COOK IN "ENDEAVOUR" 83 



" What could be better than to combine these accounts and make up a complete 

 narrative from them all ? 



" The result, however, according to our nineteenth-century ideas, was not 

 altogether happy. Dr. Hawkesworth, into whose hands the Journals were put, not 

 only interspersed reflections of his own, but managed to impose his own ponderous 

 style upon many of the extracts from the united Journals ; and, moreover, as they 

 were all jumbled together, the whole being put into Cook's mouth, it is impossible 

 to know whether we are reading Cook, Banks, Solander or Hawkesworth himself." 



Up to the present day, numerous accounts of the " Voyages," 

 " Lives," etc., have been issued, and in many languages. They 

 condense or expand with the greatest freedom, according to the 

 views or objects of this or that author or editor. 



More than fifty years ago, I picked up, at an Edinburgh book- 

 stall, a Glasgow edition l of Cook's Voyages, in three volumes, 

 which may serve as an illustration of how Cook's narrative was 

 dealt with and edited in such a fashion that Cook himself would 

 hardly have recognised it. It is Hawkesworth, without the division 

 into chapters, or the rubrics which preface the chapters. Portions, 

 however, are omitted and again portions are added, the Journals 

 of Cook, Banks and Solander, together with Kippis' Life of Cook, 

 having been laid under contribution, while many philosophical 

 observations were evidently contributed by the anonymous editor 

 himself. No acknowledgment is ever made, but, even for state- 

 ments or facts which at first appear to be new, justification can 

 usually be found somewhere in one or other of the authentic docu- 

 ments. The editing, on the whole, is skilfully done, although 

 Captain Cook is made to speak " in the first person singular," and 

 reflections and observations are put into his mouth which he 

 certainly would never have dreamed of making. What between 

 Hawkesworth and the later editor, the plain tale of a sailor has 

 assumed a mask compounded of pedantry and Calvinistic piety 

 which forms a baffling disguise. 



The primary object of the voyage which was commenced in 

 1768 was the measurement of the sun's distance by means of an 

 observation of the transit of Venus, a project which was urged by 

 the Royal Society and warmly supported by King George III. 

 This object having been accomplished, the expedition was to 

 explore the South Seas. 



The barque " Endeavour," of 370 tons, originally built as a 

 collier, was selected as a suitable vessel and added to the Royal 

 Navy. Her complement was ninety-five persons in all, inclusive 

 of eleven who were civilians. Among the latter were Mr. (after- 

 wards Sir) Joseph Banks, a naturalist with a leaning towards botany, 

 who had been President of the Royal Society, Dr. Charles Solander, 

 his Secretary and Assistant, Mr. Charles Green, Astronomer, and 

 Messrs. Reynolds, Parkinson and Buchan, Artists. All of the 



1 Captain Cook's Voyages, including Captain Furneaux's Journal. Glasgow, W. D. 

 and A. Brownlie, 1807-8-9. 



