14 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



despatches to the governor of Yucatan, relative to the 

 log cutters in the Bay of Honduras, Lieutenant Cook was 

 selected for that mission, and he performed it in a manner 

 that entitled him to the approbation of the admiral. A 

 relation of this voyage and journey was published in 1769, 

 tinder the title of " Remarks on a Passage from the River 

 Balise, in the Bay of Honduras, to Merida, the capital of 

 the Province of Yucatan, in the Spanish West Indies, by 

 Lieutenant Cook." 



That our navigator had by this time made a considerable 

 proficiency in practical astronomy, is evident from a short 

 paper, drawn up by him, which was inserted in the seventh 

 volume of the Philosophical Transactions, entitled, " An 

 Observation of an Eclipse of the Sun at the Island of 

 Newfoundland, August 5th, 1766, with the Longitude of 

 the Place of Observation deduced from it." This obser- 

 vation was made at one of the Burgeo islands, near Cape 

 Ray, in latitude 47 36' 19" on the south-west extremity 

 of Newfoundland ; and Cook's paper having been com- 

 municated to Mr. Witchell, he compared it with an obser- 

 vation made on the same eclipse by Professor Hornsby, 

 and thence computed the difference of longitude of the 

 places of observation, making proper allowance for parallax, 

 and the prolate spheroidal figure of the earth. That Cook 

 was now counted an able mathematician, the admission 

 of this paper into the Philosophical Transactions, and the 

 notice that was taken of it, will sufficiently verify. 



It was reserved for the reign of George III. to carry the 

 spirit of enterprise to its fullest extent, and to direct it to 

 the accomplishment of the noblest purposes. As soon as 

 the return of peace gave an opportunity for promoting the 

 interests of science, by enlarging the bounds of discovery, 

 two voyages were projected by the king, which were per- 

 formed by Captains Byron, Wallis, and Carteret ; and 

 before the two latter gentlemen returned, a third was 

 resolved upon, the principal object of which was the im- 

 provement of astronomy. 



It having been long before calculated that the planet 

 Venus would pass over the sun's disk in 1769, a pheno- 

 menon of great importance to astronomy, and which had 

 engaged the attention of men of science, it was judged 

 that the most proper place for observing this phenomenon 

 would be either at the Marquesas, or at one of those islands 

 to which Tasman had given the several appellations of 

 Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Middleburgh ; but which are 

 now better known under the general name of the Friendly 

 Isles. This being a matter of so much importance in the 

 science of astronomy, the Royal Society, with that laudable 



