COOK. 



193 



Cook, and as the winter was approaching, he directed his 

 ■""V™"'' course northwards ; soon after which, the ships parted 

 by accident. On the 26th of March, the Resolution 

 arrived in Dusky Bay, in New Zealand. As he had 

 experience of the character of the natives, he took spe- 

 cial care to guard against their pilfering disposition, 

 and not to rouse their vindictive feelings ; so that the 

 intercourse of his crew with them was rendered uni- 

 formly friendly. Having thus removed all apprehen- 

 sion, both from his own mind and that of the natives, he 

 not only explored the country, but enriched it with 

 the productions of more fertile regions. From Dusky 

 Bay, the Resolution proceeded to Queen Charlotte's 

 Sound, where the Adventure had already arrived. Be- 

 tween the 7th of June and the 26th of November, the 

 Society Isles, and the Isles of Magdeburg and Amster- 

 dam, were visited, and New Zealand was still further 

 explored. About the beginning of November the two 

 ships were again separated, and did not rejoin during 

 the remainder of the voyage. Soon after the separa- 

 tion, Captain Cook proceeded on a further search for 

 the southern continent ; but notwithstanding he varied 

 his course, and traversed in every direction which he 

 thought afforded the slightest chance of discovering 

 land, and actually got as far south as the latitude of 

 71° 10', he was unsuccessful. By this time the winter 

 of 1774 had commenced in these regions ; and the Re- 

 solution sailed for the Marquesas. After having ascer- 

 tained the situation and relative bearings of these is- 

 lands with great accuracy, Otaheite was visited for re- 

 freshments. But Captain Cook's activity and his im- 

 patience of ease, prompted him speedily to quit this 

 island, and to go in search of some islands to the west- 

 ward, which had been discovered by Quiras, and im- 

 perfectly described by Bougainville. The situation and 

 extent of this archipelago were accurately and fully ex- 

 plored by our navigator, and to the whole groupe he 

 gave the name of the New Hebrides. In proceeding 

 from them to the south, in order to afford another chance 

 for the discovery of a southern continent, he fell in 

 with and examined a large island, to which he gave 

 the Name of New Caledonia. Here great accessions 

 were made to botanical knowledge, and a species of 

 spruce pine was found, in great abundance, very pro- 

 per for spars, — a discovery of great importance, as, ex- 

 cepting New Zealand, there was not an island in the 

 South Pacific Ocean where a mast or yard could be 

 procured. During then- further progress to the south, 

 Norfolk island was also discovered, on which there is 

 now a flourishing English settlement. From this island 

 the Resolution proceeded to New Zealand, where Cap- 

 tain Cook had the mortification to find, that the inha- 

 bitants had utterly neglected the gardens which he had 

 formed there during his previous visit, and scarcely any 

 of the animals that he had given them were now in 

 existence. 



On the 10th of November he left New Zealand, and 

 having sailed till the 27th in different degrees of lati- 

 tude, from 43° to 55° 18' south, without discovering 

 land, he steered due east for Terra del Fuego, which 

 he reached on the 17th of December. Although this 

 country offered nothing interesting, or that was likely 

 to be usefid to navigation, Captain Cook examined it 

 thoroughly. Indeed, his conviction and idea of duty, 

 as well as his natural disposition and acquired habits., 

 would not permit him to leave any country unexplored! 

 In the whole run across this ocean, in a higher south- 

 ern latitude than had ever been attempted before, (ex- 



VOL. VII. PART I. 



cept by the Adventure), though he was constantly upon 

 the look out for every circumstance in the smallest de- 

 gree material or interesting, he remarked, that he ne- 

 ver had made a passage any where of such length, or 

 even of a much shorter extent, in which so few things 

 worthy of notice occurred. 



After he had examined Terra del Fuego, he sailed 

 round Cape Horn, and on the 1 7th January 1775, dis- 

 covered a dreary and uninhabited island, to which he 

 gave the name of Georgia. From it he proceeded as far 

 as the 60th degree of south latitude, and in this course 

 several small points of land were seen, none of which 

 however bore the appearance of being parts of any ex- 

 tensive continent. Having thus most scrupulously and 

 completely performed the object for which he was sent 

 out, he directed his course homewards, steering to the 

 south of the Cape of Good Hope, where land was said 

 to have been discovered by the French. This, how- 

 ever, he searched for in vain ; and after touching at 

 the Cape, he pursued his voyage, and anchored at Spit- 

 head on the 30th of July 1 775, having, in the space 

 of three years and 1 8 days, sailed 20,000 leagues, most- 

 ly in an inhospitable climate, and unknown seas ; and 

 during the whole of this time he lost but four men, and 

 only one of them by sickness. 



Soon after his return, he was raised to the rank of 

 post captain, and also appointed a captain in Green- 

 wich Hospital. In the beginning of the year 1776, 

 he was chosen a member of the Royal Society, on which 

 occasion a paper of his was read, containing an account 

 of the method which he had taken to preserve the 

 health of the crew of the Resolution during her voyage 

 round the world : for this paper the annual gold medal 

 was unanimously adjudged him. Although this second 

 voyage of Captain Cook is not so full of curious and in- 

 teresting incidents as the first, and perhaps falls short 

 of it in the importance of geographical and nautical 

 discovery, yet in another point of view it was highly 

 useful. Before this voyage, navigators, and even Cap- 

 tain Cook himself, were very ill-informed respecting 

 the most easy and effectual mode of preserving the lives 

 of seamen, where the changes of climate, frequent and 

 rapid, the want of vegetables and fresh provisions, and 

 the unavoidable confinement of a ship, add their de- 

 structive influence to the indolent and not very cleanly 

 habits which distinguish this valuable class of men. 

 Towards this object our navigator directed his most 

 anxious and unremitted attention; and that he succeed- 

 ed in accomplishing it, is sufficiently proved by the fact 

 we have already noticed, that out of a crew of 118, 

 only one died of sickness. In the paper which he sub- 

 mitted to the Royal Society, the means that he employ- 

 ed were clearly and fully detaded ; they were simple, 

 and depended for their efficacy as much upon the re- 

 gularity and steadiness with which he enforced them, 

 as upon their nature and quality. The character of the 

 disorder, which generally attacks and carries off sea- 

 men during long voyages, sufficiently marks its cause: 

 Before Captain Cook directed his thoughts to this im- 

 portant subject, a supply of fresh provisions and vege- 

 tables were regarded as the only means which could 

 prevent or remove the attacks of the scurvy ; but as, 

 notwithstanding the use of these means, the deaths on 

 long voyages were very numerous, Captain Cook took 

 other measures. As this disorder proceeds from or 

 produces debility, he was constantly attentive to pro- 

 tect his men from cold, wet, and over-fatigue : he also 

 frequently aired and fumigated his ship ; but, above 

 2 B 



Cook. 



