76 cook's first voyage april, 



v^ye ; they said it was a theft by a centry when he was 

 upon duty, and of a thing that liad been comiuitted 

 to his trust ; they declared it a disgrace to associate 

 with him ; and the serjeant, in particular, said that, 

 if the person from whom the skin had been stolen 

 would not complain, he would complain himself; 

 for that his honour would suffer if the offender was 

 not punished. From the scoffs and reproaches of 

 these men of honour, the poor young fellow retired 

 to his hammock in an agony of confusion and shame. 

 The Serjeant soon after went to him, and ordered 

 him to follow him to the deck : he obeyed without 

 reply ; but it being in the dusk of the evening, he 

 slipped from the serjeant and went forward : he was 

 seen by some of the people, who thought he was 

 gone to the head ; but a search being made for him 

 afterwards, it was found that he had thrown himseli' 

 overboard ; and I was then first made acquainted with 

 the theft and its circumstances. 



The loss of this man was the more regretted as 

 he was remarkably quiet and industrious, and as the 

 very action that put an end to his life was a proof of 

 an ingenuous mind ; for to such only disgrace is 

 insupportable. 



On Tuesday the 4th of April, about ten o'clock 

 in the morning, Mr. Banks's servant, Peter Briscoe, 

 discovered land, bearing south, at the distance of 

 about three or four leagues. I immediately hauled 

 up for it, and found it to be an island of an oval 

 form, with a lagoon in the middle, which occupied 

 much the larger part of it; the border of land which 

 circumscribes the lagoon is in many places very low 

 and narrow, particularly on the south side, where it 

 consists principally of a beach or reef of rocks. It 

 has the same appearance also in three places on the 

 north side ; so that the firm land being disjoined, the 

 whole looks like many islands covered with w^ood. 

 On the west end of the island is a large tree, oir 

 clump of trees, that in appearance resembles a tower; 



