364< cook's first voyage may, 



in digging lime-stone, which, though scarce upon the 

 continent, is plenty here: and that a Danish ship, 

 which by sickness had lost great part of her crew, 

 and had been refused assistance at the cape, came 

 down to this island, and sending her boat ashore, se- 

 cured the guard, and took on board as many of the 

 criminals as she thought proper to navigate her home : 

 we concluded therefore that the Dutch, to prevent 

 the rescue of their criminals in time to come, had 

 given order to their people here to suffer no boat of 

 any foreign nation to come ashore. 



On the 25th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we 

 weighed, with a light breeze at S. E., and put to sea. 

 About an hour afterwards, we lost our master, Mr. 

 Robert Mollineux, a young man of good parts, but 

 unhappily given up to intemperance, which brought 

 on disorders that put an end to his life. 



We proceeded in our voyage homeward without 

 any remarkable incident; and in the morning of the 

 29th we crossed our first meridian, having circum- 

 navigated the globe in the direction from east to west, 

 and consequently lost a day, for which we made an 

 allowance at Batavia. 



At day-break, on the first of May, we saw the island 

 of Saint Helena; and at noon, we anchored in the 

 road before James's fort. 



We staid here till the 4th, to refresh, and Mr. 

 Banks improved the time in making the complete 

 circuit of the island, and visiting the most remarkable 

 places upon it. 



It is situated as it were in the middle of the vast 

 Atlantic Ocean, being four hundred leagues distant 

 from the coast of Africa, and six hundred from that 

 of America. It is the summit of an immense moun- 

 tain rising out of the sea, which, at a little distance 

 all round it, is of an unfathomable depth, and is no 

 more than twelve leagues long, and six broad. 



The seat of volcanoes has, without exception, been 

 found to be the highest part of the countries in which 

 they are found. iEtna and Vesuvius have no land 



