THROUGH THE SOUTH SEAS 139 



the sea from their childhood. The water flooded 

 all the bunks, and, besides, the terrible roaring 

 of the waves, the groaning of the ship's sides and 

 the rolling prevented us getting any sleep. The 

 thing that completely destroyed our tranquillity 

 was to hear the voices of the sailors, louder than 

 the fury of the wind and sea, uttering the most 

 horrible imprecations. It is impossible to imag- 

 ine the strange oaths which their wrath invented. 

 Accustomed to danger from their earliest years, 

 the aspect of death did not restrain their blas- 

 phemies." 



The unforeseen effect of this storm was to 

 separate the two ships. Cook lost sight of the 

 Adventure, and in spite of all his efforts he could 

 not find her again. He had no news of her for 

 the rest of the voyage. 



The first thing which concerned him, when at 

 last he found it possible to enter Queen Char- 

 lotte Sound, was the repair of the ship, the sails 

 and rigging having suffered severely in the 

 course of the hurricane which had swept her. 



Cook then had the barrels of biscuit opened, 

 and was unpleasantly surprised to find that the 

 greater part of them was spoilt. More than four 

 thousand pounds were useless. 



The welcome of the New Zealanders was 

 cordial. Cook met several whom he had seen 



