THE

HISTORY OF AUSTRALASIA

FROM

THE FIRST DAWN OF DISCOVERY IN THE SOUTHERN

OCEAN TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

IN THE VARIOUS COLONIES

COMPRISING THE

SETTLEMENT AND HISTORY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, VICTORIA,

SOUTH AUSTRALIA, QUEENSLAND, WESTERN AUSTRALIA,

TASMANIA, AND NEW ZEALAND

TOGETHER WITH

SOME ACCOUNT OF FIJI AND NEW GUINEA

 

BY

DAVID BLAIR

 

 

PREFACE.

THE present volume is the first complete history of Australasia that has ever been given to the world. In a work intended for popular circulation, and of such extent, there must of necessity be much more of compilation than of original composition. The Compiler has therefore to acknowledge that he has made free use of all the works hitherto published relating to the Southern Colonies, either collectively or separately. In particular he would specify the works of Flinders, the Rev. Julian Woods, Westgarth, M'Combie, the Rev. Dr Lang, Wentworth, the Rev. John West, Bennett, Sidney, Bouwick, Harcus, Dr Thomson, Colonel Mundy, the journals of the several explorers, the official handbooks of the various colonies, and a large mass of voyages, travels, descriptive sketches, and articles in the English reviews and magazines. As, in most cases, the portions extracted from printed works have been carefully condensed, verified, and sometimes almost re-written, it was not deemed necessary to give specific acknowledgment, or to cumber the pages with footnotes. The work, as it stands, may fairly be accepted as a faithful epitome of all that has ever yet been published respecting the British dominions in the South. To original research, learned disquisition, or brilliancy of narrative, it makes no pretensions whatsoever. But for strict adherence to truth, accuracy as to all historical facts, and painstaking collation of conflicting accounts, it may claim to be considered a standard authority. The work, in short, is a complete Australian library within the covers of a single volume. For obvious reasons, the history has not been extended beyond the introduction of self-government into the various colonies. To narrate the political history of each colony separately would require a series of volumes almost as numerous as those upon which the present work is founded; whilst an attempt to epitomize that history would merely be to give a dry catalogue of the legislative measures passed, and lists of the names of successive ministries. Besides, the political history of any one colony has really little or no interest for readers outside that particular colony. The people of New South Wales, for example, are not deeply interested in the politics of South Australia. The colonists of Victoria hardly feel any way concerned in the politics of Queensland. This volume, in fine, is what its title announces—A History of Australasia. The time has not yet come when the special political history of any one of the Southern Colonies may be so written as to form an instructive and valuable addition to the world’s literature.

 

BOOK I.

EARLY NAVIGATORS AND DISCOVERERS IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN

BOOK II.

COOK'S DISCOVERIES.

 

 

BOOK I.

EARLY NAVIGATORS AND DISCOVERERS IN THE SOUTHEEN OCEAN.

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

THE History of Australasia is the history of the discovery of a new world and the rise of a new empire. But it is a history marked by none of those stirring and romantic incidents which signalized the establishment of European power in America. It is a chronicle of peaceful maritime enterprise and tranquil settlement merely. The founders of this new empire were not ambitious warriors or mighty conquerors, but only hardy sailors and adventurous colonists. It is an empire, therefore, not founded in bloodshed. In the case of New Zealand only have there been wars with the native races for the possession of the soil. On the great continent itself, the early records show nothing more than progressive and prosperous sheep-farming, never armed conflict with the aboriginal inhabi­tants. In this regard Australasia presents a striking and happy contrast to both British and Spanish America, to India, to the Cape Colony, to the West India colonies, and even to Canada. “Peace hath her victories no less renowned than War”. And no grander victory of Peace has this world ever witnessed than the acquisition of Australasia by the British nation.

Yet it must be granted that a dark shadow rests upon the beginnings of history in these regions. At this distance of time it really seems incredible, in the retrospect, that British statesmen could have been guilty of such acts of infamous impolicy, of such shameful political wickedness, or could have shown such dull insensibility to the interests of the nation and the welfare of the human race, such culpable negligence, such blank short-sightedness, as marked for more than half-a-century the dealings of the Imperial Government with the new territory placed in its possession. It was a magnificent opportunity lost for England and for the world. Had plain common sense, simple prudence, and humane feelings directed the counsels of the British Cabinet, when first the extent and value of Cook’s discoveries in the Southern Ocean were fully realized and verified, the story of British settlement in Australasia would have been advanced full fifty years. What the new world in the South has become in 1877, it would have been in 1827; and today its development and prosperity would have been threefold what they now are. The early history of Australasia is an indelible stain upon British statesmanship.

Nevertheless the history is not destitute of interest, nor of a moral. The rise and progress of a new British dominion already numbering two millions of loyal subjects of the Crown, and rich almost beyond precedent in natural possessions, cannot but be interesting to the nation and to the world. And the moral it conveys is, that the bounty of Divine Providence is inexhaustible, that the British people are the best colonisers the world ever had, and that good states­manship is of inestimable value to any nation. So far as the Australasian colonies are concerned, it must be gratefully acknowledged that the imperial rule is now maintained on principles of such perfect equity, of such generous freeness, that there remains not even the shadow of a substantial grievance to be redressed. All is peace, harmony, and mutual affection between the mother country and her children in the South. Whatever the future fortunes of these communities may be, at the present time the sentiment of fervent loyalty to the British Crown is universal amongst the people; the golden link that binds them to the Throne may be slight in texture, but it is of adamantine strength; and the sincere wish of every Australian’s heart is that it may last unbroken for long ages to come.

 

CHAPTER I.

EARLIEST DISCOVERIES IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN.

 

The Great Southern Ocean is comparatively a modern discovery. Its existence seems never to have been imagined by the ancients of the times before Christianity. Nor do they appear to have had any idea that the Asiatic continent was bounded on the east by the sea. Homer figured the world as a circle begirt by the “great strength of ocean”; and this belief formed the basis of the old world’s geographical knowledge for a long time afterwards. Even after the earth was discovered to be a globe, the existence of a girdling ocean was fully believed. The progress of discovery at length brought to light the existence of lands in those portions of the globe supposed to be covered by the ocean; but, proceeding with undue haste, it was next imagined that Asia extended eastward in an indefinite expanse. Such was the state of geographical knowledge, even amongst the most learned men of Europe, when the fall of the Roman Empire brought on the Dark Ages; and for centuries not one solitary gleam of light broke in upon the general darkness of mankind touching the world in the South.

The first gleam of light came from the East, where the Arabs pursued the study of geography with the utmost ardour. Their systems again revived the belief in a circumambient ocean, which bound the earth like a zone, and in which the world floated like an egg in a basin. That portion of this belt of waters which was imagined to flow round the north-eastern shores of Asia they called by the name of “The Sea of Pitchy Darkness”. The Atlantic had by the Greeks been regarded as a fairy scene, where the Islands of the Blest were placed, in which, under calm skies, surrounded by unruffled seas, and amid groves of the sweetest odour, the favoured of the gods enjoyed everlasting peace and happiness. This fable found no place among the Arabs, who bestowed on that ocean the name of “The Sea of Darkness”, and filled their imaginations with appalling pictures of its storms and dangers. Xerif al Edrisi, one of the most eminent of their geographers, who wrote about the middle of the twelfth century, observes: “No one has been able to verify anything concerning it, on account of its difficult and perilous navigation, its great obscurity, its profound depth, and frequent tempests; through fear of its mighty fishes and its haughty winds; yet there are many islands in it, some peopled, others uninhabited. There is no mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters; or, if any have done so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from them. The waves of this ocean, although they roll as high as mountains, yet maintain themselves without breaking; for if they broke, it would be impossible for a ship to plough them”.

But the mystery of the “Sea of Pitchy Darkness” was at length removed. Towards the end of the thirteenth century the celebrated Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, succeeded in penetrating across the Asiatic continent, and reached the farthest shores of China. He brought back to Europe the most wonderful tales of Oriental pomp and magnificence, rivalling those of the “Arabian Nights’ Entertainments”. He spoke, in particular, of a vast sea which bounded China on the east. He drew a picture of it differing widely from the gloom and tempests with which the Arabian geographers had invested it. Experienced pilots and mariners had told him that “it contained no fewer than seven thousand four hundred and forty islands, mostly uninhabited”. Of these islands Zipangu, or Japan, was the largest and richest. But he was careful to acid that the sea containing these islands was no mere gulf, like the Aegean or Adriatic, but a boundless extent of waters.

Thus early was the Asiatic margin of the Southern Ocean made known. More than two centuries elapsed before its opposite boundary was reached, or a European ship launched on its waves.

In 1486 Bartholomew Diaz reached the Cape of Good Hope; and eleven years afterwards Vasco di Gama doubled the Cape, and conducted a fleet to the rich shores of India.

In the year 1513 the Spaniards at length reached that ocean of which they had heard many vague rumours from the natives of Tierra Firma. The honour of this discovery is due to Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a man sprung from a decayed family, and who, first appearing in the New World as a mere soldier of fortune, of dissolute habits, and of desperate hopes, had by courage and intrigue raised himself to the government of a small colony established at Santa Maria in Darien. In one of his forays against the native inhabitants when in this command, he procured a large quantity of gold. While he was dividing the treasure among his followers, much disputing took place in the presence of a young cacique (or chief), who, disdaining brawls for what seemed to him so mean an object, struck the scales with his hand and scattered the gold on the ground, exclaiming : “Why should you quarrel for such a trifle? If this gold is indeed so precious in your eyes, that for it you forsake your homes, invade the peaceful lands of strangers, and expose yourselves to such sufferings and perils, I will tell you of a province where you may gratify your wishes to the utmost. Behold those lofty mountains”, he said, pointing to the south, “beyond these lies a mighty sea which may be discerned from their summit. It is navigated by people who have vessels not much less than yours, and furnished like them with sails and oars. All the streams which flow down the southern side of those mountains into that sea abound in gold, and the kings who reign upon its borders eat and drink out of golden vessels. Gold is as plentiful and common among these people of the south as iron is among you Spaniards”. From the moment he heard this intelligence, the mind of Vasco Nunez became occupied with this one object, and he steadfastly devoted all his thoughts and actions to the discovery of the southern sea indicated by this chief. Many difficulties, however, retarded the undertaking, and it was not till the 1st of September 1513 that he set forth, accompanied by no more than a hundred and ninety soldiers. After incredible toil in marching through hostile tribes, he at length approached the base of the last ridge he had to climb, and rested there for the night. On the 26th of September, with the first glimmering of light, he commenced the ascent, and by ten o'clock had reached the brow of the mountain from the summit of which he was assured he would see the promised ocean. Here Vasco Nunez made his followers halt, and mounted alone to the bare hill­top. What must have been his emotions when he reached the summit! Below him extended forests, green fields, and winding rivers; and beyond he beheld the South Sea illuminated by the morning sun. At this glorious sight he fell on his knees, and extending his arms towards the ocean, and weeping for joy, returned thanks to Heaven for being the first European who had been permitted to behold these long-sought waters. He then made signs to his companions to ascend, and when they obtained a view of the magnificent scene, a priest who was amongst them began to chant the anthem Te Deum laudamus, all the rest kneeling and joining in the solemn strain. This burst of pious enthusiasm is strangely contrasted with the feelings of avarice to which, even in the moment of exultation, their leader surrendered his mind, when he congratulated them on the prospect of becoming, “by the favour of Christ, the richest Spaniards that ever came to the Indies!” After this he caused a tall tree to be felled and formed into a cross, which was erected on the spot whence he first beheld the western deep. He then began to descend from the mountains to the shores of the new-found ocean, and on the 29th of September reached a vast bay named by him San Miguel, from the festival on which it was discovered. Unfurling a banner whereon was painted a figure of the Virgin, with the arms of Castile at her feet, he marched with his drawn sword in his hand and his buckler on his shoulder knee-deep into the rushing tide, and, in a loud voice, took possession of the sea and of all the shores it washed. He concluded the ceremony by cutting with his dagger a cross on a tree that grew in the water, and his followers, dispersing themselves in the forest, expressed their devotion by carving similar marks with their weapons. Vasco Nunez then betook himself to pillage: he exacted from the natives contributions in gold and provisions; and being told of a country to the south where the people possessed abundance of gold and used beasts of burden, the rude figure of a lama traced on the beach suggested to him the camel, and confirmed him in the opinion that he had reached “the gates of the East Indies”. From the circumstance of the ocean having been first descried from the Isthmus of Darien, which runs nearly east and west, it received the name of the South Sea,—a title which, however accurately applied to the part first seen, is employed with little propriety to designate the whole vast expanse of the Pacific. Tidings of this great discovery were immediately transmitted to Spain, and received with delight and triumph. But instead of rewarding so important a service, the Court despatched a governor to supersede Balboa, who by the perfidy of his successor was publicly executed in 1517! So does the world sometimes reward its greatest benefactors!

The glory of discovering a path to the South Sea, and of overcoming the difficulties which had hitherto impeded the navigation of its waters, is due to Fernando de Magalhaens, the great Portuguese navigator. The life of this distinguished mariner was a succession of the wildest and most romantic adventures. An English and incorrect version of his name lives in the well-known Straits of Magellan, which he was the first to explore. It was he who gave the name of the Pacific to the Southern Ocean, from the delightful weather he first experienced in its waters. He it was also that discovered the Philippine Islands, which have ever since remained a possession of Spain. He perished in a petty quarrel between two hostile tribes in the islands. His imperishable bequests to the world are the discovery of the communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the opening up of the Southern Ocean to European enterprise, and the demonstration as a certain fact of the spherical form of the earth.

 

CHAPTER II.

DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT SOUTH LAND.

 

There are indications that the ancients had some dim notions of a Great Southern Land. Passages in the writings of Roman authors of about the date of the Christian era seem to indicate as much. Thus, Seneca speaks of the latter days when Oceanus shall relax the bonds of the universe, and a new earth and new orbs shall be discovered. A writer named Theopompus relates a conversation between a demigod and a mortal, the former of whom speaks of lands existing outside the ocean which circumscribes Europe, Asia, and Libya, where men are twice our stature, and where are big animals and mighty beasts. Another writer named Manilius distinctly speaks of a habitable part of the southern hemisphere, which part, he says, lies under our feet. And it is notable that this statement is made in a treatise put forth to prove the spherical form of the earth.

A claim is made on behalf of the Chinese for the discovery of the Australian continent at a very remote period. Marco Polo gives a description of some large island lying to the south-east of Java, the particulars of which, it is presumed, he learned in the Celestial Empire. Mr Marsden, the translator of Marco Polo’s Travels, and after him Mr Major, have shown that the countries referred to were islands in the Indian Archipelago.

The next claim is as easily disposed of. It is made on behalf of Binot Paulmier de Gonneville, who sailed from Honfleur in 1503, on a voyage to the South Seas. It appears he rounded the Cape of Good Hope in safety, and was then overtaken by a storm, which caused him to lose all knowledge of where he was. When a calm returned he steered southward. This course brought him to a land where he remained six months, and then returned to France, bringing with him one of the inhabitants. The ship was plundered by an English corsair on its return, so that the journals were lost; but a declaration was made by De Gonneville and his officers as to the facts of their voyage, and sent to the Admiralty of France. Many years after, the great-grandson of the native brought to Europe on this voyage petitioned the Pope to be allowed to form an expedition for the conversion of the natives of the country of his ancestors.

The account of the voyage, printed with the petition, is the only narrative on the subject now extant. Many have supposed that the country thus visited was Australia; but this view is quite untenable, for a simple reason : De Gronneville describes the inhabitants of his new country as being already far advanced in civilization; and this could in no degree apply to any portion of Australia.

