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SETTLEMENT OF NORFOLK ISLAND. 3 



anchored in Botany Bay (28th April, 1770), and examined the 

 ^hole eastern coast, to which he gave the name of New South 

 Wales. In two short years of this memorable voyage our 

 great navigator had practically added the possessions of Australia 

 a nd New Zealand to the English Crown, a work possibly only 

 second in its importance in the world's history to the discovery 

 °f America. 



Though Cook's first voyage was beyond question the most 

 fruitful in results, yet the more leisurely explorations of his second 

 yoyage in the Resolution and the Adventure, extending from 

 t772 to 1775, are fuller of interest to the reader. Cook him- 

 self states the object of this second expedition to have been "to 

 complete the discovery of the southern hemisphere." His first 

 voyage had proved that if, as the geographers believed, any great 

 southern continent did exist, it must lie far to the south of the 



, titude °f New Holland. Tn three successive years durin" 

 inns second voyage Cook sailed to the far south, making 

 three unsuccessful attempts to penetrate the frozen sea, and 

 nnally demonstrating that the dream of centuries had no foun- 

 dation, and that there was no Terra Australia Incognita outside 



le limits of the circum polar ice. In the intervals between his 

 attempts on the Antarctic Ocean, Cook employed the winter 

 months in making further explorations in the Pacific, and his 

 journals contain most fascinating descriptions of this first view 



1 the islands of the south and of their inhabitants in their 

 original wild condition. In 1774 he employed his time in 

 cruising among the Pacific Islands, beginning at Easter Island, 



ltn its gigantic stone figures, mysterious relics of a forgotten 

 civilisation. Thence, after a stay at his beloved Tahiti, he 

 forked westward among the islands to New Caledonia on his 

 w ayto make his third and final attempt on the Antarctic Circle. 

 On the 10th October, 1774, as the Resolution was slowly 

 ploughing her way from New Caledonia towards New Zealand, 



and was discovered bearing S.W. It was found to be an 

 |s and of good height, five'leagues in circumference. The 

 IS o WiW bounde<1 by rockv cliffs on nearly every side, with 

 t«to20 fathoms water close to the shore." Cook says, "I 

 named it Norfolk Isle, in honour of the noble family of 

 Howard." 



Ihe boats were launched, and the weather being exceptionally 

 j&vourable, the captain landed without difficulty behind some 



ge rocks on the north-east side, near what was afterwards 



Known as the Cascades. Along the shore was a belt of thick 



crub, and beyond this a dense forest of a sort of spruce pine, 



e trees as thick as two men could fathom, and exceedingly- 

 straight and tall. The soil was rich and deep, and the Captain 



Un . ™ hn y trees and plants common to New Zealand, 

 Particularly the flax-plant, growing near the sea most 



