210 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



In all probability this unhappy business originated in 

 some quarrel, which was decided on the spot ; or incautious- 

 ness on the part of the boat's crew might have tempted the 

 natives to seize the opportunity of satisfying their inhuman 

 appetites. 



They were detained in the Sound, by contrary winds, four 

 days after this melancholy affair happened, during which 

 time they saw none of the inhabitants. 



On the 23rd they weighed and made sail out of the Sound 

 and stood to the eastward, but were baffled for two or three 

 days with light winds, before they could clear the coast. 



January the 10th, 1774, they arrived abreast of Cape 

 Horn. They were very little more than a month from 

 Cape Palliser, in New Zealand, to Cape Horn, which is 

 121 of longitude. 



On opening some casks of peas and flour that had been 

 stowed on the coals, they found them very much damaged, 

 and not eatable ; so thought it most prudent to make for the 

 Cape of Good Hope. On the 17th of February they made 

 the land of the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 19th 

 anchored at Table Bay, where they found Commodore Sir 

 Edward Hughes, with his Majesty's ships Salisbury and Sea- 

 horse. On the 16th of April, Captain Furneaux sailed for 

 England, and on the 14th of July anchored at Spithead. 



We now return to Captain Cook and give to our readers, 

 in his own words, the following brief but masterly summary 

 of the latter part of his interesting voyage : 



H. M. Sloop Resolution, Table Bay, Cape Good Hope, 

 22nd March, 1775. 



Sir, As Captain Furneaux must have informed you of my proceed- 

 ings prior to our final separation, I shall confine this letter to my 

 transactions afterwards. The Adventure not arriving in Queen 

 Charlotte's Sound before the 26th of November, I put to sea, and 

 after spending two days looking for her on the coast, I stood away 

 to the south, inclining to the east. I met with little interruption 

 from ice till we got into the latitude of 66, where the sea was so 

 covered with it that we could proceed no farther ; we then steered 

 to the east, inclining to the south over a sea strewed with 

 mountains of ice, and crossed the Antarctick Circle in the meridian 

 of 14 6' west. After this I found it necessary to haul to north, 

 not only to get clear of the ice islands which were very numerous, 

 but to explore a space of sea we had left nearly in the middle of 

 the ocean in that direction. After getting to the latitude of 

 48, I edged away to the east, and then again to the south, till we 

 arrived in the latitude of 71 10', longitude 106 west. Farther it 

 was not possible to go, all the sea to the south being wholly covered 

 with a solid sheet of ice, in which were ice mountains whose lofty 

 summits were lost in the clouds. Hitherto we had not seen the 

 least signs of land, or any one thing to encourage our researches, 

 nevertheless I did not think the Pacific Ocean sufficiently explored, 



