260 cook's second voyage july, 



parable from that situation, were, in some degree, 

 compensated by the singular felicity we enjoyed, of 

 extracting inexhaustible supplies of fresh water from 

 an ocean strewed with ice. 



We came to few places, where either the art of 

 man, or the bounty of nature, had not provided 

 some sort of refreshment or other, either in the 

 animal or vegetable way. It was my first care to 

 procure whatever of any kind could be met with, by 

 every means in my power ; and to oblige our people 

 to make use thereof, both by my example and autho- 

 rity ; but the benefits arising from refreshments of 

 any kind soon became so obvious, that I had little 

 occasion to recommend the one or to exert the 

 other: 



It doth not become me to say how far the principal 

 objects of our voyage have been obtained. Though it 

 hath not abounded with remarkable events, nor been 

 diversified by sudden transitions of fortune ; though 

 my relation of it has been more employed in tracing 

 our course by sea, than in recording our operations 

 on shore ; this, perhaps, is a circumstance from which 

 the curious reader may infer, that the purposes for 

 which we were sent into the southern hemisphere 

 were diligently and effectually pursued. Had we 

 found out a continent there, we might have been 

 better enabled to gratify curiosity ; but we hope 

 our not having found it, after all our persevering 

 searches, will leave less room for future specu- 

 lation about unknown worlds remaining to be 

 explored. 



But, whatever may be the public judgment about 

 other matters, it is with real satisfaction, and with- 

 out claiming any merit but that of attention to my 

 duty, that I can conclude this account with an ob- 

 servation 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 