There is one more claim to be disposed of, before coming to the real discoveries of the continent. It is made in behalf of Magalhaens, as one of the results of his celebrated voyage round the world, made in 1520, in the ship ‘Vittoria’. The assertion was made in 1855 by Aldama Ayala, of Madrid, and he pointed for a confirmation of his views to a magnificently illuminated map, made in 1570 by Vaz Domade, and formerly preserved in the Carthusian monastery of Evora. Dr John Martin has recently examined that map. He states that it contains no land laid down to the south of New Guinea; but that, separated from the rest of the chart by the bordering scale of parallels of latitude, there is a line of coast running from west to east, with a little southing. Supposing that the whole sheet were meant to constitute one map, this could not be Australia, for it lies north-east of New Guinea; neither is there any land known which would at all correspond to it in that position, especially with such large rivers as the chart represents it to have. It is supposed, therefore, to be a marginal map of the coast of the Magellan Straits, and some of the names correspond with that locality. Subsequent chartographers mistook it for a chart of the north coast of New Guinea, and hence, in all subsequent maps, the latter island has upon its north side all the names of Magalhaens’ chart.

The researches of Mr Major, of the British Museum, have brought to light some proofs that the Portuguese had discovered the Great Southern Continent prior to 1540. A book published in 1598 states that “the Australis Terra is the most southern of all lands, and is separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait. Its shores are hitherto but little known, since after one voyage and another that route has been deserted, and seldom is the country visited, unless when sailors are driven there by storms. The Australis Terra begins at two or three degrees from the equator, and is ascertained by some to be of so great an extent, that were it thoroughly explored, it would be regarded as a fifth part of the world”.

 

 

CHAPTER III.

VOYAGE OF DE QUIROS.

 

Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, a Spaniard by birth, was chief pilot to an expedition fitted out in 1594 by the Viceroy of Peru, at the command of Philip the Second of Spain, to establish a colony in one of the islands of the Solomon Archipelago. He had already given proofs of his abilities as a navigator; for he had taken the vessels of Mendana back to the Philippine Islands after the death of the commander, and on the voyage thither had discovered an island, one of the Caroline group, to which the name of Quirosa, in honour of the discoverer, was given by his shipmates. He had also written an account of Mendana’s expedition in a letter to a friend, Don Antonio Merga, who published it in a History of the Philippines. After the failure of that ill-starred expedition, there was an abatement in that passion for adventure which formerly inflamed the hearts of the Spanish nation, afforded to her chivalrous youth so many harvests of gain, and extended her sceptre over regions of great extent, wealth, and beauty. There had even arisen a superstitious feeling against the discovery of the South Sea, as if it had been an impious intrusion into the secrets of Nature. The untimely fate of all who had been principally concerned in this great event was now recollected. It was told that Vasco Nunez had been beheaded; that Magellan had fallen by the hands of the infidels; that his companion, the astrologer Ruy Falero, had died raving mad; and that the seaman De Lepe, who had first descried the strait from the topmast, had abandoned Christ to follow Mohammed. But the spirit which had glowed so long was not wholly dead, and we have yet to record the actions of one of the most distinguished navigators whom Spain has produced.

Undaunted by the hardships and failures of Mendana'’ expedition, the gallant Quiros returned to Peru, eager to engage in fresh adventures, and, as one of his memorials expresses it, “to plough up the waters of the unknown sea, and to seek out the undiscovered lands around the Antarctic Pole—the centre of that horizon”. Arguing upon grounds which were received by many learned men as conclusive and unanswerable, he asserted the existence of a vast Southern Continent, or at least of a mass of islands, the antipodes of the greater part of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The viceroy, to whom he detailed his views, heartily approved of the project; but as the limits of his authority prevented him from furnishing means for its execution, he sent Quiros to Spain with letters of recommendation to the king and his ministers. These were successful. Quiros left the court with “the most honourable schedules that had ever passed the Council of State”. He forthwith proceeded to Lima; and, throwing into oblivion all that he had endured for eleven years in the pursuit of his grand object, he began his preparations for the search for the Southern Continent.

Having built two vessels and a zabra (a species of launch), the strongest and the best armed that had yet been seen on either sea, Quiros set sail from the port of Callao on the 21st of December 1605. His second in command was Luis Vaez de Torres. Six grey (or Franciscan) friars accompanied the expedition. On reaching the latitude of 26° S., Quiros deemed it proper to pursue a more northerly track, in opposition to the advice of Torres, who thought that by advancing to 30° S. there was a greater probability of finding the desired continent. The first land was sighted on the 26th of January 1606. It was merely a flat sandy island, apparently without inhabitants. Several islands, and groups of islands, were subsequently discovered. But on the 10th of February the sailor on the topmast gave the joyful intelligence that land was ahead. Torres describes it as “a low island, with a point to the south-east which was covered with palm-trees”. A body of about a hundred natives were seen upon the beach, making signs of joy. Upon landing, the voyagers were welcomed with much apparent affection, the natives kissing them upon the forehead. Quiros named the island La Sagitaria : the most eminent geographers now identify it with Ota-heite. This opinion is not, however, fully verified.

Setting sail again on the 12th of February, Quiros continued his westward course, discovering many other islands, at some of which he landed. A mutiny broke out in his ship, which the gallant navigator quelled without bloodshed. At length, on the afternoon of the 7th of April, the cry of “Land ahead !” was given forth by the man at the masthead. It was a high black coast, standing boldly out into the sea. Two days were spent in efforts to obtain a safe landing-place. On the 9th the voyagers set their feet on the new territory. It was found to be inhabited, and the natives gave their country the name of Taumaco. They told Quiros that to the southward there lay many islands, and a large country named Manicolo. Struck with the idea that this might be the Great Southern Continent of which he was in search, the Spanish voyager set sail again, and steering southward he discovered, on the 20th April 1606, a vast territory which “seemed to have no end, and was full of great mountains”. Quiros, convinced that this must be the long-sought-for Land of Promise, cast anchor in a large bay on the 2d of May, and solemnly named the new region Australia del Espiritu Santo. He took formal possession of the country in the name of King Philip the Second of Spain, and founded a city which he named La Nueva Jerusalem.

But a formidable obstacle to the acquirement of this delightful land arose before the adventurers. The natives were adverse. They were, moreover, armed with bows and arrows, and of warlike character. A collision took place, in which a chief and several other natives were slain. This unhappy event put an end to all prospects of conciliation. In the meantime the stock of provisions was failing. In less than a month Quiros was obliged to take his departure from Australia del Espiritu Santo; and, complying with the suggestions of his officers, he steered for Mexico, where he arrived in the middle of October.

The subsequent career of this gallant Spanish adventurer was not happy. Still thirsting after discovery and the romance of sea life, he went back to Spain, and for several years was compelled to learn the bitter lesson of dependence on kingly favour, in vainly suing from the implacable Philip the means for prosecuting his researches in new regions. He presented no fewer than fifty memorials. In one of these, after dwelling in glowing language on the beauty and fertility of the Australian territory he had discovered, he concluded thus: “Acquire, sire, since you can, acquire heaven, eternal fame, and that new world with all its promises. And since there is none who solicits of your majesty the rewards for the glad tidings of so great and signal a blessing of God, reserved for your happy time, I, sire, supplicate them, and as such my despatch; for the galleons are ready, and I have many places to go to, and much to provide and to do. If Christoval Colon’s (Columbus) conjectures did make him pertinacious, what I have seen, and what I offer, must make me so importunate”. These powerful pleadings moved even Philip’s heart at last. He gave orders for the fitting out of another expedition under the command of Quiros. But the concession came too late. The dauntless navigator had wasted his forces in suing long at Philip’s court. He set out for Lima for the purpose of arranging the expedition, but he died on the journey at Panama. So perished one of the world’s greatest men, and one of Spain’s most illustrious sons.

The history now returns to the adventures of Luis Vaez de Torres. When Quiros was leaving the Bay of Saints Philip and James in his Australian land, the ship commanded by Torres, by some unexplained mischance, parted company with its consort. Torres remained at anchor in the bay for a fortnight afterwards. He then set sail and steered along the west side of the territory, which he found to be well watered and possessed of many ports. He found it to be an island, not a continent. It is now generally believed to have been one of the islands belonging to the archipelago of the New Hebrides, and geographers give the name Espiritu Santo to the largest island in that group. For two months Torres threaded his course through the intricate navigation of the region lying to the north-east of the true Australian continent. While sailing westwards, and in 11° south latitude, he descried land which he rightly believed to be the eastern extremity of New Guinea. Still continuing his course, he at length sighted land to the south. The daring navigator, without knowing it, had in reality sailed through the famous strait which now bears his name. He had, therefore, perceived the north-eastern corner of the continent, now called Cape York. Pursuing his devious course, Torres arrived at Manilla in the Philippines in May 1607.

The enterprising voyager had seen the Promised Land from afar off; but he does not seem to have been aware that it was really the Great Southern Continent. His discoveries were not counted of very great interest or importance by the world. Perhaps his stories of his adventures were scouted as fictions. However that may be, it is certain that the Spaniards were in possession of the Philippines for more than a century without making any attempts, from that position of advantage, to discover the vast territory lying to the southward. The record of Torres' voyages was drawn up by his own hand, under the title of “Relation of Luis Vaez de Torres concerning the discoveries of Quiros as his Admiral. Dated, Manilla, 12th of July 1607”. This precious document was allowed to lie unnoted amongst the archives at Manilla until the capture of that city by the English in 1762. The papers then fell into the hands of a shrewd Scotchman named Dalrymple, who kept possession of them, translated them, and gave them to the world in an historical work he subsequently published. Dalrymple, zealous for the fame of the great Spanish navigator, gave the name of Torres to the Straits which he was the first European to penetrate.

 

 

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY DUTCH NAVIGATORS.

 

The story of the glorious struggle for their national freedom, which the founders of the Dutch Republic so long maintained against their Spanish tyrants, has been made familiar to English readers by the brilliant pen of Motley. Before the close of that struggle the Dutch had wrested the supremacy of the seas from the Spaniards. Following the example set them by the English, they had at an early date sent two fleets into the Southern Ocean; but at the beginning of the seventeenth century they rose to the first place amongst the European nations in the domain of navigation and discovery. Their enterprises were fitted out on a large and liberal scale; their commanders were men of unbounded energy and perseverance; and the spirit of the nation was high and undaunted. To the Dutch we are undoubtedly indebted for the first authentic acquaintance with the coast of Australia. Torres, as we have seen, had just sighted, but without recognising, the northern border of the continent. But on the 11th of November 1605—the same year that Quiros and Torres sailed from Peru—a Dutch yacht, named the Duyfhen, was despatched from Bantam in Java, to explore the coast of New Guinea. It is certain that this vessel, in returning from the expedition, sailed along what was thought to be the west side of that island, but was in reality the great promontory of the Australian continent lying to the eastward of the Gulf of Carpentaria. At the points on which the voyagers touched they found the land for the most part desert, but occupied in some places by a race of “wild, cruel, black savages, who murdered some of their crew”. Want of provisions compelled the Duyfhen to return to Bantam in June 1606. The name of Cape Keer-Weer (or Turn-again), given by the voyagers to the headland in the gulf which marks the farthest limit of their adventure, still commemorates the undertaking. But the voyage of the Duyfhen, like the enterprise of Torres, was prosecuted in ignorance of its real nature, so that the discovery was for the time robbed of its greatest interest.

To these early navigators all seemed desolate and barren; for, since the discovery of America, the voyage of Vasco di Gama, and the exploration of the Indian Archipelago, the adventurer continually thirsted for some new El Dorado, where gold was to be found in every stream, where amber was washed up on the beach, where spices perfumed the forests, and pearls were plentiful in the shallow waters near the shore. The wild aspect of the Australian coast consequently offered little temptation to them.

The course of the Duyfhen from New Guinea was southward, along the islands on the west side of Torres Strait, to that part of the continent a little to the west and south of Cape York; but all these lands were thought to be con­nected, and to form the west coast of New Guinea. Thus, without being conscious of it, the commander of the Duyfhen made the first authenticated discovery of any part of the Great South Land, about March 1606; its arrival at Bantam dating three months later.

Another expedition was undertaken in a yacht in the year 1617, with little success, and the journals and remarks of the voyage were lost.

In the instructions given to Tasman for his subsequent voyage in 1644 it is stated that, “in the years 1616, 1618, 1619, and 1622, the west coast of this Great Unknown South Land, from 35° to 22° south latitude, was discovered by outward-bound ships; and among them by the ship Eendracht”. The recital gives no further particulars; but from thence, and from a manuscript chart by Essel Gerrits, dated 1627, there seems to be sufficient authority for attributing the first authenticated discovery of any part of the western coasts to Dirk Hatichs (commonly, but incorrectly, named Dirk Hartog), who commanded the Eendracht. He sailed from Holland for the East Indies early in 1616. In latitude 25° S. he fell in with the western coast of the continent, which he named Eendracht’s Land. A small island and adjacent roadstead, lying on the western side of the bay afterwards named Shark’s Bay by Dampier, still bears the familiar name of Dirk Hartog’s Island. In 1697, and again in 1801, there was found on this island a plate of tin, with an inscription, of which the following is a translation: “Anno 1616, the 25th of October, arrived here the ship Eendracht of Amsterdam; the first merchant, Gillis Miebais of Luik; Dirk Hartog, of Amsterdam, captain. They sailed from hence for Bantam, the 27th of the same month”. On the lower part was cut out with a knife, but hardly distinguishable : “The under merchant, Jan Stins; chief mate, Pieter Dookus of Bill”.

Two years afterwards, the land extending from the North-West Cape to the fifteenth parallel of south latitude was discovered by another Dutch captain of the name of Zeachen, who also appears to have discovered and surveyed a con­siderable portion of the northern coast, which he named the Land op Arnheim In the year following (1619) Captain John Van Edels visited the western coast to the southward of Eendracht’s Land, and gave his name to a part of it about the twenty-ninth parallel of latitude. In the year 1622 the South-West Cape was discovered, with the land extending to the northward as far as Van Edels’ Land, and was named, probably from the vessel in which the discovery was effected, Landt Van de Leeuwin, or the Land of Lions. Five years afterwards a considerable part of the southern coast was discovered by Captain Peter Van Nuyts, who bequeathed to it his own mellifluous name; and in 1628, the line of coast, intervening between Eendracht’s Land and the discoveries of Zeachen, was discovered and surveyed by a vessel belonging to the Dutch East India Company, and named De Witt’s Land, in honour of the commodore who then commanded the Dutch East Indian squadron. During the same year, Captain Peter Carpenter, a naval commander in the service of the same Honourable Company, to whose enlightened intelligence and persevering enterprise geo­graphical science was thus early and deeply indebted, entered and explored the Gulf of Carpentaria on the northern coast of the continent.

In January 1623 the yachts Pera and Arnheim, under the command of Jan Carstens, were despatched from Amboyna. The commander, with eight of his crew, was treacherously murdered by the natives of New Guinea; but the vessels prosecuted the voyage, and discovered “the great island Arnheim and the Speult”. They were then untimely separated; and the Arnheim returned to Amboyna. But the Pera persisted, and sailed along the south coast of New Guinea to a flat cove situate in 10° south latitude, and ran along the west coast of this land to Cape Keer-Weer; from thence discovered the coast farther southward, as far as 17°, to Staten River. From this place, what more of the land could be discovered seemed to stretch westward. The Pera then returned to Amboyna. “In this discovery were found everywhere shallow water and barren coasts; islands altogether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations; and of very little use to the Company”—that is, the Dutch East India Company.

In 1636 Gerrit Tomaz Pool was sent from Bantam on a fresh expedition to the south. He unhappily met the same fate as Carstens at New Guinea. But the expedition was nevertheless continued by Pieter Pietersen, the supercargo, and sailed along “the coast of Arnheim or Van Diemen’s Land”—by which names the northern part of the continent was then called by the Dutch—for a distance of 120 miles, without seeing any people, but many signs of smoke."

