365 



Dalrymple had good hopes that he might be given Dalrymple's 

 the opportunity to be the Columbus of the South. In ment P mt " 

 1768 the British Government consented to the request 

 of the Royal Society that a ship should be sent to some 

 island in the South Seas to observe the transit of Venus. 

 It was understood that the opportunity would be taken 

 to explore the South Seas, and to endeavour to solve 

 their problems. Dalrymple had commended himself to 

 the Royal Society, and had apparently persuaded them 

 that his views deserved at least to be tested. They re- 

 commended him to the Government as " a proper person 

 to be sent to the South Seas, having a particular turn for 

 discovery, and being a naval navigator, and well-skilled 

 in observations." But now came a fatal hitch. The 

 Government was willing that Dalrymple should go as 

 a scientific observer ; but the commander of a King's 

 ship must be an officer of the King's Navy. Dalrymple, 

 in reply, would go as commander or he would not go at 

 all ! The end was that the man, who had spent his life 

 in navigation and in study of tropical seas, had to stay 

 at home, and the command was given to Lieutenant 

 Cook, who had never even crossed the Equator ! Dalrymple 

 never forgave the supplanter. But he gave a copy of He gives 

 his booklet, which had been printed but not yet published, polished 

 to a young aristocrat, Mr. Joseph Banks, member of the booklet to 

 Royal Society, who also sailed on the "Endeavour. 



