch, or time-keeper, which I had carried out in my last voyage, and had performed its part so well. It was a copy of Mr Harrison's, constructed by Mr Kendall. This day, at noon, it was found to be too slow for mean time at Greenwich, by 3' 31" 89; and by its rate of going, it lost, on mean time, 1", 209 per day.

Another time-keeper, and the same number and sort of instruments for making observations, were put on board the Discovery, under the care of Mr William Bayly; who, having already given satisfactory proofs of his skill and diligence as an observator, while employed in Captain Furneaux's ship, during the late voyage, was engaged a second time, in that capacity, to embark with Captain Clerke.

Mr Anderson, my surgeon, who, to skill in his immediate profession, added great proficiency in natural history, was as willing as he was well qualified, to describe every thing in that branch of science which should occur worthy of notice. As he had already visited the South Sea islands in the same ship, and been of singular service, by enabling me to enrich my relation of that voyage with various useful remarks on men and things,[67] I reasonably expected to derive considerable assistance from him, in recording our new proceedings.

[Footnote 67: The very copious vocabulary of the language of Otaheite, and the comparative specimen of the languages of the several other islands visited during the former voyage, and published in Captain Cook's account of it, were furnished by Mr Anderson.—D.]

I had several young men amongst my sea-officers, who, under my direction, could be usefully employed in constructing charts, in taking views of the coasts and headlands near which we should pass, and in drawing plans of the bays and harbours in which we should anchor. A constant attention to this I knew to be highly requisite, if we would render our discoveries profitable to future navigators.

And that we might go out with every help that could serve to make the result of our voyage entertaining to the generality of readers, as well as instructive to the sailor and scholar, Mr Webber was pitched upon, and engaged to embark with me, for the express purpose of supplying the unavoidable imperfections of written accounts, by enabling us to preserve, and to bring home, such drawings of the most memorable scenes of our transactions, as could only be executed by a professed and skilful artist.

Every preparation being now completed, I received an order to proceed to Plymouth, and to take the Discovery under my command. I accordingly gave Captain Clerke two orders, one to put himself under my command, and the other, to carry his ship round to Plymouth.

On the 15th the Resolution sailed from Long Reach, with the Discovery in company, and the same evening they anchored at the Nore. Next day the Discovery proceeded, in obedience to my order; but the Resolution was ordered to remain at the Nore till I should join her, being at this time in London.

As we were to touch at Otaheite and the Society Islands in our way to the intended scene of our fresh operations, it had been determined not to omit this opportunity (the only one ever likely to happen) of carrying Omai back to his native country. Accordingly, every thing being ready for our departure, he and I set out together from London on the 24th, at six o'clock in the morning. We reached Chatham, between ten and eleven o'clock; and, after dining with Commissioner Proby, he very obligingly ordered his yacht to carry us to Sheerness, where my boat was waiting to take us on board.

Omai left London with a mixture of regret and satisfaction. When we talked about England, and about those who, during his stay, had honoured him with their protection or friendship, I could observe that his spirits were sensibly affected, and that it was with difficulty he could refrain from tears. But the instant the conversation turned to his own islands, his eyes began to sparkle with joy. He was deeply impressed with a sense of the good treatment he had met with in England, and entertained the highest ideas of the country and of the people; but the pleasing prospect he now had before him of returning home, loaded with what he well knew would be esteemed invaluable treasures there, and the flattering hope which the possession of these gave him, of attaining to a distinguished superiority amongst his countrymen, were considerations which operated, by degrees, to suppress every uneasy sensation; and he seemed to be quite happy when he got on board the ship.

He was furnished by his majesty with an ample provision of every article which, during our intercourse with his country, we had observed to be in any estimation there, either as useful or as ornamental. He had, besides, received many presents of the same nature from Lord Sandwich, Sir Joseph Banks, and several other gentlemen and ladies of his acquaintance. In short, every method had been employed, both during his abode in England, and at his departure, to make him the instrument of conveying to the inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, the most exalted opinion of the greatness and generosity of the British nation.

While the Resolution lay at the Nore, Mr King made several observations for finding the longitude by the watch. The mean of them all gave 0 deg. 44' 0" for the longitude of the ship. This, reduced to Sheerness, by the bearing and estimated distance, will make that place to be 0 deg. 37' 0" E. of Greenwich, which is more by seven miles than Mr Lyons made it by the watch which Lord Mulgrave had with him, on his voyage toward the North Pole. Whoever knows any thing of the distance between Sheerness and Greenwich, will be a judge which of these two observations is nearest the truth.