 

 

CHAPTER V.

PELSART'S VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK.

 

In 1628 eleven vessels were equipped for another expedition by the Dutch East India Company, and sailed from Texel on the 28th of October. After they had passed the Cape of Good Hope, one of them, the ‘Batavia’, commanded by Francis Pelsart, became separated from the others in a storm. While beating about for some time, the crew discovered Australia, but in a most dismal manner. The vessel, like all the Dutch East Indiamen, carried an enormous crew besides passengers, making a living freight of human beings utterly unprovided for in case of accident. The ‘Batavia’ drifted about for many days, the pilots fondly fancying that they were steering for Bantam, but without the slightest idea where they were. One bright moonlight night—the 4th of June 1629—fair and calm, while the ship was going easily along, the master of the vessel called attention to the white appearance of the water beyond them. The steersman merely said it was the moonlight reflection from the waters. But he was wrong. It was foam from breakers, and when the ship got fairly into it she struck heavily. The spot was the Abrolhos, or Rocks, of Houtman, lying off the west coast of the continent. Pelsart, who was ill in bed, immediately ran on deck and upbraided the master, asking where they were. He replied, simply enough, that God only knew that. Meanwhile, they tried the lead, and found forty-eight feet of water ahead and less astern. An old tub of the old school, she must certainly have been, if she could not float in that. However, float she would not; so they commenced throwing the cannon overboard to lighten her. This might have succeeded, but a storm of wind and rain arose (says Pelsart in his quaint journal) and the vessel began to bump most ominously upon the rocks around them. Then they cut away the mainmast, but this only increased their danger because it became entangled in the rigging, and lay alongside. The journal is worth quoting at this stage of the proceedings: “They could see no land, except an island which was about the distance of three leagues, and two small islands, or rather rocks, which lay nearer. They immediately sent the master to examine them, who returned about nine in the morning, and reported that the sea at high water did not cover them, but that the coast was so rocky and full of shoals that it would be very difficult to land upon them. They resolved, however, to run the risk, and to send most of their company on shore to pacify the women, children, sick people, and several as were out of their wits with fear”. This last statement, though not very clear, shows that the good ship Batavia had a very miscellaneous collection of people on board, and gives us a glimpse of what an unpleasant thing a passage in such vessels was, even where one was not ship­wrecked. The journalist goes on to say: “About ten o'clock they embarked these (women, children, and sick) in their shallop and skiff; and perceiving that the vessel began to break up, they redoubled their diligence. They likewise endeavoured to get their bread up, but did not take the same care of the water, not reflecting in their fright that they might be much distressed on shore for want of it. But what hindered them most of all was the brutal behaviour of some of the crew, who made themselves drunk with the wine, of which no care was taken. In short, such was the confusion, that they made but three trips that day, carrying over to the island 180 persons, twenty barrels of bread, and some small casks of water. The master returned on board towards evening, and told the captain that it was to no purpose to send more provisions on shore, since the people only wasted those they had already. Upon this the captain went in the shallop to put things in order, and was there informed that there was no water to be found upon the island”.

The rest of the story must be stated briefly. Water was found at last on one of the islands, but it was a long time before it was discovered, because the holes in which it was used to fill and empty themselves at the rise and fall of the tide, and were naturally concluded to be salt water. When things were a little in order, Pelsart put a deck to one of the ship’s boats, and coasted along towards Batavia. This he reached in safety. Those who were left behind had a sad time of it. Half of them mutinied, and tried to murder the other half, for the sake of getting control of the cargo. They nearly succeeded, but the few survivors, fighting resolutely for their lives, succeeded in escaping to a neighbouring island. Here they were exposed to daily attacks from the mutineers, until Pelsart returned. The narrative tells us, with admirable brevity, that the majority voted for the immediate execution of the mutineers, which was then and there carried into effect. But two of them were spared, and were set ashore or marooned on the mainland.

In proceeding to Batavia, Pelsart was enabled to see a good deal of the western coast. The mainland was about sixteen miles N. by W. from the place where they suffered shipwreck. He reported the shore as low, naked, and exceedingly rocky, being nearly the same height as that near Dover on the English coast. Farther on it.presented one continuous rock of red colour, and of an equal height. Pelsart landed above Shark’s Bay on the 14th of June, and found that there was in front of the coast a table of sand one mile in breadth, and none but brackish water to be found on it. Beyond this the country was flat, without vegetation or trees, with nothing in view but ant-hills, and these so large that from a distance they were taken to be the habitations of the natives. Some of the savages were seen carrying clubs, and apparently anxious to surprise and massacre the boat’s crew, as they crept towards the seamen, who were seeking for water, on their hands and feet. One of the seamen stood up on an eminence, and the savages perceiving him took to flight. They are described as wild, black, and altogether naked; not covering even those parts which almost all savages conceal. On the 16th savages were again seen in another part of the coast, but they took to flight upon the Dutch sailors approaching them. The voyagers reached Batavia in safety.

When Tasman was sent out in 1642, it was part of his instructions to inquire after the two Dutchmen whom Pelsart had marooned. But no account of them was ever obtained.

 

 

CHAPTER VI.

TASMAN’S VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES.

 

In the opening year of the seventeenth century Queen Elizabeth granted to certain merchants of the city of London a charter to trade to the East Indies, reserving to them all rights and privileges, and constituting them a body corporate. This was the foundation of the long-famous, but now extinct, East India Company. A similar charter was granted by the Dutch Government to certain merchants of Amsterdam in 1602, and thus the great East India Company of the Netherlands was founded. This Company effected various settlements in the Indian Archipelago, the headquarters being at Batavia. The governor-general was instructed from Holland to carry on exploration in the adjoining seas; and from the first discoveries of Dirk Hatichs there were always some Dutch vessels cruising about the unknown waters lying to the southward and eastward of the settlements. But it was not till the year 1642 that any material results were secured by the adventurers.

At that date General Antony Van Diemen was Governor-General of the Netherlands’ India; and one of his most trusted captains was a Hollander of obscure birth named Abel Jansz Tasman. An expedition was fitted out by the governor-general for the purpose of exploring the coast of the Australian continent which had been sighted by previous adventurers, and the command of it was given to Tasman. It is a remarkable fact that the only account of this memorable voyage—in the course of which the great islands of Tasmania and New Zealand were discovered—that the world possessed for more than a century after its termination was a curtailed abridgment published at Amsterdam in 1674, and an abstract of a more extended kind included in Valentyn’s great Dutch work on the East Indian possessions of the Company at Amsterdam. About 1771, however, a manuscript journal of Tasman's, written by his own hand, was brought to England by an unknown hand, and offered for sale to Sir Joseph Banks. Perceiving the value of this precious document, Sir Joseph purchased it, and deposited it amongst the treasures of his magnificent library. He also caused an English translation of it to be made by the Rev. Charles Godfrey Woide, chaplain to the Dutch chapel at St James’s Palace. At Sir Joseph Banks’s death, his library was bequeathed to the British Museum in London, where, no doubt, Tasman’s journal is still to be found. The original document and the translation were lent by Sir Joseph to Flinders, and also to Captain (afterwards Admiral) Burney, who was engaged in compiling a chronological history of the discoveries in the South Sea. The work was published in five volumes quarto in London, between the years 1803 and 1817, and copies of it are to be found in both the Public and Parliamentary Libraries at London. It contains the entire text of Tasman's manuscript, with the exception of some purely nautical details, of no permanent importance. As the Dutch Government was always very jealous of the possession of the records drawn up by its voyagers and discoverers, lest other nations should obtain the benefit of them, it is not easy to account for the means by which this invaluable document found its way from Batavia to England. Doubts have been, therefore, cast upon its genuineness; but in a carefully-written introduction Captain Burney discusses at some length the question of the authenticity of the journal, and proves the point conclusively. In fact, it possesses every mark of originality. In particular, the minutest incidents of the navigation, from leaving Batavia to the arrival at the scene of new discovery, are noted down; details which have absolutely nothing in them to attract curiosity, or to repay the trouble of copying at length. No forger would think of inventing them. Comparing the journal with Valentyn’s account, it is found that the latter copies from it almost verbally, but condenses a good deal, and alters the narrative to the third person. The loss to the reader from this alteration may be mentally measured by comparing De Foe's account of Robinson Crusoe’s adventures with a dry abstract of them made by a very commonplace hand. The journal commences in the fine old fashion of three centuries ago : “Journal or description by me, Abel Jansz Tasman, of a voyage from Batavia, for making discoveries of the unknown South Land, in the year L642. May God Almighty be pleased to give His blessing to this voyage! Amen”. The voyagers weighed anchor from Batavia on the 14th of August 1642, and stood out south-eastward to sea; “for which the Lord be praised!” adds the pious commander. On the 27th a council was held, when it was resolved to keep a man constantly at the topmast-head to look out, and that whosoever first discovered land, sands, or banks under water, should receive a reward of three reals and a pot of arrack On the 24th of November, at four o'clock in the afternoon, land was sighted, bearing E. by N., distant, as conjectured, about ten miles. The land was very high, and towards evening high mountains were seen to the E.S.E., and to the N.E. two smaller mountains. On the morning of the 25th the ships stood in for shore. “As this land”, continues the journal, “has not before been known to any European we called it Antony Van Diemen’s Land in honour of our high magistrate the governor-general, who sent us out to make discoveries. The islands near us we named in honour of the Council of India you may see by the little map we made”. The voyagers did not land, but continued cruising along the shore. On the evening of the 28th they came near three small islands, one of which “has the shape of a lion’s head and is about three miles from the mainland”. The next day at five in the afternoon they came near to a bay which seemed to be a good roadstead, and resolved to make for it; but a storm arose, which obliged them to take in sail and stand out to sea again. To this bay Tasman gave the name of Storm Bay. The anchorage he aimed at is the same as that where Captain Furneaux stopped at in 1773, and which he named Adventure Bay.

On the 2d December, early in the morning, two boats, well-armed and under the charge of the first steersman, were sent to a bay a mile to the north-west of the ships to look for fresh water, refreshments, or any other things. Three hours before nightfall the boats returned, bringing greens of a kind that grow at the Cape of Good Hope, and another kind, long and saltish, like sea parsley. These plants were found in great abundance. The seamen had heard voices, and a sound like that of a trumpet or little gong not far off, but saw nobody. Two remarkable tall trees with steps cut in the trunks to allow of climbing up to get birds’ nests were remarked. The traces of animals “with claws resembling those of tigers” were seen, and pieces of gum were brought by the men. In coming off again they had seen people at the east corner of the bay, and also some wild ducks. No fish were taken except mussels. “The country was all over furnished with trees, which stood so thin that one might pass through everywhere and distinguish objects at a distance, without bushes or underwood”. Many of the trees were marked by fire, and smoke was observed rising in several places. On the following day the ceremony of planting a standard, and taking possession of the new territory in the prince’s name, was performed by the carpenter, Francis Jacobsz, who swam through the surf to reach the shore.

To this bay Tasman gave the name, in his chart, of Frederik Hendrik’s Bay. He also marks the South Cape of Storm Bay, with Tasman’s Island lying just south of it; and the larger island near it he named Maria’s Island, “in honour of the excellent lady of the honorable the governor-general”.

On the 5th the voyagers quitted Van Diemen’s Land, the point last seen being the round mountain, “like a huge, misshapen tower”, then about six miles to the westward,

Calculating his latitude and longitude by the new notation (east and west from the meridian of Greenwich), it would appear that the land first seen was Point Hibbs, and that had Tasman run up Storm Bay, he would have reached the present site of Hobart Town. In any case, if instead of sailing out eastward he had continued his course northerly about four degrees,, he would have struck the continent some three degrees east of the present site of Melbourne, midway between Wilson's Promontory and Cape Howe, while less than a single degree north from his point of divergence would have brought him into the straits which divide Van Diemen’s Land from Terra Australis, and anticipated the discovery of Bass. It is probable, however, that his instructions were so framed as to induce him to sail rather for the south, where it was believed existed islands as rich in spices as those of the Javan Archipelago.

On the 13th of December, in latitude 42° 10' S., and longitude 178° 28' E., he discovered a mountainous country which he named Staaten Land, in honour of the States-General of Holland. He anchored in “a fine bay”, which was really the strait between the Northern and Middle Island of New Zealand. While thus at anchor, a disturbance took place with the natives, who, approaching in their canoes, surrounded the two vessels. Seven canoes full of Maories, in war costume, lay off the Zeehaan, and five canoes, each containing seventeen men, put off to the Heemskirk. Tasman describes the natives as of a colour between brown and yellow, their hair twisted on their heads after the fashion of the Japanese, and their bodies covered round the loins with a sort of mat. An affray took place in which the islanders upset the boat of the Zeehaan, killing three men, and forcing others to swim for their lives. The weather being rough, Tasman thought it prudent to depart without risking further combat; so naming the ill-omened spot Murderers’ Bay, he sailed to the eastward.

Here, again, the Dutch navigator was on the point of anticipating the discovery of Cook’s Straits. He sailed to the north to Three Kings’ Island, naming a cape to the eastward—on the north-west coast of the present Auckland—Cape Maria Van Diemen, in honour of the wife of the governor-general. Being in want of provisions he sailed northwards for the islands of Cocos and Hoorn, discovered by Schouten in 1616, to lay in supplies. On the 19th January 1643 he passed a high island, two or three miles in circumference, to which the name of Pylstaart or Tropic Bird Island was given, from the number of those birds which frequented it. After meeting with many other interesting adven­tures and discoveries, the expedition arrived at Batavia on the 16th June, after an absence of ten months and one day.

In 1644 a second expedition was fitted out under the command of Tasman. The three vessels composing it were named the Limmen, the Zeemeuw, and the Brak. The instructions given to the commander are still preserved, and are quoted by Flinders in the introduction to his Voyages. They are of the most business-like and matter-of-fact character imaginable. No ardour for knowledge, no love of discovery for discovery’s sake, stirred the mercantile soul of the Company. Tasman was to put up signs of possession on such countries as he might discover, by planting European trees, and carving the arms of the Netherlands and the Company upon posts, stones, and rocks. He was to institute trade with the natives, but to keep them ignorant of the value of the precious metals, showing samples of tin, lead, or pewter, as of more value than gold. He was to bring home specimens of everything likely to be of mercantile value, and to make treaties with the natives which should exclude in trading transactions all other nations but the Dutch. He was to make drawings and descriptions of the bays, rivers, and capes, for which purpose a draughtsman accompanied him, and he was desired to note most carefully the latitude, longitude, and prevailing currents of wind. His sailing directions were as follow: He was to proceed to Amboyna and Banda, thence to Point Ture, on the south coast of New Guinea. From that place he was to continue eastward to 9° south latitude, and endeavour to ascertain if within the great inlet of Speult’s River there is not an entrance into the South Sea. Thence he was to coast along New Guinea to the farthest known spots in 17° south latitude, and follow the coast despite all opposing winds, in order that he might be assured “if this land be divided from the Great South Continent or not”. If he found that the Great South Continent was so divided, his instructions were to circumnavigate the island; but if, as the council believed, no opening existed between New Guinea and New Holland, Tasman was to run down to the north coast to south latitude 22°, proceed to Houtman’s Abrolhos, fish up a chest of dollars lost in Pelsart’s wreck, and pick up the two sailors who had been marooned there for participation in the mutiny which followed upon that occurrence. If the weather did not permit him to go to Houtman’s Abrolhos, he was to complete the coast exploration of Arnheim and Van Diemen’s Lands, and return by Java and the Straits of Sunda.

