558 SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 



Otaha, and Bolabola. Huaheine is about 31 leagues to the north- 

 west of Otaheite, and its productions are exactly the same, but it 

 appears to be a month forwarder. The inhabitants seem to be larger 

 made, and more stout, than those of Otaheite. Mr. Banks measured 

 one of the men, and found him to be six feet three inches and a half 

 high ; yet they are so indolent that he could not persuade one of 

 them to go up to the hills with him ; for they said, if they were to 

 attempt it the fatigue would kill them. The women are fairer than 

 those of Otaheite, and both sexes appear less timid, and less curi- 

 ous ; though in their dress, language, and almost every other cir- 

 cumstance, they are the same. Their houses are neat, and they have 

 boat-houses that are remarkably large. Ulitea is about seven or 

 eight leagues to the south-westward of Huaheine, and is a much 

 larger island, but appears neither so fertile nor so populous. The 

 principal refreshments to be procured here are plantains, cocoa-nuts, 

 yams, hogs, and fowls; but the two last are rather scarce. Otaha 

 is divided from Ulitea by a strait, that in the narrowest part is not 

 above two miles broad. This island affords two good harbours, and 

 its produce is of the same kind as that of the other islands. About 

 four leagues to the north-west of Otaha lies Bolabola, which is sur- 



longitude 100 degrees 54 minutes west. He then proceeded to Easter Island, 

 where he arrived in March, 1774, as he did also in the same month at the Marquesas 

 Islands. He afterwards discovered four islands, which he named Palliser's Islands ; 

 and again steered for Otaheite, where he arrived on the 2?d of April, and made 

 some stay, and also visited the neighbouring isles. In August he came to the New 

 Hebrides, some of which were first discovered by him. After leaving these islands, 

 he steered to the southward a few days, and discovered New Caledonia. Having 

 surveyed the south-west coast of this island, captain Cook steered again for New 

 Zealand, in order to refresh his crew, and put his ship into a condition to encoun- 

 ter the danger attending the navigation in the high southern latitudes. Directing 

 his course to the south and east, lifter leaving New Zealand, till he arrived in the 

 latitude of 55 degrees 6 minutes south, longitude 138 degrees 56 minutes west, 

 without meeting with any continent, captain Cook gave up all hopes of discovering 

 any in this ocean; and therefore come to a resolution to steer directly for the west 

 entrance of the Straits of Magellan, with a view of coasting and surveying the 

 outermost or south side of Terra del Fuego- Keeping accordingly in about the 

 latitude of 53 or 55, and steering nearly east, he arrived off the western mouth of 

 the Strails of Magellan, without meeting with any thing remarkable in his new 

 route. In January, 1~75, he discovered a large and dreary island, to which he 

 gave the name of South Georgia. He afterwards discovered various capes and 

 elevated snow-clad coasts, to the most southern part of which he gave the name oi 

 the Southern Thule, as being the nearest land to that pole which has yet been dis- 

 covered. In February he discovered Sandwich Land, and several islands covered 

 with snow. He then proceeded round the Cape of Good Hope to England, where 

 he arrived on the 30: n of July, 1775. Captain Furneaux had returned to England 

 in the Adventure a year before, having proceeded home round the Cape of Good 

 Hope without making any remarkable discovery. Ten of his men, a boat's crew, 

 had been murdered and eaten by some of the savages of New Zealand ; so that 

 this voyage afforded a melancholy proof that cannibals reallv exist; and, indeed, 

 in the course of these voyages of discovery, other evidence appeared of this fact. 

 As to captain Cook, in the course of his voyage in the Hesolution, he had made 

 the circuit of the southern ocean, in a high latitude, and had traversed it in such 

 a manner, as to leave not the least room for the possibility of there being a southern 

 continent, unless near the pole, and out of the reach of navigation. It deserves 

 also to be remembered, in honour of that able commander, captain Cook, that, 

 with a company of a hundred and eighty men, he performed this voyage of three 

 years and eighteen days, throughout all the climates from fifty-two degrees north 

 to seventy-one degrees south, with the loss of only one man by sickness ; and this 

 appears, in a considerable degree, to have arisen from the great humanity of the 

 commander, and his uncommon care and attention to adapt every method for pre- 

 serving the health of his men. 



