82 CAPTAIN COOK 



the fire was got under in the vicinity of the little 

 camp, but it spread far away into the mountains. 

 Happily, the powder kegs which had been 

 landed during the repair of the ship had been 

 taken back on board the day before. 



The examination of the coast which Cook had 

 made had been far from satisfactory. To the 

 north, in the direction which he wished to sail, 

 there were nothing but interminable sandbanks 

 and countless reefs, and when the Endeavour 

 left the river on August 4th, she set out into a 

 sea sown with dangers of every kind. Cook 

 thought for a moment of retracing his steps and 

 coming home by the southward route, but, as he 

 was anxious to ascertain whether New Holland 

 was joined to New Guinea (he did not then 

 know that this point had been settled by the 

 Spaniard, Vaez de Torres, in 1606), he decided 

 to keep on towards the north, in spite of every 

 obstacle. 



Amid unheard-of difficulties, and with the 

 ship's boats ahead, sounding continually, the 

 Endeavour sailed for several days close to the 

 shore, but, as dangers became more numerous 

 and channels less frequent. Cook conceived the 

 idea of heaving west and resuming his north- 

 ward course when the water became deeper. 



The Endeavour thus reached the open sea. 

 Everyone breathed more freely, relieved of the 