There can be no doubt that the cool-headed navigator fulfilled his mission with honour and credit, and brought back numerous drawings and plants. These, together with his charts and plans, were carefully concealed, perhaps eventually destroyed, by the Company. The only fragment of anything which looks like an authentic record is some four paragraphs of a journal published in 1705 by Witsen, and purporting to have been written by Tasman. Better evidence of Tasman’s fortune are the maps of 1648-60. In the same year (1648) in which the map of Australia was inscribed on the floor of the Stadthouse in Amsterdam, Turquet published at Paris a mappemonde, which is evidently based upon observations similar to those which Tasman was directed to make. So in the edition of Jansen's atlas in 1650, in the atlas of Klencke, of Amsterdam, and in the sixteenth chart of Thevenot’s “Relation de Divers Voyages Curieux” (1663), distinct reference is made to discoveries which it is most reasonable to suppose were made by Tasman. In one of the early maps of Van Keulen a portion of Tasman’s track, with soundings, is given, and in the British Museum is a chart which is regarded as an absolute copy of Tasman’s own. If this be so, it is tolerably clear that Tasman missed the discovery that New Guinea and New Holland were separated by sea, and that taking the alternative his instructions afforded him, he sounded down the Gulf of Carpentaria, gave the names to Van Diemen's Gulf and Cape Van Diemen, and continued sounding all the way to De Witt’s Land, and then returned in a direct line north-west for Java.

Admiral Burne’'s summing-up of Tasman’s character and ability as a navigator deserves quotation. He says : “It must be allowed that Abel Jansz Tasman was both a great and a fortunate discoverer, and that his success is in part only to be attributed to fortune. The track in which he sailed and the careful reckoning kept by him, which so nearly assign the true situation to each of his discoveries, show him to have been an enterprising and an able navigator. And it is to be esteemed no small addition to his important discoveries, and indeed no slight evidence of his merit, that he explored a large portion of unknown sea in a high latitude, and thereby restricted the limits of a supposed Southern Continent, more than any other navigator between the time of Magalhaens and the time of Captain Cook”. It may be added that the small degree of celebrity enjoyed by Tasman in his own country is a standing reproach to the Dutch nation.

 

 

CHAPTER VII.

DAMPIER’S FIRST VOYAGE.

 

The discoveries of Columbus and the conquests of Cortez and Pizarro gave a new world to Spain. But the haughty and jealous Spaniards would not be satisfied with anything less than absolute and exclusive possession of their splendid prize. Their claim to it as their own private property was founded, they said, on divine right, and ratified by a bull of Christ’s vicar on earth. Naturally, this arrogant assumption was disputed by other nations, and a host of enterprising adventurers started up to test its validity by process of war at sea. The Spaniards dealt with such adventurers, whenever they could lay hands on them, as interlopers and pirates; and the most shocking cruelties were inflicted, without mercy and without discrimination, on all the prisoners they captured. “No peace beyond the Line” became the motto of all sea-rovers. War to the death with Spain was the motive that stirred thousands of gallant hearts. A league of mutual defence and fierce aggression sprung up amongst the adventurers. This was the origin of that terrible confraternity which, under the various names of freebooters and buccaneers, performed such heroic deeds of daring, and perpetrated such enormous crimes, in the Spanish Main, during the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Their history forms one of the most thrilling episodes in the world’s naval annals.

It was from this brotherhood that William Dampier sprung—the “Prince of Voyagers” as he has been not unjustly styled. Born some time about the year 1652, at East Coker, near Yeovil—a market-town in Somersetshire in England —of English yeomen stock, he received a fair education; but, his parents dying, he was taken from school and bound apprentice to a shipmaster of Weymouth. A voyage to France and one to Newfoundland, made before he was twenty years of age, excited in his breast the ambition and the ardour of a great adventurer. He possessed every element of character fitting him for such a vocation: firm self-reliance, dauntless courage, restless activity, eager curiosity, the love of change, and of peril. After many strange experiences of sea life, William Dampier, at the age of twenty-seven, joined the buccaneers of America, and from that time forward his life was one wild romance.

In 1683, Dampier with some bold confederates seized a Danish vessel, which they renamed The Bachelors’ Delight, and set off to circumnavigate the globe. After meeting with many wild adventures, their leader gained the command of a vessel named the Cygnet, in which he sailed for the Philippines, and when there resolved on making a cruise to New Holland. The incidents of this cruise must be given in the lively and spirited narrative of the navigator himself:

“The 4th of January 1688, we fell in with the land of New Holland in latitude 16° 50', having made our course due south from the shoal that we passed by the 31st of December. We ran in close by it, and finding no convenient anchoring, because it lies open to the north-west, we ran along shore to the eastward, steering N.E. by E., for so the land lies. We steered thus about twelve leagues, and then came to a point of land, whence the land trends east and southerly for ten or twelve leagues, but how afterwards I know not. About three leagues to the eastward of this point, there is a pretty deep bay, with abundance of islands in it, and a very good place to anchor in, or to haul ashore. About a league to the eastward of that point we anchored, January the 5th, 1688, two miles from the shore, in twenty-nine fathoms, good hard sand, and clean ground.

“New Holland is a very large tract of land. It is not yet determined whether it is an island or a main continent; but I am certain that it joins neither to Asia, Africa, nor America. This part of it that we saw is all low even land, with sandy banks against the sea; only the points are rocky, and so are some of the islands in this bay. The land is of a dry sandy soil, destitute of water, except you make wells; yet producing divers sorts of trees ; but the woods are not thick, nor the trees very big. Most of the trees that we saw are dragon-trees, as we supposed; and these too are the largest trees of any there. They are about the bigness of our large apple-trees, and about the same height, and the rind is blackish, and somewhat rough. The leaves are of a dark colour; the gum distils out of the knots or cracks that are in the bodies of the trees. We compared it with some gum-dragon, or dragon’s blood, that was aboard, and it was of the same colour and taste. The other sorts of trees were not known by any of us. There was pretty long grass growing under the trees; but it was very thin. We saw no trees that bore fruit or berries. We saw no sort of animal, nor any track of beast, but once, and that seemed to be the tread of a beast as big as a great mastiff dog. Here are a few small land birds, but none bigger than a blackbird, and but few sea-fowls. Neither is the sea very plentifully stored with fish, unless you reckon the manatee [or sea-cow] and turtle as such. Of these creatures there is plenty; but they are extraordinary shy, though the inhabitants cannot trouble them much, having neither boats nor arrows.

“The inhabitants of this country are the miserablest people in the world. The Hodmadods of Monomatapa [Hottentots of the Cape of Good Hope], though a nasty people, yet for wealth are gentlemen to these, who have no houses and skin garments, sheep, poultry, and fruits of the earth, ostrich eggs, etc., as the Hodmadods have; and setting aside their human shape, they differ but little from brutes. They are tall, straight-bodied, and thin, with small long limbs. They have great heads, round foreheads, and great brows. Their eyelids are always half-closed, to keep the flies out of their eyes, they being so troublesome here, that no fanning will keep them from coming to one’s face; and without the assistance of both hands to keep them off, they will creep into one’s nostrils, and mouth too, if the lips are not shut very close. So that from their infancy, being thus annoyed with these insects, they do never open their eyes as other people, and therefore they cannot see far, unless they hold up their heads, as if they were looking at somewhat over them. They have great bottle noses, pretty full lips, and wide mouths. The fore teeth of their upper jaw are wanting in all of them, men and women, old and young; whether they draw them out, I know not; neither have they any beards. They are long-visaged, and of a very unpleasing aspect, having no one graceful feature in their faces. Their hair is black, short and curled, like that of the negroes, and not long and lank like the common Indians. The colour of their skins, both of their faces and the rest of their body, is coal black, like that of the negroes of Guinea. They have no. sort of clothes, but the piece of the rind of a tree, tied like a girdle about their waists, and a handful of long grass, or three or four green boughs, full of leaves, thrust under their girdle to cover their nakedness.

“They have no houses, but lie in the open air, without any covering, the earth being their bed, and the heaven their canopy. Whether they cohabit one man to one woman, or promiscuously, I know not; but they do live in companies, twenty or thirty men, women, and children together. Their only food is a small sort of fish, which they get by making wears [weirs] of stone across little coves, or branches of the sea; every tide bringing in the small fish, and there leaving them for a prey to these people, who constantly attend there, to search for them at low water. This small fry I take to be the top of their fishery : they have no instrument to catch great fish, should they come; and such seldom stay to be left behind at low water; nor could we catch any fish with our hook and lines all the while we lay there. In other places at low water they seek for cockles, mussels, periwinkles. Of these shell-fish there are fewer still; so that their chief dependence is upon what the sea leaves in their wears, which, be it much or little, they gather up, and march to the places of their abode. There the old people, that are not able to stir abroad by reason of their age, and the tender infants, wait their return; and what Providence has bestowed on them they presently broil on the coals, and eat it in common. Sometimes they get as many fish as make them a plentiful banquet; and at other times they scarce get everyone a taste : but be it little or much that they get, everyone has his part, as well the young and tender as the old and feeble, who are not able to go abroad, and the strong and lusty. When they have eaten, they lie down till the next low water, and then all that are able march out, be it night or day, rain or shine, it is all one : they must attend the wears, or else they must fast. For the earth affords them no food at all. There is neither herb, root, pulse, nor any sort of grain, for them to eat, that we saw; nor any sort of bird or beast that they can catch having no instruments wherewithal to do so.

“I did not perceive that they did worship anything. These poor creatures have a sort of weapon to defend their wears, or fight with their enemies if they have any that will interfere with their poor fishery. They did at first endeavour with their weapons to frighten us, who lying ashore deterred them from one of their fishing-places. Some of them had wooden swords, others had a sort of lances. The sword is a piece of wood, shaped somewhat like a cutlass. The lance is a long straight pole, sharp at one end, and hardened afterwards by heat. I saw no iron, nor any other sort of metal: therefore it is probable they use stone hatchets, as some Indians in America do. How they get their fire I know not; but probably, as Indians do, out of wood. I have seen the Indians of Buenos Ayres do it, and have myself tried the experiment. They take a flat piece of wood, that is pretty soft, and make a small dent in one side of it: then they take another hard round stick, about the bigness of one’s little finger, and sharping it at one end like a pencil, they put that sharp end in the hole or dent of the flat soft piece; then rubbing or twirling the hard piece between the palms of their hands, they drill the soft piece till it smokes and at last takes fire.

“These people speak somewhat through their throat; but we could not understand one word that they said. We anchored, as I said before, January the 5th, and seeing men walking on the shore, we presently sent a canoe to get some acquaintance with them; for we were in hopes to get some provisions from. them. But the inhabitants, seeing our boat coming, ran away and hid themselves. We searched afterwards three days, in hopes to find their houses, but found none; yet we saw many places where they had made fires. At last, being out of hopes to find their habitations, we searched no further; but left a great many toys ashore, in such places where we thought that they would come. In all our search we found no water, but old wells on the sandy bays. At last we went over to the islands, and there we found a great many of the natives; I do believe there were forty on one island, men, women, and children. The men, at our first coming ashore, threatened us with their lances and swords; but they were frighted by firing one gun, which we fired purposely to scare them. The island was so small, that they could not hide themselves; but they were much disordered at our landing, especially the women and children; for we went directly to their camp. The lustiest of the women, snatching up their infants, ran away howling, and the little children ran after squeaking and bawling; but the men stood still. Some of the women, and such people as could not go from us, lay still by a fire, making a doleful noise, as if we had been coming to devour them. But when they saw we did not intend to harm them, they were pretty quiet; and the rest, that fled from us at our first coming, returned again. This their place of dwelling was only a fire, with a few boughs before it, set up on the side the wind was off. After we had been here a little while, the men began to be familiar, and we clothed some of them, designing to have had some service of them for it; for we found some wells of water here, and intended to carry two or three barrels of it aboard. But it being somewhat troublesome to carry to the canoes, we thought to have made these men to have carried it for us, and therefore we gave them some clothes; to one an old pair of breeches, to another a ragged shirt, to a third a jacket that was scarce worth owning; which yet would have been very acceptable at some places where we had been, and so we thought they might have been with these people. We put them on them, thinking that this finery would have brought them to work heartily for us; and our water being filled in long small barrels, about six gallons in each, which were made purposely to carry water in, we brought these our new servants to the wells, and put a barrel on each of their shoulders for them to carry to the canoe. But all the signs we could make were to no purpose, for they stood like statues, without motion, but grinned like so many monkeys, staring one upon another; for these poor creatures seem not accustomed to carry burthens; and I believe that one of our ship-boys of ten years old would carry as much as one of them. So we were forced to carry our water ourselves; and they very fairly put the clothes off again, and laid them down, as if clothes were only to work in. I did not perceive that they had any great liking to them at first; neither did they seem to admire [wonder at] anything that we had.

“At another time, our canoe being among these islands seeking for game, espied a drove of these men swimming from one island to another; for they have no boats, canoes, or bark-logs. They took up four of them, and brought them aboard; two of them were middle-aged, the other two were young men about eighteen or twenty years old. To these we gave boiled rice, and with it turtle and manatee boiled. They did greedily devour what we gave them, but took no notice of the ship, or anything in it; and when they were set on land again, they ran away as fast as they could. At our first coming, before we were acquainted with them, or they with us, a company of them who lived on the main came just against our ship, and, standing on a pretty high bank, threatened us with their swords and lances, by shaking them at us : at last the captain ordered the drum to be beaten, which was done of a sudden with much vigour, purposely to scare the poor creatures. They hearing the noise, ran away as fast as they could drive, and when they ran away in haste, they would cry, “Gurry, Gurry”, speaking deep in the throat. Those inhabitants also that live on the main would always run away from us; yet we took several of them : for, as I have already observed, they had such bad eyes that they could not see us till we came close to them! We did always give them victuals, and let them go again; but the islanders, after our first time of being among them, did not stir for us”.

Dampier quitted the coast of New Holland on the 12th of March 1688, and directing his course northward passed Sumatra, and reached the Nicobar Islands in May. Here he quitted the expedition; and subsequently sailed for England where he arrived, after passing through many perils and adventures, on the 16th of September 1691.

 

 

CHAPTER VIII.

DAMPIER’S SECOND VOYAGE.

 

In the year 1699 an English expedition for the discovery of unknown lands was projected by King William III. The command of it was entrusted by the Earl of Pembroke, then at the head of the Admiralty, to Dampier, whose great qualifications as a navigator were now fully recognised. The countries which he was more particularly to examine were New Holland and New Guinea.

The vessel in which he sailed was named the Roebuck, old and crazy before she left the port. She carried twelve guns and a crew of fifty men and boys, with provisions for twenty months, besides the equipments necessary to the accomplishment of a voyage undertaken for the future promotion of traffic, though the immediate object was discovery. He left the Downs on the 14th of January 1699, and made a favourable voyage until, on the 4th of July, the coast of New Holland was neared. On the night of the 1st of August the ship struck bottom on the northern part of the Abrolhos shoal, in latitude about 27° 40' S. Next morning the voyagers descried the mainland at the distance of six leagues, but were unable to find a safe harbour, and owing to foul weather were compelled to stand off till the 5th, when they again approached. Next morning they ran into an opening, keeping a boat sounding before the ship, and moored two miles from the shore in the harbour named Dirk Hatichs’ Reede—so denominated from the first discoverer, who in 1616 had cast anchor there. To this place the navigator gave the name of Shark’s Bay, and he lays down the mouth of the inlet in latitude 25° S.

