&2 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



then have left them ; but they chose to detain him, till, by 

 feeling his hands and face, they were convinced he was made 

 of flesh and blood like themselves. They then dismissed 

 him, directing him the nearest way to the ship. 



On the 4th of August they put to sea, and at noon came 

 to an anchor, when the Captain gave the name of Cape 

 Bedford to the northernmost point of land in sight, and that 

 of Endeavour River to the harbour which they had quitted. 

 The provisions they obtained, while in this harbour, con- 

 sisted of turtle, oysters of three different sorts, large cavalhe 

 or scomber, large mullets, some flat fish, a great number 

 of small scombri, and skate or ray-fish ; purslain, wild 

 beans, the tops of cocoas, and cabbage palms. Of quadru- 

 peds there are goats, wolves, and polecats, and a spotted 

 animal of the viverra kind. Dogs are the only tame animals. 



During the six following days, they struggled incessantly 

 to sail safely past the shoals and breakers, by which they 

 were every way surrounded. After a conversation held 

 among the officers, it was their concurrent opinion, that it 

 would be best to leave the coast, and stand out to sea ; and 

 in consequence of these sentiments, they sailed on the 13th 

 of August, 1770, and got in an open sea, after having been 

 surrounded by dreadful shoals and rocks for nearly three 

 months. They had now sailed above a thousand miles, 

 during all which run they had been obliged to keep sounding, 

 without intermission ; a circumstance which, it is supposed, 

 never happened to any ship but the Endeavour. Captain 

 Cook observes in his Journal that they were made " quite 

 easy at being freed from fears of shoals, etc., after having 

 been entangled among them more or less ever since the 

 26th May, in which time they had sailed 360 leagues without 

 ever having had a man out of the chains heaving the lead 

 when the ship was under sail/'* 



Having anchored on the 14th, they steered a westerly 

 course on the following day, to get sight of the land, that 

 a passage between that land and New Guinea might not be 

 missed, if there was any such passage. They stood north- 

 ward till midnight. When day-light came on, they saw 

 a dreadful surf break at a vast height, within a mile of the 

 ship, towards which the rolling waves carried her with great 

 rapidity. Thus distressed, the boats were sent ahead to 

 tow, and the head of the vessel was brought about, but not 

 till she was within one hundred yards of the rock, between 

 which and her there was nothing left but the chasm, made 

 by the last wave which had washed her side. In the 

 moment they expected instant destruction, a breeze, 



* Captain Cook's Journal, page 287, Records, Admiralty, 

 'Whitehall. 



