218 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



she was smoked with gunpowder mixed with vinegar or 

 water. They had, also, frequently a fire made in an iron 

 pot at the bottom of the well, which was of great use in puri- 

 fying the air in the lower parts of the ship. To this, and to 

 cleanliness, as well in the ship as amongst the people, too 

 great attention cannot be paid ; the least neglect occasions a 

 putrid and disagreeable smell below, which nothing but 

 fires will remove. 



Captain Cook concludes his account of this his second 

 voyage round the world as follows : 



" It doth not become me to say how far the principal 

 objects of our voyage have been obtained. Had we found 

 out a continent there, we might have been better enabled to 

 gratify curiosity ; but we hope our not having found it, 

 after all our persevering researches, will leave less room for 

 future speculation about unknown worlds remaining to be 

 explored. 



" But whatever may be the public judgment about other 

 matters, it is with real satisfaction, and without claiming 

 any merit but of attention to my duty, that I can conclude 

 this account with an observation which facts enable me to 

 make, that our having discovered the possibility of pre- 

 serving health amongst a numerous ship's company, for 

 such a length of time, in such varieties of climate, and 

 amidst such continued hardships and fatigues, will make 

 this voyage remarkable in the opinion of every benevolent 

 person, when the disputes about a southern continent shall 

 have ceased to engage the attention, and to divide the 

 judgment of philosophers/' 



We shall only add, that during this voyage, Captain Cook 

 was considered to have resolved the great problem of a 

 southern continent, having traversed that hemisphere in 

 such a manner as not to leave a possibility, as was thought, 

 of its existence within the reach of navigation.* In his 

 progress, however, he discovered New Caledonia, the 

 largest island in the Southern Pacific, except New Zealand ; 

 the island of Georgia, and an unknown coast, which he 

 named Sandwich Land, the thule of the southern hemi- 

 sphere ; and having twice visited the tropical seas, he 

 settled the situations of the old, and made several new 

 discoveries. 



* It was reserved for Sir James Clark Ross, in his marvellous 

 voyage, some seventy years after, to navigate further south, and to 

 prove not only its existence, but the possibility of reaching it. 