“The land here is of moderate height”, writes Dampier,” and from the sea appears level, though it is found to be gently undulating. On the open coast the shore is bluff; but in the bay the country is low, and the soil sandy, producing a species of samphire. Farther in the mould is reddish, a sort of sand, producing some grass, plants, and shrubs. Of trees or shrubs here are divers sorts, but none above ten feet high. Some of the trees were sweet-scented, and reddish within the bark like sassafras, but redder. The blossoms of the different sorts of trees were of several colours, but mostly blue, and smelt very sweet and fragrant. There were also beautiful and fragrant flowers growing on the ground, unlike any I had ever seen elsewhere." There were eagles, but no other large birds; though of the small winged songsters there was great variety. Besides the ordinary sea-fowl there were many strange kinds, quite new to the voyager. Among the animals which he observed was a sort of racoon, different from that of the West Indies, chiefly as to the legs, for these have very short forelegs; but go jumping upon them [the hind legs?] as the others do, and like them are very good meat”. This (it is remarked by Flinders) “appears to be a description of the small kangaroo, since found upon the islands which form the road; and if so, this account is probably the first ever made of that singular animal”. Of the iguanas of this country Dampier gives a striking description. They were inferior as food to those with which he had been familiar in the Atlantic and South Sea, and when opened their smell was very offensive. Nothing can be more loathsome and disgusting than the picture he gives of this large species of lizard, which is the Scincus tropicurus of naturalists. In this bay, besides abundance of sharks, large green turtle were found, which furnished welcome refreshments to the seamen. The fish were skate, rays, and other flat kinds, with mussels, oysters, and smaller varieties. The shore was lined with strange and beautiful shells.

They had anchored at three different places to search for water; and on the 11th, to accomplish this purpose as well as to prosecute discovery, they stood farther into the bay, but, after several abortive attempts, again bore out to sea, having previously scrubbed the ship. Sea-snakes were seen of different kinds— one sort yellow with brown spots, about four feet in length and of the thickness of a man's wrist, with a flat tail; another kind smaller, shorter, and round, spotted black and yellow.

On the 14th of August they sailed out of this bay or bight, and plied off and on towards the north, keeping about six or seven leagues from the shore, and frequently sounding. On the 15th they were in latitude 24° 41' S.; on the 16th in 23° 22', “jogging on northward”, seeing in their progress many small dolphins and whales, with abundance of scuttle-fish, shells, and water-serpents. On the afternoon of the 18th, off a shoal in 22° 22', of which they kept clear, numerous whales were seen on all sides of the ship. “The noise which they made by blowing and dashing of the sea with their tails, making it all of a breach and foam, was very dreadful to us, like the breach of the waves in very shoal water”.

On the 18th they were carried out of sight of land, which was recovered on the 21st, visible only from the mast-head, bearing S.E. by E. and appear­ing at the distance of nine leagues like a bluff promontory. Around this place was an archipelago of islands, of considerable height, which Dampier believed to be a range stretching from E.N.E. to W.S.W. for about twenty leagues, or probably as far as Shark's Bay. Next day he ran in among them, having a boat sounding ahead. The water was of very unequal depth, and the arid appearance of the shores and rusty colour of the rocks made him despair of finding water, though still hoping that he might either discover a new channel leading through to the mainland of New Holland or find some sort of rich mineral or ambergris, for which this was a favourable latitude, he was unwilling to turn back. The island near which he anchored he named Kosemary, as a plant similar to it, though destitute of smell, grew here in abundance. Two kinds of beans were found; the one growing on bushes, the other on a shrub that ran along the ground. Cormorants and gulls were also seen, and a kind of white parrot, which flew in large flocks.

They left this place on the 23d, and for some time coasted along with the land breeze, having had, since leaving Shark's Bay, fine weather, which still continued. Water-snakes, whales, noddies, and boobies were seen. On the 27th they lost sight of land, which was recovered on the 30th in latitude 18° 21' S., smoke being observed at several places on the shore. At night there was a well-marked eclipse of the moon.

Early next day an armed party landed in search of water, carrying with them pickaxes and shovels. Three tall natives were seen on the beach, but they speedily retreated. The boat lying at anchor a little way from the shore was, in order to prevent seizure, left in care of two sailors, while the rest followed the savages, who were soon joined by eight or ten more. They stood on an eminence, from which, however, they again fled on the approach of the English.

From this height the party descried a savannah studded with what they at first thought were huts, but discovered to be only rocks scattered up and down. They returned to the place at which they had landed and began to dig, but were menaced by another body of the inhabitants, who vociferated with angry gestures, as if ordering the strangers to be gone. One of them at length venturing to approach, the rest followed at a cautious distance; and Dampier went forward to meet them, making signs of peace and friendship. The leader, however, fled, while the others kept aloof; but as want of water made it absolutely necessary to establish a communication with these people, an attempt was made to catch some of them, and a nimble young man who was with the commander tried to run them down. As soon as he overtook them they faced about and attacked him; and Dampier, who was himself assailed, was compelled to fire his musket in defence of the seaman, who, though armed with a cutlass, was unable to beat back so many lances. The first shot, intended only to scare them, was, after a momentary alarm, treated with indifference or contempt. They tossed up their arms, exclaiming Pooh, pooh, pooh! and, pressing closer upon the sailor, the captain could no longer withhold fire. One native fell—his friends paused in alarm—and the Englishman escaped. “I returned back”, says the voyager, “with my men, designing to attempt the natives no further, being very sorry for what had happened”. The seaman was wounded in the cheek by a lance. Among the savages there was one who, from his appearance and dignity of demeanour, was imagined to be a chief—an impression produced by something distinct from either height of stature or personal beauty; for, it is remarked, he was neither so tall nor well-made as some of the others, but “a brisk young man”, active and courageous. He was the only one of the group that was painted. A circle drawn with some sort of white pigment surrounded each of his eyes, and a white streak reached from the forehead to the tip of the nose. His breast and part of his arms were also stained, “not for beauty or ornament, but that he seemed thereby to design the looking more terrible, this his painting adding very much to his natural deformity”. Dampier imagined this party to belong to the same nation with those he had seen when the Cygnet touched on this coast. “They were the same blinking creatures, with the most unpleasant looks and worst features of any people I had ever seen”. He did not get near enough to discover if this tribe, like the former, also wanted the two foreteeth. Near the fireplaces quantities of shells were found of the kinds on which the other island tribe lived, and their lances were similar in shape. The general features of the country were the same as those already described—low, with chains of sand-hills, the land round the shore extremely dry, though bearing many shrubs with beautiful blossoms of various colours and of delicate fragrance. Farther on, there was mixed woodland and savannah. The plains are described as studded with “detached rocks resembling hay-cocks, some red and others white, and appearing at a distance like the hovels of the Hottentots near the Cape of Good Hope”. These were, no doubt, the giant ant-hills seen by Pelsart. Some animals resembling wolves, and lean as skeletons, were also observed. These were probably native dogs, or dingoes.

Water having been at last obtained, Dampier left these sterile coasts on the 5th September, and shaped his course for New Guinea. After passing through many adventures and making several important discoveries, he went to Timor, from whence he intended to run down once more to the coast of New Holland. But although he obtained soundings at forty fathoms, he did not sight the land. Unhappily he fell sick, and as his officers were indifferent or incompetent, the voyage was not prosecuted. The crew, moreover, were suffering from scurvy, and the ship was greatly in want of repairs. Under these circumstances Dampier ordered the officers to sail for Java. Subsequently the old craft was wrecked on Ascension Island, and the navigator lost his collection of curious shells gathered on the coast of New Holland, together with many valuable books and papers. The shipwrecked crew lived for five weeks on the island, and were at length rescued by some English vessels that had observed their signals.

When he arrived in England, Dampier published an account of his voyage to New Holland, which he dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke, his patron. But his signal services to England and to the world were allowed to go entirely unrewarded. The rest of his life, however, was by no means passed in idleness He passed through a variety of wild and romantic adventures. He was pilot in Woodes Rogers’s expedition in 1708, when Alexander Selkirk, the prototype of De Foe’s immortal Robinson Crusoe, was rescued from the island of Juan Fernandez, after a solitary exile of four years. The expedition returned to England in October 1711, bringing with it a treasure of booty in money and merchandise valued at £150,000. But at this point Dampier's name disappears from history.

Dampier was not only a navigator of distinguished eminence, but a man of strong natural genius; and it implies something of a reproach upon England, that talents that have gained their possessor a European reputation, should have been less appreciated in his own country than by foreign nations. By French and Dutch discoverers, as well as learned men, he has been uniformly regarded with the warmest admiration. They delight to style him the “eminent”, the “exact”, the “skillful”, the “incomparable”. Humboldt has borne testimony to his merits, placing this buccaneer seaman above those men of science who afterwards went over the same ground; Malte-Brun terms him “the learned Dampier”; and the author of the Voyages to Australia inquires, “Mais oil trouve-t-on des navigateurs comparables a Dampier?” (“Where shall we find navigators comparable to Dampier?”). The acuteness, accuracy, and clearness of his nautical delineations, as well as his descriptions and general remarks, have made his voyages be followed by foreign navigators as the safest guides; and his rapidity and power of observation are fully as remarkable as his accuracy. For example, his hasty glance at the places where he touched in New Holland has left to subsequent voyagers little else but the labour of verifying his descriptions. In no instance has his veracity been questioned, even by those the most disposed to cavil at facts which, being remote from their own limited experience, appear extraordinary or impossible. Other writers, combining into one the relation of many different travellers, have no doubt added to his descriptions; but there is no detached account of the countries he visited more full of interest and exact information than the volumes of this experienced seaman.

The succession of brilliant discoveries which illustrated the early part of the reign of George III cast, for a time, the adventures of Dampier, and of every previous navigator, into the shade; but they are again rising into popularity. Compared with the more systematic voyages of our own days, his long solitary rambles are like the enterprises of the single knightly combatant, which, though they bear no proportion to the magnitude and splendour of a regular engagement, yet from their individuality often command a more intense and powerful interest.

By Pinkerton he is styled “the Cook of a former age”. Admiral Burney says of him, that “it is not easy to name another voyager or traveller who has given more useful information to the world, or to whom the merchant and mariner are so much indebted”. In fine, his early life amongst the buccaneers left out of view, Dampier takes high rank amongst the world’s greatest benefactors in the line of maritime discovery. He was a man of great natural genius, of a brilliant imagination in the projection of grand enterprises, and of undaunted daring in their execution. He was, moreover, disinterested; his sole ambition was the acquisition of knowledge, and his strongest passion was the love of adventure. Yet his latter days were passed in obscurity so deep, that no one is now able to tell how the evening of his days was spent, or when he died, or where he was buried. Had he expired on some small island of the Pacific, or perished in the element on which so great a portion of his life was passed, some imperfect record might have remained to satisfy our natural desire to know the incidents which marked the last hours of the veteran navigator. But it was his fate to sink unheeded amidst the conflicting waves and tides of society; and no memorial or tradition remains of his death, in whose remarkable life the adven­tures of Alexander Selkirk, and of the buccaneer commanders of the Southern Ocean, appear but as episodes. The shame is his country’s; but Australians will always continue to cherish proud and grateful memories of William Dampier.

 

CHAPTER IX.

NAVIGATORS FROM DAMPIER TO COOK.

 

From the time of Dampier to that of Cook but little was effected in the way of exploring the coasts of New Holland, and that little was due to the Dutch. A ship called the Bidderschap, outward bound from Holland, had left the Cape of Good Hope in 1684 or 1685, and had never been heard of afterwards. It was supposed that she might have been wrecked on the Great South Land; and in 1696 an expedition destined for India, and commanded by Willem de Vlaming, was ordered to make a search for any remains of the ship or crew that might still exist.

On the 28th of December the three ships of the expedition, the Geeliruk, Nyptang, and Wezel, reached the western coasts of New Holland, and next day anchored under the island of Rottenest, lying in latitude 31° 50'. A fragment of driftwood from a wreck was picked up next day. On the 5th of January 1697, Vlaming went on shore on the mainland, accompanied by eighty-eight armed men, and proceeded inland. Nothing was at first seen but gum-trees and cockatoos, but after a three hours’ march a small lake was reached, upon the beach of which footprints were observed. The smoke of a native encampment was also seen in the distance, and three deserted mia-mias were found, but no natives. Another exploration on the 6th was equally unsuccessful, but some black swans were taken, two of which were carried alive to Batavia. The ships left Rottenest Island on the 13th, and sailed away northward. On the 16th a landing was again effected, but nothing was found. On the 23d, when near Houtman’s Abrolhos, some natives were descried walking on the shore. On the 3d February a boat landed on these rocks, and found Dirk Hartog’s tin-plate, with the inscription commemorating his arrival and departure. Cruising about for a time, the ships discovered the North-West Cape, and an opening which the commander called the Wilhem’s River. On the 21st February Vlaming, considering that he had made all proper search for the relics of the Kidderschap sailed for Batavia.

The next expedition of which we have any particulars is that of three Dutch vessels which sailed from Batavia in 1705, to examine the shores of New Holland. In April of that year they explored the north-west coast, which at that time was called Van Diemen’s Land. They were occupied until the 12th of July exploring and naming the various points on the coast. They found two deep indentations in the land which they considered straits, and then came to the remarkable conclusion that the Great South Land was only a chain of islands. They had several communications with the natives. With the exception of a vessel named the Zeewyk, which was wrecked upon the Houtman’s Abrolhos, in June 1727, no other ship visited this coast, or rather no record of any such visit exists, until we come to the time of Captain Cook. The Zeewyk was wrecked on an island named Gun Island by Captain Stokes, in latitude 28° 53' 10". The crew were enabled to build a sloop from the fragments of the wreck, and thus reached Batavia in safety. Captain Stokes, in 1839, found a gun upon this island, besides many relics dated about the period of the ship's loss. At the same time a part of Captain Pelsart’s vessel, the Batavia, was found, with a coin dated 1620, and several fragments of iron so corroded as to be quite unrecognisable.

Thus far we have traced the course of Australasian navigation and discovery, up till the time of Captain Cook. It is not to be denied that to the Dutch, more than to any other nation, are we indebted for the first knowledge of this region.

The other navigators, more intent on the acquisition of Spanish gold than on the search for unknown regions, almost invariably pursued one common and well-frequented path. On entering the Pacific, they stood for Juan Fernandez, in order to recover their health or replace their stores; they then coasted the American continent to California; after which they either retraced their way to the Atlantic by Cape Horn or the Straits, or more usually crossed the South Sea in the track of the Manilla galleon. Such was the route of Drake, Cavendish, Van Noort, Spilbergen, the Nassau fleet, the English buccaneers, Dampier, Rogers, Clipperton, Shelvocke, and Anson.

The only adventurer into a high southern latitude was Tasman. Entering the Pacific from the Indian Ocean, he, as we have seen, advanced to about 44°, and discovered Van Diemen’s Land. Thence pursuing nearly the same parallel, he stood eastward, till he encountered New Zealand, and sailing along its western shores bore northward till he got into the track of Schouten, having discovered in his passage the Tonga Islands on the confines of the tropic.

From this recapitulation it will be seen that, of the Southern Pacific, there still remained altogether unknown the great space bounded on the north by the twenty-fifth parallel of latitude, and by the meridians of longitude 85° W. and 170° E. No vessel had yet attempted to traverse this wide extent, and con­sequently with respect to it there prevailed the utmost uncertainty and ignor­ance. A learned geographer writes in 1771: “So far as to absolute experience, we continue ignorant whether the southern hemisphere be an immense mass of water, or whether it contains another continent and countries worthy of our search”.

The portion of the Northern Pacific which remained unexplored was perhaps still more extensive.