The variation of the needle here, by a mean of different sets, taken with different compasses, was 20 deg. 37' W.

On the 25th, about noon, we weighed anchor, and made sail for the Downs through the Queen's Channel, with a gentle breeze at N.W. by W. At nine in the evening we anchored, with the North Foreland bearing S. by E. and Margate Point S.W. by S.

Next morning, at two o'clock, we weighed and stood round the Foreland; and when it bore north by the compass, the watch gave 1 deg. 24' E. longitude, which, reduced to the Foreland, will be 1 deg. 21' E. Lunar observations made the preceding evening, fixed it at 1 deg. 20' E. At eight o'clock the same morning we anchored in the Downs. Two boats had been built for us at Deal, and I immediately sent on shore for them. I was told that many people had assembled there to see Omai, but, to their great disappointment, he did not land.

Having received the boats on board, and a light breeze at S.S.E. springing up, we got under sail the next day at two o'clock in the afternoon; but the breeze soon died away, and we were obliged to anchor again till ten o'clock at night. We then weighed with the wind at E. and proceeded down the Channel.

On the 30th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we anchored in Plymouth Sound, where the Discovery had arrived only three days before. I saluted Admiral Amherst, whose flag was flying on board the Ocean, with thirteen guns, and he returned the compliment with eleven.

It was the first object of our care on arriving at Plymouth, to replace the water and provisions that we had expended, and to receive on board a supply of port wine. This was the employment which occupied us on the 1st and 2d of July.

During our stay here, the crews were served with fresh beef every day. And I should not do justice to Mr Ommanney, the agent victualler, if I did not take this opportunity to mention, that he shewed a very obliging readiness to furnish me with the best of every thing that lay within his department. I had been under the like obligations to him on my setting out upon my last voyage. Commissioner Ourry, with equal zeal for the service, gave us every assistance that we wanted from the naval yard.

It could not but occur to us as a singular and affecting circumstance, that at the very instant of our departure upon a voyage, the object of which was to benefit Europe by making fresh discoveries in North America, there should be the unhappy necessity of employing others of his majesty's ships, and of conveying numerous bodies of land forces to secure the obedience of those parts of that continent which had been discovered and settled by our countrymen in the last century. On the 6th his majesty's ships Diamond, Ambuscade, and Unicorn, with a fleet of transports, consisting of sixty-two sail, bound to America, with the last division of the Hessian troops, and some horse, were forced into the Sound by a strong N.W. wind.

On the 8th I received, by express, my instructions for the voyage, and an order to proceed to the Cape of Good Hope with the Resolution. I was also directed to leave an order for Captain Clerke to follow us as soon as he should join his ship, he being at this time detained in London.

Our first discoverers of the New World, and navigators of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, were justly thought to have exerted such uncommon abilities, and to have accomplished such perilous enterprises, that their names have been handed down to posterity as so many Argonauts. Nay, even the hulks of the ships that carried them, though not converted into constellations in the heavens, used to be honoured and visited as sacred relics upon earth. We, in the present age of improved navigation, who have been instructed by their labours, and have followed them as our guides, have no such claim to fame. Some merit, however, being still, in the public opinion, considered as due to those who sail to unexplored quarters of the globe; in conformity to this favourable judgment, I prefixed to the account of my last voyage the names of the officers of both my ships, and a table of the number of their respective crews. The like information will be expected from me at present.

The Resolution was fitted out with the same complement of officers and men as she had before; and the Discovery's establishment varied from that of the Adventure, in the single instance of her having no marine officer on board. This arrangement was to be finally completed at Plymouth; and on the 9th we received the party of marines allotted for our voyage. Colonel Bell, who commanded the division at this port, gave me such men for the detachment as I had reason to be satisfied with. And the supernumerary seamen, occasioned by this reinforcement, being turned over into the Ocean man-of-war, our several complements remained fixed, as represented in the following table:—

RESOLUTION. DISCOVERY.

