ON THE WAY TO TAHITI 41 



came to the conclusion that the phenomenon, till 

 then unexplained, was produced by these crea- 

 tures. 



On November 13th Cook anchored in Rio de 

 Janeiro, where his relations with the Viceroy 

 were only superficially cordial. This haughty 

 representative of Spain, who had earlier treated 

 Bougainville in the same way, discovered every 

 possible means of annoyance and vexation, alleg- 

 ing throughout the regulations of the harbour 

 and the instructions which he had received. He 

 was without intelligence or education. When 

 the endeavour was made to make him under- 

 stand that the Englishmen had been sent to the 

 South Seas to observe the transit of Venus, all 

 that he could gather was that the North Star was 

 about to journey to the South Pole. 



Having provided himself with the necessary 

 stores, which were far inferior to those shipped 

 at Funchal, the beef being dry and the water 

 bad. Cook weighed anchor on December 5th. 

 While he was leaving the bay, when the En- 

 deavour was opposite the fort of Santa Cruz, 

 two shots were fired at her. Cook sent immedi- 

 ately to demand the reason of this. The reply 

 was that the commandant of the fort had not 

 been warned by the Viceroy of the departure of 

 the vessel. The Viceroy, when the incident was 

 repeated to him, declared that he had written the 



