DISCOVERY OF EASTERN AUSTRALIA 441 



sunset, took possession of the country in his Majesty's 

 name, and fired 3 volleys of small arms on the occasion, 

 which was answered from the ship." 1 With the pinnace 

 feeling the way before her, the Endeavour sailed through 

 the straits to which Cook gave the ship's name, passing 

 safely over the great bank which nearly bars its Western 

 end, and which has caused it to be disused in favour of 

 the " deep though narrow channel " 2 North of Prince 

 of Wales Island. He landed on Booby Island, " now the 

 great landmark for ships making Torres Strait from the 

 West." 3 A swell from the South- West," together with 

 other concurring circumstances," writes Cook, " left me 

 no room to doubt but we had got to the Westward of 

 Carpentaria," or the Northern extremity of New Holland, 

 and had now an open sea to the Westward ; which gave 

 me no small satisfaction, not only because the dangers 

 and fatigues of the voyage were drawing to an end, but 

 by being able to prove that New Holland and New Guinea 

 are two separate lands or islands, which until this day 

 hath been a doubtful point with geographers. As I be- 

 lieve it was known before, I claim no other merit than the 

 clearing up of a .doubtful point." That is to say, Cook 

 had been told by Banks, on the authority of Dalrymple, 

 that Torres, according >-to a statement of Dr. Arias, 

 had sailed through the strait in 1606. But he held 

 that the truth of this statement needed to be pjoved 

 by modern experience ; and this proof he had now 

 established. He had sailed through one channel, and 

 he believed that a better channel would some day be dis- 

 covered among the islands he could see to the North, 

 " if ever it became an object to be looked for." 



In his Log, written from day to day, Cook said that " pos- ' New 

 session was taken of the country " ; no name is mentioned, ^ales ' 

 Banks, in his Journal, described the country he was leaving 

 under the headline " Some account of New Holland " ; 

 evidence again that no new name had been given. 

 In the copy of Cook's Journal which he sent home from 



1 Cook's Private Log. * Wharton, p. 313. 



3 Wharton, p. 314. 



