CAPTAIN COOK. 29 



and animals. Banks took also with him a draughtsman named Sydney Parkinson (who 

 wrote a journal of the voyage), a naturalist, and others as assistants. 



Before the Endeavour was fitted out Captain Wallis returned with news of the 

 discovery of Otaheite, the Tahiti of modern spelling, which he had named " King 

 George the Third's Island," and which is probably identical with La Sagittaria of De 

 Quiros ; and as this place seemed more convenient for the purposes of astronomical 

 observation than any of the islands of the Marquesas Group, it was determined that 

 the scientific preparations for that object should be made there, and the path of the 

 planet across the sun's disc followed from some convenient spot within the island. 



On the 26th of August, 1 768, which happened to fall on a Friday, the Endeavour 

 set sail from Plymouth Sound, having on board a complement of eighty-five men, 

 " including the captain, two lieutenants, three midshipmen, a master, surgeon, boatswain, 

 carpenter, and the other petty officers, with forty-one able seamen, twelve marines, and 

 nine servants," and thus the first of the celebrated voyages of England's most famous 

 navigator was begun. 



A voyage of six months carried the Endeavour round Cape Horn, and a pleasant 

 run of four months across the Pacific saw her anchored at Otaheite, where a small fort 

 and an observatory 

 were built. Nearly two 

 months passed in 

 friendly intercourse 

 with the natives, and 

 the eventful day of 

 the transit dawned 

 with a cloudless sky. 

 The observations were 



successful beyond all BARE ISLAND, BO 



anticipation, and by 



combining the results with those of other observers conclusions were arrived at which, 

 though afterwards slightly modified, have been of more than ordinary importance, both 

 in themselves and in the suggestions to which they have given rise, not only to the study 

 of astronomy, but to the business of practical navigation. 



On leaving Otaheite the Endeavour started on her homeward voyage, Cook intend- 

 ing to round the Cape of Good Hope and thus make his voyage one of circumnaviga- 

 tion. But his commission instructed him to solve, if possible, on his return passage, the 

 still unravelled mystery of the Southern Ocean, and ascertain " whether the unexplored 

 part of the Southern Hemisphere be only an immense mass of water or contain another 

 continent," as he says in the introduction to the account of his second voyage. So he 

 sailed for three months on a traverse through the Pacific and at last sighted a coast 

 which, on nearer approach, presented a bold and picturesque aspect. He at first thought 

 this to be the eastern coast of the great unknown territory he was in search of, but 

 further reflection convinced him that it was only the land, now known as New Zealand, 

 which had been seen a hundred and twenty years before by Tasman. Cook 

 steered to the southward until he sighted Cape Turn-again, when, in order scrupulously 



