EXCELLENT HEALTH IN COOK's VOYAGES. 273 



occasions a putrid and disagreeable smell below 

 which nothing but fires can remove. Fresh water, 

 vegetables, and fresh provisions were also eagerly 

 sought for at every opportunity ; and these it was 

 Captain Cook's practice to oblige his people to make 

 use of by his own example and authority. The re- 

 sults of these measures we shall now see. 



The two ships sailed on 13th July, 1772. To- 

 wards the end of August, when advancing towards 

 the south, the rain " poured down, not in drops but 

 i.i streams ; and the wind at the same time being 

 variable and rough, the people were obliged to attend 

 so constantly upon the deck, that few of them 

 escaped being completely soaked ;" but although 

 rain is a great promoter of sickness in warm cli- 

 mates, the airing by fires between decks, and the 

 other precautions, were so effectual, that, on arriv- 

 ing at the Cape of Good Hope, only one man was on 

 the sick-list; whereas we have seen that, after a 

 similar voyage, the Centurion arrived on the coast 

 of Brazil with 80 sick, of whom 28 soon died. As 

 we proceed, the contrast becomes still more strik- 

 ing. On 22d November, Cook sailed from the Cape 

 in search of a southern continent. On the 29th, a 

 violent storm, attended with hail and rain, came on, 

 and caused the loss of most of their live-stock ; and 

 a sudden transition took place from warm and mild 

 to extremely cold and wet weather, which was se- 

 verely felt by the people. On 10th December they 

 met with islands of ice ; and, from that time till the 

 middle of March, continued their search for land 

 with unremitting diligence, amid cold, hardships, 

 and dangers, such as we can form a very imperfect 

 idea of; and, at last, on 26th March, after being 117 

 days at sea, during which they had sailed 3660 

 leagues, they came to anchor in Dusky Bay, New- 

 Zealand. " After so long a voyage," says Dr. Kip- 

 pis, from whose Life of Cook these particulars are 

 taken, " in a high southern latitude, it might cer* 



