484 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



On the 8th of February, the Resolution lost sight of the Ad- 

 venture, and cruised three days in search of her, firing guns and 

 burning false fires, but without success. On the 17th, between 

 midnight and three in the morning, Cook saw lights in the sky 

 similar to those seen in high Northern latitudes and known by 

 the name of Aurora Borealis : the Aurora Australis had never 

 been seen before. It sometimes broke out in spiral rays and in 

 a circular form ; its colors were brilliant, and it diffused its light 

 throughout the heavens. On the 24th, a tremendous gale, accom- 

 panied with snow and sleet, made great havoc among the ice- 

 islands, breaking them up, and largely increasing the number of 

 floating and insidious enemies the ship had to contend with. 

 These dangers were now, however, so familiar to the crew, that 

 the apprehensions they caused were never of long duration, and 

 were in some measure compensated by the seasonable supplies of 

 water the ice-islands afforded them, and without which they 

 would have been greatly distressed. 



On the 16th of March, Cook found himself in latitude 59°, 

 longitude 146° East. He now determined to quit this quarter, 

 where he was convinced he should find no land, and .proceed to 

 New Zealand to look for the Adventure and to refresh his crew. 

 On the 26th, he anchored in Dusky Bay, New Zealand, after 

 having been one hundred and seventeen days at sea, and having 

 sailed eleven thousand miles without once seeing land. This point, 

 the most southerly of New Zealand, had never been visited by a 

 European before. 



While coasting to the northward, towards Queen Charlotte's 

 Sound, where he expected to find the Adventure, Cook suddenly 

 observed six water-spouts between his vessel and the land. Five 

 of them soon spent themselves ; the sixth started from a point three 

 miles distant, and passed within fifty yards of the stern of the 

 Resolution, though she felt no shock. The diameter of its base 

 was about sixty feet : within this space the sea was much agitated 