Officers and Men. No. Officers No. Officers Names Names. Captains, 1 James Cook. 1 Charles Clerke. Lieutenants, 3 John Gore. 2 James Burney. James King. John Rickman. John Williamson. Master, 1 William Bligh. 1 Thomas Edgar. Boatswain, 1 William Ewin. 1 Aneas Atkins. Carpenter, 1 James Clevely. 1 Peter Reynolds. Gunner, 1 Robert Anderson. 1 William Peckover. Surgeon, 1 William Anderson. 1 John Law. Master's Mates, 3 2 Midshipmen, 6 4 Surgeon's Mates, 2 2 Captain's Clerk, 1 1 Master at Arms, 1 Corporal, 1 Armourer, 1 1 Ditto Mate, 1 1 Sail Maker, 1 1 Ditto Mate, 1 1 Boatswain's Mates, 3 2 Carpenter's Ditto, 3 2 Gunner's Ditto, 2 1 Carpenter's Crew, 4 4 Cook, 1 1 Ditto Mate, 1 Quarter Masters, 6 4 Able Seamen, 45 33 Marines. Lieutenants, 1 Molesworth Philips. Serjeant, 1 1 Corporals, 2 1 Drummer, 1 1 Privates, 15 8

Total, 112 80

On the 10th, the commissioner and pay clerks came on board, and paid the officers and crew up to the 30th of last month. The petty officers and seamen had, besides, two months wages in advance. Such indulgence to the latter is no more than what is customary in the navy. But the payment of what was due to the superior officers was humanely ordered by the Admiralty, in consideration of our peculiar situation, that we might be better able to defray the very great expence of furnishing ourselves with a stock of necessaries for a voyage which, probably, would be of unusual duration, and to regions where no supply could be expected.

Nothing now obstructing my departure but a contrary wind, which blew strong at S.W., in the morning of the 11th, I delivered into the hands of Mr Burney, first lieutenant of the Discovery, Captain Clerke's sailing orders; a copy of which I also left with the officer commanding his majesty's ships at Plymouth, to be delivered to the captain immediately on his arrival. In the afternoon, the wind moderating, we weighed with the ebb, and got farther out, beyond all the shipping in the sound; where, after making an unsuccessful attempt to get to sea, we were detained most of the following day, which was employed in receiving on board a supply of water; and, by the same vessel that brought it, all the empty casks were returned.

As I did not imagine my stay at Plymouth would have been so long as it proved, we did not get our instruments on shore to make the necessary observations for ascertaining the longitude by the watch. For the same reason, Mr Bayly did not set about this, till he found that the Discovery would probably be detained some days after us. He then placed his quadrant upon Drake's Island; and had time, before the Resolution sailed, to make observations sufficient for the purpose we had in view. Our watch made the island to lie 4 deg. 14', and his, 4 deg. 13 1/2', west of Greenwich. Its latitude, as found by Messrs Wales and Bayly, on the last voyage, is 50 deg. 21' 30" N.

We weighed again at eight in the evening, and stood out of the sound, with a gentle breeze at N.W. by W.

SECTION II.

Passage of the Resolution to Teneriffe.—Reception there.—Description of Santa Cruz Road.—Refreshment to be met with.—Observations for fixing the Longitude of Teneriffe.—Some Account of the Island.—Botanical Observations.—Cities of Santa Cruz and Loguna.—Agriculture.—Air and Climate.—Commerce.—Inhabitants.

We had not been long out of Plymouth Sound, before the wind came more westerly, and blew fresh, so that we were obliged to ply down the Channel; and it was not till the 14th, at eight in the evening, that we were off the Lizard.

On the 16th, at noon, St Agnes's light-house on the isles of Scilly bore N.W. by W., distant seven or eight miles. Our latitude was now 49 deg. 53' 30" N., and our longitude, by the watch, 6 deg. 11' W. Hence, I reckon that St Agnes's light-house is in 49 deg. 57' 30" N. latitude, and in 6 deg. 20' of W. longitude.

On the 17th[68] and 18th we were off Ushant, and found the longitude of the island to be, by the watch, 5 deg. 18' 37" W. The variation was 23 deg. 0' 50", in the same direction.

[Footnote 68: It appears from Captain Cook's log-book, that he began his judicious operations for preserving the health of his crew, very early in the voyage. On the 17th, the ship was smoked between decks with gunpowder. The spare sails also were then well aired.—D.]

