TRIBUTES PAID TO COOK'S MEMORY 263 



resources promise more advantages to European 

 navigation than any other lands of the South 

 Seas. He subsequently discovered and surveyed 

 the v^estern part of America, which remained 

 unknown beyond latitude 43° north — that is to 

 say, a stretch of more than 3500 miles. He 

 determined the nearness of the continent of 

 Asia to that of America. He traversed the strait 

 which separates them. He surveyed the lands 

 on each coast to an extent sufficient to show that 

 it is impossible to pass from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific Ocean either eastwards or westwards. 

 Finally, if I except the Amur Sea and the 

 Japanese archipelago, of which only imperfect 

 details are available, he completed the hydrog- 

 raphy of that part of the globe which is habi- 

 table. 



"As a sailor, his services are not perhaps less 

 brilliant, and they are certainly as important and 

 useful. The means of preserving the health of 

 crews, a means which he discovered and fol- 

 lowed with so much success, forms a new epoch 

 in the history of navigation, and future centuries 

 will place him among the friends and benefac- 

 tors of the human race. 



"Those who know the history of the Navy 

 know the price at which until now the advan- 

 tages resulting from sea voyages have been ob- 

 tained. The terrible malady which declares 



