LATE DISCOVERIES. 567 



longitude 38 degrees 8 minutes east, both barren, and almost covered 

 with snow. From New Holland they sailed to New Zealand, and 

 afterwards they visited the Friendly and the Society Isles. In Jan- 

 uary, 1777, they arrived at the Sand wish Isles, which are twelve in 

 number, and are situate between 22 degrees 15 minutes and 18 de- 

 grees 5 3 minutes north latitude. The air of these islands is in 

 general salubrious, and many of the vegetable productions are the 

 same with those of the Society and Friendly Isles. The inhabitants 

 are of a middle size, stout, and well made, and their complexion in 

 general a brown olive. On the 7th of February, being nearly in 

 latitude 44 degrees 33 minutes north, and longitude 235 degrees 36 

 minutes east, they saw part of the American continent, bearing north- 

 east. They afterwards discovered King George's Sound, which is 

 situate on the north-west coast of America, and is extensive ; that 

 part of it where the ships under the command of captain Cook an- 

 chored, is in latitude 49 degrees 36 minutes north, and longitude 233 

 degrees 28 minutes east. The whole sound is surrounded by high 

 land, which in some places appears very broken and rugged, and 

 is in general covered with wood to the very top. They found the in- 

 habitants here rather below the middle size, and their complexions 

 approaching to a copper colour. On the 12th of May, they disco- 

 vered Sandwich Sound in latitude 59 degrees 54 minutes north. The 

 harbour in which the ships anchored, appeared to 'be almost sur- 

 rounded with high land, which was covered with snow ; and here they 

 were visited by some of the Americans in their canoes. They after- 

 wards proceeded to the island of Unalaschka ; and after their depar- 

 ture from thence still continued to trace the American coast, till they 

 discovered the strait which separates it from the continent of Asia, 

 Here both the hemispheres presented to the view a naked and flat 

 country, without any defence, and the sea between them not very 

 deep. They passed the strait, and arrived on the 20th of August, 

 1778, in latitude 70 degrees 54 minutes, longitude 194 degrees 55 

 minutes, where they found themselves almost surrounded with ice, 

 and the further they proceeded to the eastward the closer the ice be- 

 came compacted. They continued labouring among the ice till the 

 25th, when a storm came on, which made it dangerous for them to 

 proceed; and a consultation was therefore held on board the Resolu- 

 tion, as soon as the violence of the gale abated, when it was resolved, 

 that as this passage was impracticable for any useful purpose of navi- 

 gation, which was the great object of the voyage, it should be prose- 

 cuted no further ; and especially on account of the condition the ships 

 were in, the approach of winter, and their great distance from any 

 known place of refreshment. The voyage, indeed, afforded sufficient 

 evidence, that no practicable passage exists between the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Oceans towards the north ; and this voyage also ascer- 

 tained the western boundaries of the great continent of America. On 

 their return, it unfortunately happened that the celebrated and able 

 navigator, captain Cook, was killed in an affray with the natives ofn 

 the island of O'why'hee, one of the Sandwich Isles, on the 14th of 

 February, 1779; not so much by his own rashness, as through the 

 inadvertence and neglect of some of his own people. His death was 

 universally regretted, not only in Great Britain, but also in other 

 parts of Europe, by those to whom his merits and public services were 

 known. In his last voyage he had explored the coast of America, 

 from 42 degrees 27 minutes to 70 degrees 40 minutes 57 seconds 