With a strong gale at S., on the 19th, we stood to the westward, till eight o'clock in the morning; when the wind shifting to the W. and N.W., we tacked and stretched to the southward. At this time, we saw nine sail of large ships, which we judged to be French men-of-war. They took no particular notice of us, nor we of them.

At ten o'clock in the morning of the 22d, we saw Cape Ortegal; which at noon bore S.E. 1/2 S., about four leagues distant. At this time we were in the latitude of 44 deg. 6' N.; and our longitude, by the watch, was 8 deg. 23" W.

After two days of calm weather, we passed Cape Finisterre on the afternoon of the 24th, with a fine gale at N.N.E. The longitude of this cape, by the watch, is 9 deg. 29' W.; and, by the mean of forty-one lunar observations, made before and after we passed it, and reduced to it by the watch, the result was 9 deg. 19' 12".

On the 30th, at six minutes and thirty-eight seconds past ten o'clock at night, apparent time, I observed, with a night telescope, the moon totally eclipsed. By the ephemeris, the same happened at Greenwich at nine minutes past eleven o'clock; the difference being one hour, two minutes, and twenty-two seconds, or 15 deg. 35' 30" of longitude. The watch, for the same time, gave 15 deg. 26' 45' longitude W.; and the latitude was 31 deg. 10' N. No other observation could be made on this eclipse, as the moon was hid behind the clouds the greater part of the time; and, in particular, when the beginning and end of total darkness, and the end of the eclipse, happened.

Finding that we had not hay and corn sufficient for the subsistence of the stock of animals on board, till our arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, I determined to touch at Teneriffe, to get a supply of these, and of the usual refreshments for ourselves; thinking that island, for such purposes, better adapted than Madeira. At four in the afternoon of the 31st, we saw Teneriffe, and steered for the eastern part. At nine, being near it, we hauled up, and stood off and on during the night.

At day-light, on the morning of the 1st of August, we sailed round the east point of the island; and, about eight o'clock, anchored on the S.E. side of it, in the road of Santa Cruz, in twenty-three fathoms water; the bottom, sand and ooze. Punta de Nago, the east point of the road, bore N. 64 deg. E.; St Francis's church, remarkable for its high steeple, W.S.W.; the Pic, S. 65 deg. W.; and the S.W. point of the road, on which stands a fort or castle, S. 39 deg. W. In this situation, we moored N.E. and S.W. with a cable each way, being near half a mile from the shore.

We found, riding in this road, La Boussole, a French frigate, commanded by the Chevalier de Borda; two brigantines of the same nation; an English brigantine from London, bound to Senegal; and fourteen sail of Spanish vessels.

No sooner had we anchored, than we were visited by the master of the port, who satisfied himself with asking the ship's name. Upon his leaving us, I sent an officer ashore, to present my respects to the governor; and to ask his leave to take in water, and to purchase such articles as we were in want of. All this he granted with the greatest politeness; and, soon after, sent an officer on board, to compliment me on my arrival. In the afternoon, I waited upon him in person, accompanied by some of my officers; and, before I returned to my ship, bespoke some corn and straw for the live stock; ordered a quantity of wine from Mr McCarrick, the contractor, and made an agreement with the master of a Spanish boat to supply us with water, as I found that we could not do it ourselves.

The road of Santa Cruz is situated before the town of the same name, on the S.E. side of the island. It is, as I am told, the principal road of Teneriffe, for shelter, capacity, and the goodness of its bottom. It lies entirely open to the S.E. and S. winds. But these winds are never of long continuance; and, they say, there is not an instance of a ship driving from her anchors on shore.[69] This may, in part, be owing to the great care they take in mooring them; for I observed, that all the ships we met with, there, had four anchors out; two to the N.E., and two to the S.W.; and their cables buoyed up with casks. Ours suffered a little by not observing this last precaution.

[Footnote 69: Though no such instance was known to those from whom Captain Cook had this information, we learn from Glas, that some years before he was at Teneriffe, almost all the shipping in the road were driven on shore. See Glas's History of the Canary Islands, p. 235. We may well suppose the precautions now used, have prevented any more such accidents happening. This will sufficiently justify Captain Cook's account.—- D.]

