io6 CAPTAIN COOK 



island and latitude 48° south. The French 

 sailors coasted for forty miles along the shore 

 until they reached a bay, which they were about 

 to enter when they were carried out to sea. The 

 two ships were separated by a gale, having lost 

 several of their boats, in which were the men 

 sounding the bay. One of the ships, called La 

 Fortune, arrived some time later at Mauritius, 

 and her captain was sent to France with the ac- 

 count of his discoveries. The Dutch Governor 

 added that in the previous March other French 

 ships from Mauritius, commanded by Captain 

 Marion, had touched at the Cape, on their way 

 to the South Seas on a voyage of discovery. 



Cook was greatly interested by this account. 

 France was, then, also in search of the great 

 continent. There was no time to be lost. As 

 soon as the stores had been replenished and the 

 ships caulked, painted and repaired, he set sail. 

 The excellent health of his crews did not neces- 

 sitate a long stay in the invigorating climate of 

 the Cape. 



On November 22nd the Resolution and Ad- 

 venture got under way and steered for Cape Cir- 

 cumcision, that mysterious land which the 

 French navigator, Lozier Bouvet, reported that 

 he had seen far to the south. It was indeed a 

 setting out towards the unknown. 



As they were about to proceed into Arctic 



