194 



COOK. 



Cook, all things, he particularly enjoined cleanliness and ex- 

 '"'"V"™*' ercise. The merit of Captain Cook in these regulations, 

 is sufficiently evident from this circumstance, that since 

 they were known to he so completely efficacious in his 

 voyages, and since they were so amply and clearly detail- 

 ed in his paper, the mortality in the longest voyages is 

 scarcely proportionally greater than it is on shore. 



In consequence of the objections which had been 

 made to Dr Hawksworth's edition of the first voyage, 

 Captain Cook undertook the publication of the second; 

 and the manner in which it is written is extremely pro- 

 per for the subject, and therefore highly creditable to 

 himself: The stile is that of his own character, simple, 

 clear, and manly, looking more to what is useful than 

 what is ornamental. 



The existence of a southern continent being now ba- 

 nished from the belief of most people, at all capable of 

 forming an opinion upon the subject, only one dispu- 

 ted point of nautical geography, of any magnitude or 

 importance, remained to be settled ; and that was the 

 existence or practicability of a communication between 

 the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by a high northern la- 

 titude. Could an easy and safe communication be dis- 

 covered, it would greatly shorten the passage between 

 the eastern and western continents ; that it did exist, 

 many eminent geographers were of opinion, and to this 

 opinion they were led by the appearance of the coast 

 on the east side of North America : the deep and ex- 

 tensive bays there seemed to promise a communication 

 with the Pacific Ocean ; and if the coast on the north- 

 west of this continent were explored, they expressed 

 their belief, that the desired object would be accom- 

 plished. The British government, therefore, resolved 

 to explore both the eastern and western coasts ; to the 

 former, Lieutenant Pickersgill was sent out in 1776, 

 and, in the subsequent year, Lieutenant Young. But 

 the most important and arduous undertaking was, the 

 examination of the western coast of America : of it ve- 

 ry little was known. Government, when they had 

 formed the plan of these new voyages of discovery, na- 

 turally looked to Captain Cook to undertake the prin- 

 cipal part in them ; but as he had already done so much 

 for his country, and the extension of geographical and 

 nautical knowledge, they hesitated about making a di- 

 rect proposal to him on the subject. It was, however, 

 only necessary to mention, apparently incidentally, the 

 importance of the scheme in his presence : he imme- 

 diately entered into it with the utmost zeal, and volun- 

 tarily offered to undertake the execution of it. The 

 Resolution, and another vessel called the Discovery, 

 *vere prepared for the voyage, with as little delay as 

 possible. Captain Cook took the command of the first, 

 and Captain Clarke of the other. The equipment was 

 similar to that of the second voyage, except that the 

 department of natural history was entrusted to Mr An- 

 derson, the surgeon of the Resolution. 



On the 12th of July 1776, the Resolution sailed from 

 Plymouth ; the Discovery, not being ready, did not sail 

 till a short time afterwards. The two ships joined at 

 the Cape, which they left about the end of November ; 

 and after having visited New Zealand and the Friendly 

 Isles, with the productions and inhabitants of which 

 they gained a more accurate and extensive acquaint- 

 ance, and having discovered a numerous groupe of in- 

 habited islands in north latitude 21 °, to whom Captain 

 Cook gave the name of the Sandwich Islands, they pro- 

 ceeded to the western coast of North America, which 

 they reached on the 7th of March 1778. At Nootka 

 Sound, in latitude 49° 33' N. they repaired their ships, 



1 



previously to entering upon the primary and most im- 

 portant object of their voyage. Thence, to the north, ^ 

 they examined the coast with great care : wherever 

 there was the slightest appearance of an inlet or large 

 river, Captain Cook either went himself, or sent such 

 officers as he could trust, to explore it; and though 

 many difficulties occurred, and there existed no chart 

 or journal of a previous voyage to direct his examina- 

 tion, or rectify any mistake into which he might have 

 fallen, yet only in one case does he appear to have 

 formed an erroneous opinion. Captain Vancouver has 

 since proved, that what Captain Cook supposed was a 

 river, (and to which his own name was given,) is only 

 an inlet of no great extent or importance. During this 

 part of the voyage, the coasts of Asia, as well as those 

 of America, were examined ; and in the comparatively 

 short space of time which was spent on this examina- 

 tion, Captain Cook obtained a more correct and full 

 knowledge of them than the Russians had procured, 

 notwithstanding they had many settlements here, and 

 several vessels had been employed for the purpose of 

 exploring the adjacent coasts. As the winter was ap- 

 proaching, he now resolved to direct his course to the 

 south, after having examined the western coast of A- 

 merica from the latitude of 43° to 70° north, contain- 

 ing an extent of 3500 miles ; " ascertained the proxi- 

 mity of the two great continents of Asia and America; 

 passed the straits between them, and surveyed the coasts 

 on each side to such a height of northern latitude, as 

 to demonstrate the impracticability of a passage in that 

 hemisphere, from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean, 

 either by an eastern or a western course." 



On the 26th of November, the Resolution and Dis- 

 covery arrived at the Sandwich Islands, which Captain 

 Cook surveyed with more care and accuracy, than his 

 time would permit when he visited them before. In 

 the course of this survey, Owhyhee was discovered, 

 the largest and most important of the whole grouped 

 As it was now absolutely necessary to refit the ships, 

 and prepare them for a return to a high northern lati- 

 tude, his first object was to find out a proper bay for 

 this purpose in Owhyhee ; after due examination, a bay 

 named Karakakooa was fixed upon. In the course of 

 this visit to the Sandwich Islands, the character and ta- 

 lents of the natives particularly struck and interested 

 Captain Cook ; in the former, there was a greater de- 

 gree of openness than he had witnessed among the in- 

 habitants of the other islands which he had visited ; 

 they supplied his wants with great cheerfulness and li- 

 berality, while their merit was superior, in this respect, 

 to that of other savages, as they seemed to possess more 

 accurate ideas of property. With regard to their ta- 

 lents, they were naturally good, uniting a considerable 

 degree of quickness, with more steadiness of applica- 

 tion, than the inhabitants of Otaheite displayed. When 

 Captain Cook visited them, they had already made no 

 small advance in several of the arts of life ; and they 

 manifested an earnest and actuating desire to improve 

 their useful knowledge, by the instructions and ex- 

 ample of the British. 



This cast of character and talents led them to receive 

 and treat Captain Cook with great attention and re- 

 spect ; in their opinion he appeared to belong to a su- 

 perior race of beings. Having completed the purposes 

 of his visit, he left Owhyhee on the 4th of February 

 1779 ; but a few days afterwards, the Resolution ha- 

 ving sprung her foremast, both the ships returned to 

 Karakakooa. The disposition and conduct of the na- 

 tives towards them were different from what it had 



Cook. 