At the S.W. part of the road, a stone pier runs out into the sea from the town, for the convenience of loading and landing of goods. To this pier, the water that supplies the shipping is conveyed. This, as also what the inhabitants of Santa Cruz use, is derived from a rivulet that runs from the hills, the greatest part of which comes into the town in wooden spouts or troughs, that are supported by slender posts, and the remainder doth not reach the sea; though it is evident, from the size of the channel, that sometimes large torrents rush down. At this time these troughs were repairing, so that fresh water, which is very good here, was scarce.

Were we to judge from the appearance of the country in the neighbourhood of Santa Cruz, it might be concluded that Teneriffe is a barren spot, insufficient to maintain even its own inhabitants. The ample supplies, however, which we received, convinced as that they had enough to spare for visitors. Besides wine, which is the chief produce of the island, beef may be had at a moderate price. The oxen are small and bony, and weigh about ninety pounds a quarter. The meat is but lean, and was, at present, sold for half a bit (three-pence sterling) a pound. I, unadvisedly, bought the bullocks alive, and paid considerably more. Hogs, sheep, goats, and poultry, are likewise to be bought at the same moderate rate; and fruits are in great plenty. At this time we had grapes, figs, pears, mulberries, plantains, and musk-melons. There is a variety of other fruits produced here, though not in season at this time. Their pumpkins, onions, and potatoes, are exceedingly good of their kind; and keep better at sea than any I ever before met with.

The Indian corn, which is also their produce, cost me about three shillings and sixpence a bushel; and the fruits and roots were, in general, very cheap. They have not any plentiful supply of fish from the adjoining sea; but a very considerable fishery is carried on by their vessels upon the coast of Barbary: and the produce of it sells at a reasonable price. Upon the whole, I found Teneriffe to be a more eligible place than Madeira, for ships bound on long voyages to touch at; though the wine of the latter, according to my taste, is as much superior to that of the former, as strong beer is to small. To compensate for this, the difference of prices is considerable; for the best Teneriffe wine was now sold for twelve pounds a pipe; whereas a pipe of the best Madeira would have cost considerably more than double that sum.[70]

[Footnote 70: Formerly, there was made at Teneriffe a great quantity of Canary sack, which the French call Vin de Malvesie; and we, corruptly after them, name Malmsey (from Malvesia, a town in the Morea, famous for such luscious wine). In the last century, and still later, much of this was imported into England; but little wine is now made there, but of the sort described by Captain Cook. Not more than fifty pipes of the rich Canary were annually made in Glas's time; and he says, they now gather the grapes when green, and make a dry hard wine of them, fit for hot climates, p. 262.—D.]

The Chevalier De Borda, commander of the French frigate now lying in Santa Cruz road, was employed, in conjunction with Mr Varila, a Spanish gentleman, in making astronomical observations for ascertaining the going of two time-keepers which they had on board their ship. For this purpose, they had a tent pitched on the pier head, where they made their observations, and compared their watches, every day at noon, with the clock on shore, by signals. These signals the chevalier very obligingly communicated to us; so that we could compare our watch at the same time. But our stay was too short, to profit much by his kindness.

The three days comparisons which we made, assured us that the watch had not materially, if at all, altered her rate of going; and gave us the same longitude, within a very few seconds, that was obtained by finding the time from observations of the sun's altitude from the horizon of the sea. The watch, from a mean of these observations, on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of August, made the longitude 16 deg. 31' W.; and, in like manner, the latitude was found to be 28 deg. 30' 11" N.

Mr Varila informed us, that the true longitude was 18 deg. 35' 30", from Paris, which is only 16 deg. 16' 30" from Greenwich; less than what our watch gave by 14' 30". But, far from looking upon this as an error in the watch, I rather think it a confirmation of its having gone well; and that the longitude by it may be nearer the truth than any other. It is farther confirmed by the lunar observations that we made in the road, which gave 16 deg. 37' 10". Those made before we arrived, and reduced to the road by the watch, gave 16 deg. 33' 30"; and those made after we left it, and reduced back in the same manner, gave 16 deg. 28'. The mean of the three is 16 deg. 30' 40".