Such were the mighty tracts concerning which nothing had been ascertained. There were, besides, several spacious regions, of which certain navigators had indeed announced the existence, but who stopped short before the extent was brought to light. Of New Holland only the western side was known; the northern limit (the strait discovered by Torres in 1606) had passed into oblivion, and this great country was generally represented as joining New Guinea; on the south there was no certainty whether it extended to Van Diemen’s Land, or where its termination should be fixed; to the east it was involved in utter dark­ness; one point only was clear, that it did not stretch beyond longitude 170°, being nearly the meridian of Tasman’s track. The limits of New Zealand were still more indefinite. Only its western shores had been visited, and for all that was then known it might have extended eastward to within 15° of Chili. Mr Dalrymple remarks in 1771 that it is “still a question if Staat’s Land (or New Zealand) be part of a continent or only islands, though it is most probably the former, as Tasman supposes it to be”. In short, the great problem of geography, the existence of a vast Southern Continent, was still unsolved. The discoveries of succeeding years had no doubt much circumscribed the bounds assigned to it in the sixteenth century. Yet, within the unvisited bosom of the Pacific Ocean there still remained ample space for a country exceeding Europe in dimensions, and surpassing the widest empire ever seen in either hemisphere, even when at its highest elevation. Nor with the believers in this land was its extent its only merit. Its fancied splendour and fertility were to cast into the shade all that had been told of Mexico and Peru; for here was to be found the original fountain of their civilization, the parent country of the first Incas! And to the nation that should discover it there was promised an accession of wealth and power greater than had flowed to Spain from the conquests of Cortes and Pizarro. In fine, Australasia was awaiting its Columbus until the appearance of Cook!

 

BOOK II.

COOK’S DISCOVERIES.

 

CHAPTER I.

COOK’S EARLY LIFE.

 

The illustrious line of famous English navigators was continued down from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into the eighteenth century by men of the stamp of Anson, Byron, and Cook, true successors of the Drakes, Raleighs, Cavendishes, and Dampiers of an earlier age. Adventurers in the highest and noblest sense of that word, these distinguished men, by their achievements in maritime discovery, have added new territories to the world’s possessions, and thrown an unfading lustre around the English name. But none of them takes precedence of Cook. On the splendid roll of modern discoverers his name stands first. He was one of the world's greatest men. His genius in his special department was of the highest order. A born leader of men, he possessed every requisite for command. A fitting title for him would be that given by Cromwell to Robert Blake, “Admiral and General at Sea”; although, unlike the great admiral of the Commonwealth, his victories were all “victories of peace, not less renowned than war”. A still truer designation, however, would be, the Columbus of the Southern Ocean. What the immortal Genoese navigator accomplished in the northern hemisphere for Spain and Europe, Cook accomplished in the southern hemisphere for England and mankind

James Cook was born at the little agricultural village of Marton-in-Cleveland, situated between Gisborough and Stockton-on-Tees, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, on the north-east coast of England. The date of his birth is variously given by his biographers, but the correct date appears to be the 27th of October 1728. It was not an event that made a great stir in the world; for the parents of James Cook were not wealthy, and they had nine children; in fact, they were what English writers, with a touch of traditionary servility, term “humble” persons. The New Testament principle holds, differently, that the blessing goes with the poor and humble, rather than with the wealthy and the proud. The elder Cook, also named James, first held the position of day-labourer, and afterwards that of bailiff, or understeward, on the farm of Airy Holme, near Great Ayton, the property of Thomas Scottowe, Esq., situated at the foot of a famous hill named Roseberry Topping. Both parents were noted in the neighbourhood for the homely virtues of steady industry, integrity, and temperance. The short and simple annals of the Cook household are soon told. James and a sister, alone of all the children, survived into mature life. The daughter married a fisherman at Redcar, a seaside village not far from Marton, and her home became the abode of the old man in the latter part of his life, which was extended to the long term of nearly eighty-five years. He thus outlived his illustrious son, and had the satisfaction of hearing in his old days of the wonderful discoveries made by him, and of the high honours paid him by the learned and the noble in rank. At the dame school of the village, kept by an ancient lady named Walker, James Cook learned his letters. As he grew up in years, his services were required to assist in earning bread for the household; and he was obliged to work with his father on his employer’s farm, so that it was only at leisure times he could snatch an hour to learn the elementary branches of, reading, writing, and arithmetic. His father's employer was generous enough to pay a neighbouring schoolmaster the fees for this slender tuition, and it was all that young Cook ever received in the way of what is called education. But, in truth, the real education any man receives is that which he gives himself. Afterwards, when the youth became a seaman, he taught himself drawing, practical navigation, and marine surveying. During the long nights of a Canadian winter, when he was more than thirty years of age, he mastered, by silent study, Euclid and as much of mathematics and astronomy as was needful in his profession, without any other assistance than what a few books and his own industry afforded him. To “scorn delights and live laborious days”; to make large and frequent inroads on the boundless domain of knowledge; and to keep the fire of the mind aglow with the eager desire to learn still more: these are the prerogatives of genius, the invariable marks of greatness of character, and they were all possessed by James Cook. He had from the first nature’s patent of nobility. The great change in Cook’s life took place when he was thirteen years old. His father bound him apprentice to a draper (whose name has not been preserved), in the fishing town of Staiths, about ten miles north of Whitby. But standing behind a counter, selling tapes and pins and needles, did not suit the boy’s disposition. The constant sight of the blue ocean, the sharp odour of its brine, its magnificent monotony, fascinated his spirit, as they have fascinated the spirit of many a brave lad before and since. The very soul of Robinson Crusoe was in the boy. He became restless and discontented. His inner ear heard in the roll of the dashing waves a summons, as clearly conveyed as that chimed from the London bells to Dick Whittington, to go forth to seek adventures on the boundless deep. Then came disagreements with his master. Young Cook would not run away to sea, but he avowed his overmastering passion for a sailor's life, and his utter dislike for the drapery business. His master, noting the resolute bent of the apprentice's mind, and discovering in him marks of decision of character and steadiness of application singular in a lad of his years, agreed to give him up his indentures. Young Cook was set free to follow his own high impulses, and to carve out a career for himself. There was then in Whitby a firm of Quaker brothers, John and Henry Walker, who owned two vessels in the coal trade. To them Cook offered his services, and he was bound apprentice for seven years. His first vessel was the Freelove, a small coaster. At this point the training of the great seaman commenced. He was in all respects a good and faithful servant, diligent, punctual, and self-governing. His employers noted the good conduct of the lad, his genius for the sailor life, and his eager anxiety to acquire skill in his new profession. He never lost an opportunity of mastering the practical part of navigation, and the service in which he was engaged offered him an excellent school for learning it. The coal trade of England is carried on, for most part, along an extremely irregular and dangerous coast, where unceasing diligence is demanded on the part of the seaman. Cook had found at length the vocation that suited his disposition. In storm and calm, by night and day, through the sharp blasts of winter and the balmy breezes of summer, he was always found at his post. Thus were developed in the youthful sailor those grand qualities of steady attention, cool resolution, undaunted firmness, and unwearied perseverance, which distinguished the great navigator of after-times. The worthy Quakers perceived that they had a treasure in their apprentice. When his term upon the Freelove was completed, they transferred him to the Three Brothers, with the rank of mate. To give him enlarged opportunities of extending his knowledge of, seamanship, they employed him in rigging and fitting out the vessel, in which he made two coal voyages, and afterwards, when she was taken into the service of the English Government as a transport, he voyaged in her to Middleburgh, Dublin, Liverpool, and Deptford, where she was paid off. Cook remained in the service of the Messrs Walker till he was twenty-five years old. He then told his employers that he had a mind to try his fortunes in the British Navy. The good Quakers, knowing what a skilful and trustworthy seaman he had now become, tried hard to persuade him to stay with them. They even offered him the command of one of their vessels. Cook, however, respectfully declined the. offer. “I had remarked”, said Mr John Walker afterwards, “that he had always an ambition to go into the navy”. With much good feeling, and great reluctance, on both sides, Cook parted from his kind friends; and it is pleasant to add that he kept up a friendly correspondence with the good Quaker brothers to the last year of his life. Up till this time, he had borne the character of a steady, hard-working, faithful sailor, much bent on self-im­provement, but not remarkable in any way for brilliant abilities. But, all the same, his active mind was busily engaged in storing up that knowledge of practical navigation, and in carefully cultivating in himself those admirable qualities, which subsequently raised him to the highest rank amongst the world's navigators.

Some short time seems to have elapsed before Cook carried out his intention of enlisting in the navy. Early in 1755 a naval war broke out between England and France, and as seamen were very much wanted for the king’s service, the press-gangs were set to work to obtain them. Cook happened to be in a vessel on the Thames when a press-gang came on board; and at first he felt unwilling to act upon compulsion, even in a case where he had made up his mind to volunteer. But on second thoughts he announced his intention of joining the navy. He was sent to Wapping, where the Eagle man-of-war, carrying sixty guns, was then lying, and in that vessel he took service as an able seaman. It was commanded by Captain Hamer, who, however, was very soon replaced by Sir-Hugh Palliser, an experienced officer and brave sailor, afterwards an admiral. The contention which arose between Sir Hugh and his superior officer, Admiral Keppel, twenty-three years later, forms one of the striking incidents of the naval history of those times. The grounds of the quarrel were some alleged disobedience of orders on the part of Sir Hugh in the great battle between the English and French fleets, off Ushant, in 1778. But a court-martial acquitted him of any neglect of duty or other offence.

Possessed of the good quality in a commander of a quick perception of merit in a subordinate, Sir Hugh Palliser speedily singled out Cook as a seaman of superior qualifications, worthy of promotion. Letters of recommendation also came to him on Cook’s behalf from friends in Yorkshire; amongst them one from Mr Osbaldestone, then Member of Parliament for Scarborough, and one from his old friends, the Messrs Walker. These letters were of considerable service to Cook, and he always spoke of them with gratitude. In a few months he was rated quartermaster by his captain, who also obtained for him a warrant as master of the Mercury frigate. This warrant bears date the 15th of May 1759. Two other commissions, for the ships Grampus and Garland, had been previously obtained in a similar way, but unforeseen circumstances prevented their taking effect. Still, as one of Cook's biographers observes, “these quick and successive appointments show that his interest was strong, and that the intention to serve him was real and effectual”.

The opportunity for showing the fine genius that lay hidden under the plain exterior of the still youthful sailor had come at length. The Mercury was ordered to Quebec, in North America, where a British fleet, commanded by Sir Charles Saunders, was cooperating with the famous General Wolfe in besieging the place. A combined attack on the fortified position at Montmorency and Beauport had been concerted; but it was necessary, in the first place, that accurate soundings should be taken of the river St Lawrence between the Isle of Orleans and the north shore, where the French army lay. This difficult and dangerous service could only be performed at night. At the recommendation of Sir Hugh Palliser, Cook was selected to undertake it. Great courage, coolness, and unusual skill were required for the task. For several nights Cook carried on his operations unperceived; but one night the French sentinels caught sight of him. The alarm was given. A large number of canoes filled with Indians were despatched to surround and cut him off. He instantly made for the British encampments; but was so closely pursued that the savages entered the stern of his barge as he leaped from the bows, just within the protection of the British sentinels. The Indians carried off the barge in triumph. But the work was done. Cook, who up till that time had hardly ever handled a pencil, was able to furnish the admiral with as correct a draught of the channel and soundings as could have been made after the English had taken possession of Quebec. Not long afterwards he was employed to make a survey of the whole river below Quebec; and his chart was executed with such skill and exactness, that it was immediately published by order of the Admiralty. He was also entrusted during the siege with other services of the highest importance in the naval department. He piloted the boats to the attack on Montmorency, conducted the embarkation to the heights of Abraham, examined the passage, and laid buoys for the security of the large ships in proceeding up the river. These proofs of large capacity and invincible perseverance attracted the special attention of Cook’s commander, Lord Colville, admiral of the fleet,, who, on the 22d of September 1759, appointed him master of his own ship, the Northumberland. In that vessel he remained on the Halifax station during the whole of the long Canadian winter. There it was. that he turned his enforced leisure to account, by mastering the elements of geometry, mathematics, and astronomy. In September 1760 he accompanied Lord Colville to Newfoundland, which colony he aided in recapturing from the French. He was appointed to survey the harbour and heights of Placentia, and by his skill and diligence in the performance of the work won high praise from the governor, Captain Graves.

At the close of 1760 he returned to England. During his stay there he made the acquaintance of the lady who became his wife. On the 21st of December he was married to Miss Elizabeth Batts, at Barking, Essex. This lady was a woman of an amiable disposition and a generous heart. She made an excellent wife to Cook. She bore him five sons and one daughter; and although the heart of the tender mother was rent by many a sore bereavement, she survived her illustrious husband for the long period of fifty-six years. Early in 1762, when but a few months married, Cook was again appointed marine surveyor of Newfoundland, which post he held for upwards of four years, returning to England sometimes to spend the winter there. The manner in which he fulfilled his commission won him the highest approbation of the governor, his old friend Sir Hugh Palliser, who had succeeded Captain Graves. Cook explored the interior of the country more fully than had hitherto been done, making many valuable additions to geography, and compiling charts of rare value for their accuracy. He observed an eclipse of the sun on the 5th of August 1766, and from the observations taken computed the longitude of the island of Newfoundland. Notes of the observations were published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Great Britain. At the close of 1767 he returned to England, and did not again resume his duties as marine surveyor of the North American colony. At this point closes the. first great period in the career of the navigator.

 

CHAPTER II.

COOK’S FIRST SCIENTIFIC APPOINTMENT.

 

An event now occurred which gave a new direction and a higher object to the genius of Cook.

The famous astronomer Kepler had foretold, in a work published at Leipsic, in Germany, in 1629, that the planet Venus would cross the sun's disc in the year 1769 ; and the astronomers of Europe were extremely desirous of verifying this prediction. These transits, although now familiar facts in astronomical science, were then looked upon as very rare and remarkable phenomena. The practical value to science of observing them carefully whenever they occur may here be briefly explained: The sun’s parallax is the angle which the earth’s semi-diameter subtends at the sun. By taking observations of the passage of a planet across the sun's disc simultaneously at the opposite sides of the globe, this angle can be measured, and thus the distance of the earth from the sun may be calculated. Now, the parallax of Venus being four times as great as that of the sun, occasions very sensible differences between the times in which she seems to be passing over the sun’s disc at different parts of the earth. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance, and quite practicable, to determine it with extreme accuracy, and thence the sun’s parallax and distance from the earth. By apply Kepler’s third law—namely, that the squares of the periodical times of the planets are proportional to the cubes of their mean distances—the distances of all the other planets from the sun may be determined. So that from the observation of a single transit of Venus can be calculated the diameter of the planetary orbs, and the extent of the entire solar system.

The scientific world of Europe was roused to enthusiasm upon the approach of Kepler’s long-predicted phenomenon, “by far the noblest spectacle in the whole range of astronomy”, as it was designated. Preparations were made for observing it in all quarters of the globe. Persons of the highest rank in society interested themselves in the impending triumph of science. The Royal Society of England addressed a memorial to the king on the subject, praying for the aid of the Government in ships and money, to send out observers. The petition was granted. The Secretary to the Admiralty, Sir Philip Stephens, informed the society that a barque would be provided to sail to the South Seas. A fitting commander for the expedition was required. Sir Philip Stephens at once named James Cook as the best man within the whole range of his acquaintance for that responsible office. With a discrimination that does him the highest honour, he had early appreciated the talents of the great sailor. He appealed to Cook's old commander, Sir Hugh Palliser, for a confirmation of his high estimate, and the confirmation was readily given, and warmly urged. Fortunately for science, and for humanity, the recommendation proved successful. Cook was appointed to command the expedition, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Royal Navy by a commission dated the 25th of May 1768.

It is to the immortal honour of Great Britain that she can boast of being the first country in the world that has undertaken voyages of discovery with the sole object of enlarging the boundaries of human knowledge. The voyages of the Spaniards and Portuguese in the fifteenth century were undertaken mainly, if not exclusively, for the sake of anticipated advantages to commerce and the acquirement of wealth. The motives of the great discoverers themselves took, doubtless, a far larger and nobler range; but the national motive in the expeditions was, undeniably, material gain. The spirit of trade overshadowed the spirit of discovery. But a glorious revival of the spirit of discovery had taken place in Great Britain about the date of Cook’s first expedition. A new and loftier ambition than any which trade can know was stirring the rich soul of the nation. That grand and mighty motive has borne harvests of blessings for mankind in the intervening hundred years. To extend the limits of science; “to follow knowledge like a sinking star beyond the utmost bounds of human thought; to spread civilization; to shed the glorious light of Christianity over the dark places of the earth, the habitations of horrid cruelty; to raise the downfallen, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke; to proclaim deliverance to the captives, the opening of the prison-house to those that are bound, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”—such is the high and holy mission to the fulfillment of which England has bent her energies. And of that mission James Cook was one of the earliest and most zealous apostles.

