<272 * cook's SECOND VOYAGE FEB. 



if I met with no employment before I came there. 

 I was now well satisfied no continent was to be found 

 in this ocean, but what must lie so far to the south as 

 to be wholly inaccessible on account of ice ; and that 

 if one should be found in the Southern Atlantic 

 Ocean, it would be necessary to have the whole 

 summer before us to explore it. On the other hand, 

 upon a supposition that there is no land there, we 

 undoubtedly might have reached the Cape of Good 

 Hope by April, and so have put an end to the expe- 

 dition, so far as it related to the finding a continent ; 

 which indeed was the first object of the voyage. But 

 for me at this time to have quitted this Southern 

 Pacific Ocean, with a good ship expressly sent out 

 on discoveries, a healthy crew, and not in want either 

 of stores or of provisions, would have been betraying 

 not only a want of perseverance, but of judgment, in 

 supposing the South Pacific Ocean to have been so 

 well explored, that nothing remained to be done in 

 it. This, however, was not my opinion ; for, al- 

 though I had proved there was no continent but 

 what must lie far to the south, there remained, never- 

 theless, room for very large islands in places wholly 

 unexamined: and many of those which were formerly 

 discovered, are but imperfectly explored, and their 

 situations as imperfectly known. I was besides of 

 opinion, that my remaining in this sea some time 

 longer, would be productive of improvements in 

 navigation and geography, as well as other sciences. 

 I had several times communicated my thoughts on 

 this subject to Captain Furneaux; but as it then 

 wholly depended on what we might meet with to the 

 south, I could not give it in orders without running 

 the risk of drawing us from the main object. 



Since now nothing had happened to prevent me 

 from carrying these views into execution, my inten- 

 tion was first to go in search of the land, said to have 

 been discovered by Juan Fernandez, above a century 

 ago, in about the latitude of 38 ; if I should fail in 