To reduce these several longitudes, and the latitude, to the Pic of Teneriffe, one of the most noted points of land with geographers, (to obtain the true situation of which, I have entered into this particular discussion,) I had recourse to the bearing, and a few hours of the ship's run after leaving Santa Cruz road; and found it to be 12' 11" S. of the road, and 29' 30" of longitude W. of it. As the base, which helped to determine this, was partly estimated, it is liable to some error; but I think I cannot be much mistaken. Dr Maskelyne, in his British Mariner's Guide, places the Pic in the latitude of 28 deg. 12' 54". This, with the bearing from the road, will give the difference of longitude 43', which considerably exceeds the distance they reckon the Pic to be from Santa Cruz. I made the latitude of the Pic to be 28 deg. 18' N. Upon that supposition, its longitude will be as follows:

{The time-keeper, 17 deg. 0' 30" } By {Lunar observations, 16 deg. 30' 20"} W. {Mr Varila, 16 deg. 46' 0" }

But if the latitude of it is 28 deg. 12' 54", as in the British Mariner's Guide, its longitude will be 13 deg. 30' more westerly.

The variation, when we were at anchor in the road, by the mean of all our compasses, was found to be 14 deg. 41' 20" W. The dip of the N. end of the needle was 61 deg. 52' 30".

Some of Mr Anderson's remarks on the natural appearances of Teneriffe, and its productions, and what he observed himself, or learnt by information, about the general state of the island, will be of use, particularly in marking what changes may have happened there since Mr Glas visited it. They here follow in his own words:

"While we were standing in for the land, the weather being perfectly clear, we had an opportunity of seeing the celebrated Pic of Teneriffe. But, I own, I was much disappointed in my expectation with respect to its appearance. It is, certainly, far from equalling the noble figure of Pico, one of the western isles which I have seen; though its perpendicular height may be greater. This circumstance, perhaps, arises from its being surrounded by other very high hills; whereas Pico stands without a rival."

"Behind the city of Santa Cruz, the country rises gradually, and is of a moderate height. Beyond this, to the south-westward, it becomes higher, and continues to rise toward the Pic, which, from the road, appears but little higher than the surrounding hills. From thence it seems to decrease, though not suddenly, as far as the eye can reach. From a supposition that we should not stay above one day, I was obliged to contract my excursions into the country; otherwise, I had proposed to visit the top of this famous mountain."[71]

[Footnote 71: See an account of a journey to the top of the Pic of Teneriffe, in Sprat's History of the Royal Society, p.200, &c. Glas also went to the top of it.—History of the Canary Islands, p. 252 to 259. In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. xlvii. p. 353-356, we have observations made, in going up the Pic of Teneriffe, by Dr T. Heberden. The doctor makes its height, above the level of the sea, to be 2566 fathoms, or 15,396 English feet; and says, that this was confirmed by two subsequent observations by himself, and another made by Mr Crosse, the consul. And yet I find that the Chevalier de Borda, who measured the height of this mountain in August 1776, makes it to be only 1931 French toises, or 12,340 English feet. See Dr Forster's Observations during a Voyage round the World, p. 32.—D.]

"To the eastward of Santa Cruz, the island appears perfectly barren. Ridges of hills run toward the sea; between which ridges are deep valleys, terminating at mountains or hills that ran across, and are higher than the former. Those that run toward the sea, are marked by impressions on their sides, which make them appear as a succession of conic hills, with their tops very rugged. The higher ones that run across, are more uniform in their appearance."

"In the forenoon of the 1st of August, after we had anchored in the road, I went on shore to one of these valleys, with an intention to reach the top of the remoter hills, which seemed covered with wood; but time would not allow me to get farther than their foot. After walking about three miles, I found no alteration in the appearance of the lower hills, which produce great quantities of the euphorbia Canariensis. It is surprising that this large succulent plant should thrive on so burnt-up a soil. When broken which is easily done, the quantity of juice is very great; and it might be supposed that, when dried, it would shrivel to nothing; yet it is a pretty tough, though soft and light wood. The people here believe its juice to be so caustic as to erode the skin;[72] but I convinced them, though with much difficulty, to the contrary, by thrusting my finger into the plant full of it, without afterward wiping it off. They break down the bushes of euphorbia, and, suffering them to dry, carry them home for fuel. I met with nothing else growing there, but two or three small shrubs, and a few fig-trees near the bottom of the valley."

[Footnote 72: Glas, p. 231, speaking of this plant, says, "that he cannot imagine why the natives of the Canaries do not extract the juice, and use it instead of pitch, for the bottoms of their boats." We now learn from Mr Anderson their reason for not using it,—D].

