THE LAST STAY IN ENGLAND 183 



our transactions, the means which Great Britain 

 must employ to safeguard, during the longest 

 voyages, the health of her intrepid children, who, 

 in exposing themselves to so many perils, con- 

 tribute so nobly to her glory, her wealth and the 

 continuance of her maritime power?" 



When the President of the Royal Society 

 called the name of Captain Cook to present him 

 with the gold medal, there rose, amid frantic ap- 

 plause, a woman still young, slim and fair, to 

 whom, trembling with emotion, the glorious rec- 

 ompense was given. Elizabeth Cook had come 

 alone to take part in the apotheosis of her hus- 

 band. He himself had already left to explore 

 new seas. 



Cook had for ever banished the chimera of a 

 southern continent, or at all events that of an 

 unknown land upon which could usefully be 

 planted the English flag. There remained, how- 

 ever, another problem to be solved. 



For two centuries several navigators, nearly 

 all English, had sought for a shorter route be- 

 tween the Atlantic and the Pacific than the end- 

 less route round the Cape of Good Hope, the 

 only one which till then joined the two oceans. 

 If a practicable passage could be found in North 

 America, In the neighbourhood of Hudson's 

 Bay or Baffin Bay, commerce between England 



