72 CAPTAIN COOK 



Several times the ship had come near foundering 

 on the reefs, and, further, the encounters with 

 the natives w^ere almost always far from pleasant. 

 A great number of the crew began to sigh for the 

 roast beef of old England. Cook thought about 

 his return. Two routes presented themselves to 

 him: the eastward route, which he had followed 

 on his way out, by Cape Horn, and the westward 

 route, by the East Indies. As the latter seemed 

 to him more propitious for the discoveries of 

 which his explorer's heart was avid, he decided 

 to take it, and on March 31st, at dawn, the En- 

 deavour steered for the enormous country then 

 known as New Holland. Cook had just given 

 England an archipelago and two great islands. 

 He was now about to give her a territory the 

 size of a continent. 