"The basis of the hills is a heavy, compact, bluish stone, mixed with some shining particles; and, on the surface, large masses of red friable earth, or stone, are scattered about. I also often found the same substance disposed in thick strata; and the little earth, strewed here and there, was a blackish mould. There were likewise some pieces of slag; one of which, from its weight and smooth surface, seemed almost wholly metalline."

"The mouldering state of these hills is, doubtless, owing to the perpetual action of the sun, which calcines their surface. This mouldered part being afterward washed away by the heavy rains, perhaps is the cause of their sides being so uneven. For, as the different substances of which they are composed, are more or less easily affected by the sun's heat, they will be carried away in the like proportions. Hence, perhaps, the tops of the hills, being of the hardest rock, have stood, while the other parts on a declivity have been destroyed. As I have usually observed, that the tops of most mountains that are covered with trees have a more uniform appearance, I am inclined to believe that this is owing to their being shaded."

"The city of Santa Cruz, though not large, is tolerably well built. The churches are not magnificent without; but within are decent, and indifferently ornamented. They are inferior to some of the churches at Madeira; but I imagine this rather arises from the different disposition of the people, than from their inability to support them better. For the private houses, and dress of the Spanish inhabitants of Santa Cruz, are far preferable to those of the Portuguese at Madeira; who, perhaps, are willing to strip themselves, that they may adorn their churches."

"Almost facing the stone pier at the landing-place, is a handsome marble column lately put up, ornamented with some human figures, that do no discredit to the artist; with an inscription in Spanish, to commemorate the occasion of the erection, and the date."

"In the afternoon of the 2d, four of us hired mules to ride to the city of Laguna,[73] so called from an adjoining lake, about four miles from Santa Cruz. We arrived there between five and six in the evening; but found a sight of it very unable to compensate for our trouble, as the road was very bad, and the mules but indifferent. The place is, indeed, pretty extensive, but scarcely deserves to be dignified with the name of city. The disposition of its streets is very irregular; yet some of them are of a tolerable breadth, and have some good houses. In general, however, Laguna is inferior in appearance to Santa Cruz, though the latter is but small, if compared with the former. We are informed, likewise, that Laguna is declining fast; there being, at present, some vineyards where houses formerly stood; whereas Santa Cruz is increasing daily."

[Footnote 73: Its extended name is St Christobal de la Laguna; and it used to be reckoned the capital of the island, the gentry and lawyers living there; though the governor-general of the Canary Islands resides at Santa Cruz, as being the centre of their trade, both with Europe and America. See Glas's History, p. 248.—D.]

"The road leading from Santa Cruz to Laguna runs up a steep hill, which is very barren; but, lower down, we saw some fig-trees, and several corn fields. These are but small, and not thrown into ridges, as is practised in England. Nor does it appear that they can raise any corn here without great labour, as the ground is so encumbered with stones, that they are obliged to collect and lay them in broad rows, or walls, in small distances. The large hills that run to the S.W., appeared to be pretty well furnished with trees. Nothing else worth noticing presented itself during this excursion, except a few aloe plants in flower, near the side of the road, and the cheerfulness of our guides, who amused us with songs by the way."

"Most of the laborious work in this island is performed by mules; horses being to appearance scarce, and chiefly reserved for the use of the officers. They are of a small size, but well shaped and spirited. Oxen are also employed to drag their casks along upon a large clumsy piece of wood; and they are yoked by the head, though it doth not seem that this has any peculiar advantage over our method of fixing the harness on the shoulders. In my walks and excursions I saw some hawks, parrots which are natives of the island, the sea-swallow or tern, sea-gulls, partridges, wagtails, swallows, martins, blackbirds, and Canary-birds in large flocks. There are also lizards of the common, and another sort; some insects, as locusts; and three or four sorts of dragon flies."

"I had an opportunity of conversing with a sensible and well-informed gentleman residing here, and whose veracity I have not the least reason to doubt. From him I learnt some particulars, which, during the short stay of three days, did not fall within my own observation. He informed me, that a shrub is common here, agreeing exactly with the description given by Tournefort and Linnaeus, of the tea shrub, as growing in China and Japan. It is reckoned a weed, and he roots out thousands of them every year from his vineyards. The Spaniards, however, of the island, sometimes use it as tea, and ascribe to it all the qualities of that imported from China. They also give it the name of tea; but what is remarkable, they say it was found here when the islands were first discovered."