48 
SIR JOSEPH RANKS. 
and — as Van Troil states, who accompanied him — ^in order to keep together and 
omploy tile draughtsmen and otlier persons whom he and Dr. Solander had engaged 
for the South Sea experlition. . . . 
Tlie party was agreeably increased liy Dr. .James Lind, of Edinburgh, an 
astronomer, and the late Cajitain (iore, wlio accompanied Cook in his third voyage, 
to which we may add another lieutenant of the navy, three draughtsmen, two 
writers, and seamen, to the number of forty in all.”* .... 
On the 8th of August, 1772, they arrived off the coast of Iceland, and there 
anchored, from whence they proceeded to investigate the natural curiosities of 
that extraordinary and little-known island. Their journej' to Mount Hecla 
occupied twelve days, the distance, between three and four hundred miles of it, 
over an uninterrupted tract of lava. Mr. Banks and his party were the first that 
ever reached the summit of that celebrated volcano, the attempt having been till 
then prevented, partly from superstition and the extreme difficulty ot the ascent. 
(Ib., p. 42 ) 
Sutler’s “ Life of Banks,” p. 41. See also Weld, ii. lOS. 
