454 



THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



the most barren country he had ever seen, is pleased 

 to find that he thought South Africa more barren still. 

 " The infinite and, to an European, almost inconceivable 

 barrenness of the country," he wrote, " makes it necessary 

 that people should spread themselves very widely " ; 

 and Cook wrote explicitly that no country seen this voyage 

 not even New Holland ! " afforded so barren a prospect 

 as this, and not only so in appearance but in reality." 

 The true importance of the Cape, it was rightly observed, 

 was as the half-way house between Europe and Asia ; 



" the whole town may be considered as one great Inn 

 fitted up for the reception of all comers and goers." Banks, 

 as always, has interesting things to say about the ladies. 

 " In general," he wrote, " they are handsome, . . . and 

 when married, (no reflection upon my countrywomen), are 

 the best housekeepers imaginable, and great child-bearers. 

 Had I been inclined for a wife, I think this is the place 

 of all others I have seen where I could have best suited 

 myself." The fact, however, is that, when Banks was 

 inclined for a wife, he suited himself in England. 

 St. Helena. They reached St. Helena on the 1st of May, and stayed 

 until the 5th. Banks got an unfavourable impression, 

 and he has a very hard saying about the English and Dutch 

 as colony-makers : " Were the Cape now in the hands 

 of the English it would be a desert, as St. Helena in the 

 hands of the Dutch would infallibly become a paradise." 

 And he declared that the cruelties of the English to their 

 slaves are both more frequent and more wanton " than 

 ever their neighbours the Dutch, famed for inhumanity, 

 are guilty of." 



Cook was nearing home. On the i8th of June he got 

 late political news from New England schooners cruising 

 for whales. King George had behaved very ill for some 

 time, but the colonists had brought him to terms at last. 

 Disputes were at an end ; " and, to confirm this, the Master 

 said that the coat on his back was made in Old England." 

 On the 1 3th of July Cook anchored in the Downs. " I 

 flatter myself," he wrote to the Admiralty, " that the dis- 

 coveries we have made, though not great, will apologize 



England 

 again, 

 July 1771 



