448 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



Wales would probably do " indifferently well " if " planted 

 and cultivated by the hands of industry." But. as Adam 

 Smith's political economy was based on the assumption 

 that all men are Scotchmen, so, I am inclined to say, 

 Cook's commendation of New South Wales as a place 

 for settlement was based on the assumption that settlers 

 are Ironside farmers from Scotland or Yorkshire. He 

 certainly did not think of them as shiploads of convicts. 

 The coast of The voyage of discovery was finished. " On the West 

 New Guinea, gj^e," wro t e Cook, " I can make no new discovery, the 

 honour of which belongs to the Dutch navigators." He 

 was henceforth in seas that had been charted by pre- 

 decessors. He was using the charts published in the 

 volumes of de Brosses, and found them " tolerable good." 

 He tried the coast of New Guinea, but, like Torres, was 

 driven off by everlasting shoals, after " one of the most 

 fortunate escapes we have ever had from shipwreck." 

 They managed, however, to land on a part of the coast 

 that is " scarcely known to this day." l They tried 

 to climb some cocoa-nut trees, but failed to do so. Cook, 

 with remarkable humanity, refused to cut down the trees, 

 because that would certainly have led to an attack by the 

 natives, and to undeserved slaughter. 



Home- He determined to leave the New Guinea coast, and 



to keep on the South side of Java ; for, as to the North 

 side, " we were all utter strangers." The ever-suspicious 

 Banks hints that their departure was due to growing 

 home-sickness. No one in the ship, he declares, was 

 free from this contemptible disease, except the Captain, 

 Dr. Solander and himself; "and we three," he explains, 

 " have ample employment for our minds." 



Cook intended to land on Timor Laut, an island which, 

 he believed, had not been settled by the Dutch. But he 

 missed Timor Laut, and came to Timor, where, as in 

 Dampier's days, was a strong Dutch Fort. The sailors 

 wished to call for roast beef, but Cook refused, fearing 

 the "jealous eye" of the Dutch. More by chance than 

 by design, he came to the little Dutch island of Savu, 

 1 Wharton, p. 333. 



