i 4 HISTORICAL RECORD 



five weeks from the 26th March to ist May, 1773 in Dusky Sound, 

 and while there cleared a piece of ground of about an acre in extent 

 to make a garden, and sowed "a quantity of European seeds of the 

 best kinds." No list of these seeds is given, though cabbages, onions, 

 and leeks are mentioned, but they were in all probability the same 

 sorts as were sown later at Queen Charlotte Sound. Apparently not 

 one of them was able to establish itself in the moist climate of 

 the Sound, and as predicted by George Forster in his Journal, the 

 native vegetation quickly re-asserted itself, and obliterated all trace 

 of the introduced plants 1 . 



That Cook hoped to introduce useful plants and animals into a 

 country which he knew by his previous experience did not furnish 

 much food for voyagers, is shown by his leaving geese at Dusky 

 Sound, and these were the first animals which were introduced of set 

 purpose. He had five geese on board his ship, and these were liberated 

 at a spot which he called Goose Cove. This first experiment in 

 acclimatisation, like hundreds of others made in later years, was quite 

 unsuccessful, and nothing was ever seen or heard of the birds again. 



Lieut. Menzies, the botanist of Vancouver's expedition in 1791, 

 says: 



As Captain Cook had left five geese in this cove, we were in hopes of 

 meeting with some of their offspring, and thereby partaking of the fruits 

 of his benevolence, but as they were left in the autumn, I am apprehensive 

 they did not survive the first winter, for not the least traces of any could 

 be seen at this time about the cove, and though there was a scarcity of 

 other birds on account of this being the season of incubation, yet it appears 

 to be the most eligible place in the whole Sound for Game at a proper time 

 of the year. 



Meanwhile his colleague Captain Furneaux, in the 'Adventure,' 

 had put into Queen Charlotte Sound on 7th April, 1773, and was 

 joined there by Cook on i8th May. They stayed till 7th June, and 

 then went southward in search of an antarctic continent. At the 

 Sound, Cook liberated a ram and ewe he had brought with him from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, but they were in a very bad state of health, 

 and died very shortly after being landed. They were supposed to 

 have eaten some poisonous plant. 



Captain Furneaux landed a boar and two breeding sows, and 

 turned them into the woods. They were not to be seen, nor were 

 there any traces of them found the following year, but the members 

 of the expedition thought that the animals had taken themselves off 

 into the denser forest. When Cook came back in 1777 he could learn 



1 In & Journal of the voyage of the 'Endeavour' printed anonymously in 1771, 

 it is stated at p. 58: "At Otaheite we had likewise planted many European seeds, 

 of which none, except mustard, cresses and melons were found to vegetate." 