The choice of a vessel for the expedition was left to Sir Hugh Palliser, and he at once took Cook into council. A great number of ships were examined and rejected. Many volunteer recommendations were offered as to the size and sailing qualities of the vessel that ought to be chosen. Some persons were for having a huge East-Indiaman, or a heavy barque of forty guns ; others suggested a frigate, or a large three-decked ship, capable of carrying several hundreds of a crew. But the practised eye and clear judgment of Cook set all such recommendations aside, as David did the suggestion to wear Saul's armour in his fight with the giant. He saw that a vessel, to be at all suitable for purposes of dis­covery, must be of moderate size, strong build, light draught of water large interior capacity, of a construction that would bear to take the ground and of such a size that she might, if necessary, be laid on shore for repair with safety and convenience. In fact, the very ship for his purpose would be one of the old stout-timbered colliers with which he was. so well acquainted. He accordingly chose a barque built for the coal trade of 370 tons burthen. In this wise decision Cook was following the great example of Columbus. Of the three ships with which the heroic Genoese sailor first crossed the Atlantic, only one was full-decked, the other two being only caravels or light barques, not a whit superior to the coasting vessels of the present day. “It was not”, says Washington Irving, his biographer, “for want of large vessels in the Spanish ports, that those of Columbus were of so small a size. He considered them best adapted to voyages of discovery, as they required but little depth of water, and therefore could more easily and safely coast unknown shores, and explore bays and rivers. He had some purposely constructed of a very small size for the service”.

The name of Cook’s vessel was the Endeavour. She was victualled for an eighteen months’ voyage; she had on board ten carriage and twelve swivel guns; with abundance of ammunition, and all manner of stores. No reasonable expense or trouble was spared in making ample provision for the voyagers. Her complement consisted of forty-one able seamen, twelve marines, and nine servants, making in all, with the commander and officers, eighty-five persons, and including the following officers: Zachary Hicks, lieutenant; John Gore; Robert Molineaux, master; Charles Clerke, mate; John Gathray, boatswain; Stephen Forward, gunner; John Satterley, carpenter; William B. Munkhouse, surgeon; Richard Orton, clerk. The scientific staff consisted of Mr Charles Green, assistant to the Astronomer-Royal at Greenwich; Dr Solander, a learned Swede, well skilled in botany, and one of the librarians of the British Museum; with two draughtsmen for the departments of natural history and landscape. Sir Joseph Banks was at that time president of the Royal Society of London, and being a man of wealth and leisure, he resolved upon joining the expedition. He made arrangements on a most extensive scale, procuring large supplies of such articles as were likely to be useful or acceptable in the countries he was to visit. He engaged a secretary and four servants, two of whom were negroes. The place fixed upon as the best for taking the observations was the island of Otaheite, now called Tahiti. Cook’s instructions were to the effect that, after completing his astronomical observations at that island, he was to prosecute a voyage of discovery in the Pacific Ocean, to sail as far south as 40° of latitude; and if no land was found, he was then to steer to the westward, between the fortieth and thirty-fifth parallels of latitude, until he encountered New Zealand; and having explored that country, he was to return to England by such route as he might think proper.

 

 

CHAPTER III

COOK’S FIRST EXPEDITION.

 

As the adventures and discoveries of Cook, during his first and subsequent voyages, excepting in so far as they are directly connected with Australasia, do-not come within the scope of the present history, the reader must be referred for a full account of them to the well-known volumes containing the complete narrative.

The expedition sailed from Plymouth Sound, on the south-west coast of Eng­land, on the 26th of August 1768. The voyagers crossed the Line on the 25th October, and three months later they doubled Cape Horn and were in the Pacific Ocean. Sailing westward with a fair wind and pleasant weather, they reached the island of Otaheite (now called Tahiti) on the 10th of April 1769. Having set up their observatory and made all needful preparations, the celestial phenomenon of the transit of Venus over the sun's disc—the great object of the expedition—was observed under the most favourable circumstances. From the observations taken, the latitude and longitude of the observing station were calculated, and found to be as follows: latitude—17° 29' 15" S.; longitude 149° 32' 20" W. of Greenwich. Cook’s notes of the observations, written by his own hand, are still preserved in the archives of the Royal Society of London. Numerous similar observations of the phenomenon were taken in other parts of the world, and from a comparison of the whole number the sun’s parallax was calculated to be 8-575", which gives the mean distance of the sun from the earth at 95,158,440 English miles. But in the year 1876 the transit of Venus was once more carefully observed by astronomers in all parts of the world; and the calculations founded on the observations gave the parallax at a little less, and the mean distance of the sun about 91,500,000 miles.

The voyagers left Otaheite on the 13th of July 1769, taking with them Tupia, a native, who had been first minister to the queen and also high priest of the island. They next visited and named the Society Islands. On the 5th of October, a change in the colour of the sea, the weeds floating on its surface, and the birds which flew around the ship, gave signs of approaching land. Cook's memorable account of his first catching sight of New Zealand, now one of the noblest of Great Britain's colonial possessions, must be given in his own words :

“On the 7th it fell calm, we therefore approached the land slowly, and in the afternoon, when a breeze sprung up, we were still distant seven or eight leagues. It appeared still larger as it was more distinctly seen, with four or five ranges of hills, rising one over the other, and a chain of mountains above all which appeared to be an enormous height. This land became the subject of much eager conversation; but the general opinion seemed to be that we had found the Terra Australis Incognita. About five o'clock, we saw the opening of a bay, which seemed to run pretty far inland, upon which we hauled our wind and stood in for it: we also saw smoke ascending from different places on shore. When night came on, however, we kept plying off and on till day­light, when we found ourselves to the leeward of the bay, the wind being at north : we could now perceive that the hills were clothed with wood, and that some of the trees in the valleys were very large. By noon we fetched in with the south-west point; but not being able to weather it, tacked and stood off: at this time we saw several canoes standing across the bay, which, in a little time, made to shore, without seeming to take the least notice of the ship; we also saw some houses, which appeared to be small, but neat; and near one of them a considerable number of the people collected together, who were sitting upon the. beach, and who, we thought, were the same that we had seen in the canoes. Upon a small peninsula, at the north-east head, we could plainly perceive a pretty high and regular paling, which enclosed the whole top of a hill; this was also the subject of much speculation, some supposing it to be a park of deer, others an enclosure for oxen and sheep. About four o'clock in the afternoon, we anchored on the north-west side of the bay, before the entrance of a small river, in ten fathom water, with a fine sandy bottom, and at about half-a-league from the shore. The sides of the bay are white cliffs of a great height; the middle is low land, with hills gradually rising behind, one towering above another, and terminating in the chain of mountains which appeared to be far inland.

“In the evening I went on shore, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, with the pinnace and yawl, and a party of men. We landed abreast of the ship, on the east side of the river, which was here about forty yards broad; but seeing some natives on the west side whom I wished to speak with, and finding the river not fordable, I ordered the yawl in to carry us over, and left the pinnace at the entrance. When we came near the place where the people were assembled, they all ran away; however, we landed, and leaving four boys to take care of the yawl, we walked up to some huts which were about two or three hundred yards from the water-side. When we had got some distance from the boat, four men, armed with long lances, rushed out of the woods, and running up to attack the boat, would certainly have cut her off, if the people in the pinnace had not discovered them, and called the boys to drop down the stream : the boys instantly obeyed, but being closely pursued by the Indians, the cockswain of the pinnace, who had the charge of the boats, fired a musket over their heads; at this they stopped and looked round them, but in a few minutes renewed the pursuit, brandishing their lances in a threatening manner: the cockswain then fired a second musket over their heads, but of this they took no notice; and one of them lifting up his spear to dart it at the boat, another piece was fired, which shot him dead. When he fell, the other three stood motionless for some minutes, as if petrified with astonishment; as soon as they recovered, they went back, dragging after them the dead body, which, however, they soon left, that it might not encumber their flight. At the report of the first musket, we drew together, having straggled to a little distance from each other, and made the best of our way back to the boat; and crossing the river, we soon saw the Indian lying dead upon the ground. Upon examining the body, we found that he had been shot through the heart: he was a man of the middle size and stature; his complexion was brown, but not very dark, and one side of his face was tattooed in spiral lines of a very regular figure : he was covered with a fine cloth, of a manufacture altogether new to us, and it was tied on exactly according to the representation in Valentyn’s Account of Abel Tasman’s Voyage (vol. III., part 2, p. 50): his hair also was tied in a knot on the top of his head, but had no feather in it, We returned immediately to the ship, where we could hear the people on shore talking with great earnestness, and in a very loud tone, probably about what had happened, and what should be done”.

On the morning of the next day (the 9th), Cook again rowed to the beach, and found about fifty of the natives waiting his landing. They started from the ground, and brandished long pikes and short stone weapons; nor did they desist from defiance, although addressed by Tupia in the Otaheitan tongue, until they saw the effect of a musket in striking the water at a distance. As soon as the marines were brought up, the English approached the savages, when their interpreter again spoke to them, “and it was with great pleasure”, says Cook, “that we perceived he was perfectly understood”. They expressed their willingness to trade for provisions and water, and desired the strangers to cross the river which flowed between; but they would not lay down their arms, and Tupia saw good reason for advising his friends to be prepared for hostility. The islanders being in turn invited over, first one, then two, and soon after, twenty or thirty, almost all armed, swam across. They attempted to seize the weapons of the discoverers, and though assured of death if they persisted, one of them snatched a hanger, with which he ran off, waving it round his head in exultation. The rest now grew more insolent, and others were observed coming from the opposite bank to their assistance. It was judged necessary to take some measures to repress them, and Mr Banks accordingly fired at the thief, who was wounded but still retreated, though more slowly, flourishing the cutlass as before Mr Munkhouse took a more fatal aim, and the savage dropped; upon which the main body, who had previously retired a little, began to advance; three pieces loaded only with small shot, were therefore discharged, when they again fell back and went slowly up the country, some of them evidently wounded.

Gook, intent on establishing an amicable intercourse with these intractable barbarians, determined to make some of them prisoners, and to treat them with kindness, in the hope of inspiring general confidence. Two canoes were soon after observed coming in from sea, and boats were despatched to intercept them; but they endeavoured to escape, regardless of the fair promises shouted after them by Tupia. A musket was then fired over their heads, in the hope that it would either make them surrender or leap into the water; but they stripped for the combat, and assailed their pursuers so vigorously with stones and other missiles, that the English were obliged to fire. Their discharge killed four men, while the rest of the crew, consisting of three boys, one of whom offered a stout resistance, were made captives.

It is but justice to the memory of a great and good man to give Coo’'s own defence of these apparently harsh proceedings : “I am conscious that the feeling of every reader of humanity will censure me for having fired upon these unhappy people, and it is impossible that, upon a calm review, I should approve it myself. They certainly did not deserve death for not choosing to confide in my promises; or not consenting to come on board my boat, even if they had apprehended no danger; but the nature of my service required me to obtain a knowledge of their country, which I could not otherwise effect than by forcing my way into it in a hostile manner, or gaining admission through the confidence and goodwill of the people. I had already tried the power of presents without effect; and I was now prompted, by my desire to avoid further hostilities, to get some of them on board, as the only method left of convincing them that we intended them no harm, and had it in our power to contribute to their gratification and convenience. Thus far my intentions certainly were not criminal; and though in the contest, which I had not the least reason to expect, our victory might have been complete without so great an expense of life; yet in such situations, when the command to fire has been given, no man can restrain its excess, or prescribe its effect”.

On being brought into the boat, the prisoners, who had squatted down in expectation of death, were clothed and amply fed. They soon became quite cheerful, and asked questions with every appearance of pleasure and curiosity; but when night came on, their spirits failed them, and they sighed often and loudly. When pacified in some measure by Tupia, they began to sing a slow mournful song to an air much resembling a psalm tune. Daylight, however, and another copious meal roused them to cheerfulness; they were dressed and decorated, and fell into transports of joy, when assured that they would be restored to their friends. Being at first unwillingly put on shore on a point of coast which they said belonged to their enemies, who would certainly kill and eat them, they had soon after to seek protection in the boat. When landed a second time, they waded into the water, and earnestly requested to be again taken on board ; but the sailors had positive orders to leave them, and they were in a short time seen to join some of their associates. “After it was dark”, adds Cook, “loud voices were heard on shore in the bottom of the bay as usual, of which we could never learn the meaning”.

The next morning the voyagers weighed anchor and left this “unfortunate and inhospitable place”, to which Cook gave the name of Poverty Bay, because nothing but wood could be obtained there. It is a small bay on the eastern coast of the North Island, in latitude 38° 42' S.

At the time they sailed they were abreast of a point from which the land trends S.S.W., and this point, on account of its figure, Cook named Cape Table. A small island in sight to the southward was named the Island of Portland, from its very great resemblance to Portland in the English Channel. Having a desire to explore the bay stretching southwards from this point, Cook steered for the land. Several fishing-boats came off to the ship, offering fish for sale; and all would have gone well, but that a large canoe with two-and-twenty armed men on board, came boldly up alongside. Offers were made by the voyagers to barter with the natives in the canoe some English cloth and baize for skins; but the natives were carrying off both articles, and had actually seized Tayeto, the little son of Tupia, and were rowing fast away, when Cook ordered the marines to fire over their heads, in order to frighten them. One man, however, was struck, and fell; and little Tayeto leaped from the canoe into the water, and swam to the ship. He was picked up greatly terrified. “To the cape off which this unhappy transaction happened”, writes Cook, “I gave the name of Cape Kidnappees. It lies in latitude 39° 41' S., and is rendered remarkable by two white rocks like haystacks, and the high white cliffs on each side. It lies S.W. by W., distant thirteen leagues from the Isle of Portland, and between them is the bay of which it is the south point, and which, in honour of Sir Edward Hawke, the first Lord of the Admiralty, I called Hawke’s Bay”.

Sailing southward along the shore, a high bluff head with cliffs of a yellow tint was reached, to which was given the name of Cape Turnagain. Finding no suitable harbour, and perceiving that the country manifestly altered for the worse, Cook changed his course to the northward, and in two days passed the spot where he first made the coast. He gave the name of Gable-end Foreland to a remarkable headland, from its likeness to the gable-end of a house : it is also remarkable for a rock which rises at a little distance. He next landed at a bay called by the natives Tolago Bay, where he was well received. On the 30th of October he hauled round a small island lying eastward one mile from the N.E. point of the land; from this place he found the land trend away N.W. by W. and W.N.W. as far as he could see. This point, being the easternmost land on the whole coast, he named East Cape, and the island East Island. In the even­ing of the same day he passed a bay which, as it was first discovered by Lieutenant Hicks, he called Hicks’ Bay. As he sailed along the land, he observed increasing signs of cultivation and fertility. The next day a number of skiffs came off crowded with warriors, who flourished their arms and uttered loud shouts of defiance, frequently repeating, “Haromai, haromai, harre uta a patoo-patoo oge!”, or, “Come to us, come on shore, we will kill you all with our stone hatchets!”. In the flotilla was a canoe, by far the largest which had yet been seen, having no fewer than sixteen paddles on each side, and containing in all about sixty men. It was making directly for the ship, when a gun, loaded with grape, was fired ahead of it; this caused the rowers to stop, and a round shot, which was fired over them, falling into the water, filled them with such terror that they seized their paddles and made towards the shore so precipitately that they seemed scarcely to allow themselves time to breathe. From this occurrence the place was named Cape Runaway.

