96 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



willing to advance it ; he therefore made application to 

 the governor, who issued his orders that he should be 

 supplied out of the treasury of the Dutch East India 

 Company. 



After little more than a week spent at Batavia, the ill 

 effects of the climate began to be severely felt. Dr. 

 Solander and Mr. Banks were indisposed with fevers ; Mr. 

 Banks's two servants were exceedingly ill ; the Indian 

 boy, Tayota, had an inflammation on his lungs ; and 

 Tupia was so bad that his life was despaired of. Their 

 indisposition was attributed partly to the heat of the 

 climate, and partly to the swampy situation of the 

 town, and the stench of the dirty canals with which it 

 abounds.* 



* The following interesting letter from Captain Cook, dated 

 only three days previous, detailing his successful voyage, and that he 

 " had not lost a man by sickness," is sadly corroborative of the ill 

 effects of the climate of Batavia, aided possibly by the excesses of 

 the men, on the arrival of the ship at that plalfre : 



Endeavour Bark, near Batavia, 

 23rd October, 1770. 



Sin, Please to acquaint my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty 

 that I left Rio de Janeiro the 28th of December, 1768, and on the 

 16th of January following arrived in Success Bay, in Straits La 

 Maire, where we recruited our wood and water, and on the 21st 

 of the same month we quitted Straits La Maire, and arrived at 

 George's on the 13th of April. In our passage to this island I 

 made a far more westerly track than any ship had ever done before, 

 yet it was attended with no discovery until we arrived within the 

 tropick, where we discovered several islands. We met with as 

 friendly a reception by the natives of George's island as I could wish, 

 and I took care to secure ourselves in such a manner as to put 

 it out of the power of the whole island to drive us off. Some days 

 preceding the June 3rd, I sent Lieut. Hicks to the eastern part of 

 this island, and Lieut. Gore to York island with others of the officers 

 (Mr. Green having furnished them with instruments), to observe 

 the transit of Venus, that we may have the better chance of suc- 

 ceeding should the day prove unfavourable, but in this we were 

 so fortunate that the observations were everywhere attended with 

 every favourable circumstance. It was the 13th of July before I 

 was ready to quit this island, after which I spent near a month 

 exploring some other islands which lay to the westward before we 

 steered to the southward. On the 14th of August we discovered a 

 small island lying in the latitude of 22 27' south, longitude 150 47' 

 west. After quitting this island I steered to the south, inclining 

 a little to the east, until we arrived in the latitude of 40 12' south, 

 without seeing the least signs of land. After this I steered to the 

 westward, between the latitude of 30 and 40, until the 6th of 

 October, on which day we discovered the east coast of New Zealand, 