On the 1st of November Cook landed in a large opening or inlet with the object of observing the transit of the planet Mercury over the sun’s disc. The observation was taken on the 9th successfully, and the latitude was calculated to be 36° 48' S. The appropriate name given to the place was Mercury Bay. On the 26th a remarkable point was passed, to which the name Cape Brett was given; and three days afterwards Cook anchored in a large creek which he named the Bay of Islands “from the great number of islands which line its shores, and from several harbours, equally safe and commodious, where there is room and depth for any number of shipping”. Here he remained till the 6th of December; and passing, on the third day, a harbour on which he bestowed the appellation of Doubtless Bay, he was informed by the natives that at the distance of three days' rowing in their canoes, the land would take a short turn to the southward, and from thence extend no more to the west. On the 17th Cook, after encountering much adverse weather, made the northern extremity of the island, which he named North Cape. At this very time the French voyager Surville was on the eastern coast, not far from where Cook was beating about; but the two voyagers did not meet. On the 24th the Three Kings Islands of Tasman were sighted; and on the 30th Cape Maria Van Diemen, the north­western point of the country. Two remarkable circumstances are recorded by Cook as occurring whilst he sailed round this extremity of New Zealand: the first was that, in latitude 35° S., in the midst of summer, he encountered a gale of wind such as, for strength and continuance, he had scarcely ever experienced before. The second was, that five weeks were spent in getting fifty leagues to the westward and in three weeks only ten leagues were made. Happily, during the storm his ship was far from land: otherwise it is highly probable that the great navigator would never have returned to England to relate his adventures.

From Cape Maria the coast was found to stretch nearly S.E. by S., and to present everywhere a barren shore consisting of banks of white sand. In proceeding along it, Cook sailed in the track of Tasman, though in an opposite direction. On the 10th January 1770, he came in sight of a lofty mountain in latitude 39° 16' S. which, in honour of the earl of that name, he designated Mount Egmont. In appearance it resembled the Peak of Teneriffe; and its summit, when occasionally seen towering above the clouds which almost constantly enveloped it, was observed to be covered with snow. The country at its base was level, of a pleasant appearance, and thickly clothed with wood and verdure. On doubling a cape which received the same title, he found himself in a large bay or opening, the southern end of which he could not distinguish. He sailed into it as far as latitude 40° 27' S. In this position, besides the continuance of the same coast, there appeared an island towards the south with several inlets, in one of which he resolved to careen the ship and take in a stock of wood and water. On the 15th, accordingly, he anchored in a convenient harbour, about four cannon-shot from a fortified village, the inhabitants of which came off in canoes, and, after surveying the ship, made signs of defiance and began the assault by a shower of stones. Tupia having expostulated with them, an old man came on board in spite of his countrymen’s remonstrances. He was kindly received, and dismissed with presents; and on rejoining his companions, they immediately commenced dancing in token of peace. The Otaheitan was sufficiently understood by them, and it was learned that they had never before seen or heard of such a vessel as the Endeavour, from which it was concluded that no recollection was preserved of the visit of Tasman in 1642, though this must have been near the place which he termed Murderer’s Bay.

During his stay here, Cook, having ascended one of the neighbouring hills, beheld to his surprise the sea on each side of the island communicating by a passage or strait, on the south side of which his ship now lay. He soon after learned, what he had never before suspected, that the country was divided into two islands, the southern of which was called by the natives Tavai Poenammoo, and the northern Eaheinomauwe.

It was here that Cook resolved upon performing the ceremony of formally taking possession of New Zealand.

“The carpenter having prepared two posts to be left as memorials of our having visited this place, I ordered them to be inscribed with the ship's name, and the year and month: one of them I set up at the watering-place, hoisting the union flag upon the top of it; and the other I carried over to the island that lies nearest to the sea, called by the natives Motuara. I went first to the village (or hippah) accompanied by Mr Munkhouse and Tupia, where I met with our old man, and told him and several others, by means of Tupia, that we were come to set up a mark upon the island, in order to show to any other ship which should happen to come thither, that we had been there before. To this they readily consented, and promised that they never would pull it down: I then gave something to every one present; and to the old man I gave a silver three­pence, dated 1736, and some spike-nails, with the king’s broad-arrow cut deep upon them—things which I thought most likely to remain long among them : I then took the post to the highest part of the island, and after fixing it firmly in the ground, I hoisted upon it the union flag, and honoured this inlet with the name of Queen Charlotte’s Sound; at the same time taking formal possession of this and the adjacent country in the name and for the use of his Majesty King George III. We then drank a bottle of wine to her Majesty’s health, and gave the bottle to the old man who attended us up the hill, and who was mightily delighted with his present”.

Whilst staying in the sound the voyagers were much delighted with the wild melody of the forest birds : “The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the singing of the birds : the number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be like small bells, most exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the distance, and the water between, might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon inquiry, we were informed that the birds here always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and continuing their music till sunrise, were, like our nightingales, silent the rest of the day”.

He left the sound on the 6th February, and soon found himself rapidly borne through the channel to which, in honour of its discoverer, geographers have unanimously given the name of Cook’s Straits.

To the two capes which mark its eastern outlet Cook gave the names of Palliser and Campbell, in honour of his old commander and a brother officer in the navy. Then, as there were still some doubts as to whether Eaheinomauwe was really an island, he doubled Cape Palliser and stood to the northward. On the 9th he came in sight of Cape Turnagain (to which the natives gave the name of Tapolo-polo), and thus completed the circumnavigation of the Northern Island.

The Southern Island.—Resuming his course to the south-east, Cook ran quickly along the shore of Tavai Poenammoo, and on the 9th March reached its farthest extremity, which he named Cape South. But the subsequent discovery of Stewart proved that Cook had mistaken the island now called Stewart’s Island for a part of the mainland, which is divided from it by Foveaux Strait. A sail of three days brought him to Cape West, from which, along a coast trending towards the north-east, he proceeded so rapidly that on the 26th he reached a small island at the entrance of Queen Charlotte's Sound. The circumnavigation of New Zealand was thus completed.

The account which the natives themselves gave of their impressions on Cook’s arrival is recorded by Mr Polack, who had it from the mouths of their children in 1836 : “They took the ship at first for a gigantic bird, and were struck with the beauty and size of its wings, as they supposed the sails, to be. But on seeing a smaller bird, unfledged, descending into the water, and a number of parti­coloured beings, apparently in human shape, the bird was regarded as a house­hold of divinities. Nothing could exceed their astonishment. The sudden death of their chief (it proved to be their great fighting general) was regarded as a thunderbolt of these new gods, and the noise made by the muskets was represented as thunder. To revenge themselves was the dearest wish of the tribe, but how to accomplish it with divinities who-could kill them at a distance was difficult to determine. Many of them observed that they felt themselves ill by being only looked upon by these autuas (gods), and it was therefore agreed that, as the new-comers could bewitch with a look, the sooner their society was dismissed the better for the general welfare”

 

 

 

CHAPTER IV.

COOK’S DISCOVERY OF EASTERN AUSTRALIA.

 

The circumnavigation of New Zealand was the first grand achievement of the expedition. When Tasman discovered the country, he supposed it to be a part of a great continent extending all the way to the South Pole, and the same opinion was held by Juan Fernandez, by Hermite, the commander of a Dutch squadron, and by other navigators. Cook’s discoveries had completely disproved the supposition; but the question whether such a continent did not actually exist was still undetermined. To solve the problem, Cook was desirous of returning to Europe by way of Cape Horn; but to effect this, it would have been necessary to keep in a high southern latitude in the very depth of winter, an undertaking for which the vessel was insufficient. The same objection was urged against proceeding directly to the Cape of Good Hope,” and it was therefore resolved”, says the navigator, “that we should return by the East Indies; and that, with this view, we should, upon leaving the coast, steer westward till we should fall in with the east coast of New Holland, and then follow the direction of that coast to the northward, till we should arrive at its northern extremity; but if that should be impracticable, it was further resolved that we should endeavour to fall in with the land or islands said to have been discovered by Quiros”.

With this view, at dawn on the 31st of March, Cook put to sea with a fresh gale, and took his departure from a point which he named Cape Farewell. His course, which lay almost due west between the latitudes of 38° and 40°, was nearly coincident with that of Tasman from Van Diemen’s Land to New Zealand. At six o'clock in the morning of the 18th of April land was sighted, extending from N.E. to W., at the distance of five or six leagues. Making all the sail they could, the voyagers bore away along the shore N.E. for the eastern­most land in sight. To the southernmost point in view the name of Point Hicks was given, in honour of Lieutenant Hicks, who was the first to discover it. Cape George, Long Nose, and Red Point were successively passed and named.

A little after passing the latter spot, natives were perceived for the first time. They were armed with spears, waddies, and boomerangs, which Cook describes as “long pikes, and wooden weapons shaped somewhat like a scimitar, about two feet and a half long”. Some opposition having been shown by some of the natives to the landing of a party from the ship, a musket was fired, which had the effect of completely scaring them away.

The next day a landing was effected, and whilst Banks was gathering plants near the watering-place, Cook, with Solander and Munkhouse, went to the head of the bay, in order to examine the country and to attempt to make friendly communications with the natives. They met eleven or a dozen small canoes with each a man in it, who all made into the shoal water at their approach. “We went up the country for some distance”, continues Cook; “and found the face of it nearly the same with that which has been described already, but the soil was much richer; for, instead of sand, I found a deep black mould, which I thought very fit for the production of grain of any kind. In the woods we found a tree which bore fruit that in colour and shape resembled a cherry: the juice had an agreeable tartness, though but little flavour. We found also interspersed some of the finest meadows in the world : some places, however, were rocky, but these were comparatively few; the stone is sandy, and might be used with advantage for building.

“The great quantity of plants which Mr Banks and Dr Solander collected in this place, induced me to give it the name of Botany Bay.

“All the inhabitants that we saw were stark naked : they did not appear to be numerous, nor to live in societies, but, like other animals, were scattered about along the coast, and in the woods. Of their manner of life, however, we could know but little, as we were never able to form the least connection with them. After the first contest at our landing, they would never come near enough to parley; nor did they touch a single article of all that we had left at their huts and the places they frequented, on purpose for them to take away.

“During my stay in this harbour I caused the English colours to be displayed on shore every day, and the ship’s name and the date of the year to be inscribed upon one of the trees near the watering-place”.

The voyagers found the country stocked with wood, of which only two kinds were thought worthy the appellation of timber. Shrubs, palms, mangroves, and a variety of plants—most of them wholly unknown to the naturalists—were in great abundance. Birds of splendid plumage flitted through the forest in flocks. Marks of some strange unknown quadrupeds were also noted; these were, of course, the kangaroos. It was a new world they had lit upon, and to all appearance an earthly paradise. At daybreak, on Sunday the 6th of May 1770, they set sail from Botany Bay, and steered along the shore N.N.E., until they came abreast of a bay or harbour, in which there appeared to be good anchorage, and to which the name of Port Jackson was given. But the voyagers did not attempt an entrance to the magnificent panorama of landscape and sea scenery on which now stands the populous and wealthy capital of New South Wales.

Continuing their northward route, they passed a cape which Cook named Smoky Cape, now known as Port Macquarrie. They next passed and named in succession, Point Look-out, Moreton’s Bay, Double Island Point, Indian Head, Sandy Cape, Hervey’s Bay—so named in honour of Captain Hervey—Bustard Bay, Cape Capricorn, Cape Manifold, Keppel Bay, Cape Townshend, Thirsty Sound (because it afforded no fresh water), Cape Palmerston, Cape Conway, Repulse Bay, Whitsunday’s Passage, Cape Gloucester, Cape Grafton, and Trinity Bay (discovered on Trinity Sunday).

They had now navigated the very difficult and dangerous eastern coast of Australia for a distance of 1300 miles, without any serious accident, when they encountered one of the most alarming perils of the sea. They had a fine breeze and a clear moonlight night, and the gentlemen had left the deck and gone tranquilly to bed, when suddenly the water shoaled, and before precautions could be taken, the ship struck on some coral rocks and remained immovable, except by the heaving of the surge that beat her against the crags of the rocks upon which she lay. “In a few moments”, writes Cook, “everybody was upon deck, with countenances which sufficiently expressed the horrors of our situation”. His narrative of what followed is given in an extremely graphic style, but its length precludes it from being quoted fully.

Boats were immediately hoisted out, when it was found that the vessel had been lifted over the ledge of a rock, and lay in a kind of basin within it. The crew attempted to get her off, but in vain, and she beat so violently against the rock, that the men could hardly keep their footing. The moon now shone brightly, and they could see that the planks which formed the sheathing of the ship were floating, off, and the false keel following. The water then rushed in with such force, that though all the pumps were manned, the leak could scarcely be kept under; the guns on deck, ballast, casks, and other articles, were thrown overboard, and the crew were thus employed in lightening the ship till daybreak; while, so impressed were the men with their danger, that not an oath was uttered, the wicked habit of swearing being subdued by the dread of incurring guilt when death seemed to be so near. As the day broke, land was discovered about eight leagues distant, without an island between to which the crew might be conveyed in the boat in case of the ship’s foundering. Happily she still held together, the wind fell to a dead calm, and preparation was made for heaving her off the rock but the tide falling short, she did not float, though lightened of nearly fifty tons! The crew then threw overboard everything else that could be spared, when the water poured in so rapidly that she could scarcely be kept afloat by the constant working of two pumps. They could now only hope to get the ship off by the midnight tide, which began to rise at five o'clock. She righted at nine, but so much water had been admitted by the leak, notwithstanding a third pump had been added, that she was expected to sink as soon as the water bore her off the rock. Soon after ten o'clock she was heaved into deep water, when to the surprise of all, the leakage did not increase, and though at this time there were 3 ft. 9 in. of water in the hold, the men at the pumps gained so considerably upon the leak, that by eight o'clock in the morning the ship was out of danger, and m the evening anchored at about seven leagues from the shore. It was not till five days after, on the 17th of June, that a safe harbour was found upon the coast. The Endeavour was then hauled ashore for repairs, when it was ascertained that, but for a providential circumstance, the ship must have sunk the moment she was got off the reef. “One of the holes”, writes Cook, “which was big enough to have sunk us if we had had eight pumps instead of four, and had been able to keep them incessantly going, was in a great measure plugged up by the fragment of the rock which, after having made the wound, was left sticking in it; so that the water, which at first gained upon our pumps, was what came in at the interstices between the stone and the edges of the hole that received it”. To the place where the disaster occurred Cook gave the name of Cape Tribulation. The cove in which the vessel was refitted is situated at the mouth of a small stream, which Cook named Endeavour River. Banks and Solander found here abundant employment, almost every plant and animal being new to them. On the 22d a shooting party first saw the kangaroo, hitherto unknown to European naturalists. Cook described it as resembling a greyhound of a light-mouse-colour, with a long tail, and which he should have mistaken for a wild dog had not its extraordinary manner of leaping instead of running convinced him of the contrary : it bounded like a deer, and the print of its foot resembled that of a goat. Banks chased four kangaroos with a greyhound, which they soon out­stripped; and a young kangaroo was shot, and being cooked was found excellent eating. Banks likewise caught a female opossum with two young ones. Among the other animals seen here were goats, wolves, pole-cats, a spotted civet, and several serpents; the only tame animals being native dogs. A sailor also saw a large black bat, which he said was “like the devil, for it was as large as a one-gallon keg, and very like it: for it had horns and wings; yet crept so slowly through the grass that, if he had not been afeared, he might have touched it”. The supply of turtle and fish taken in the harbour was excellent. Among the vegetables were wild beans, the tops of cocoas and cabbage palms. The ship being repaired, the navigators sailed from this harbour on the 5th of August, with the intention of pursuing a north-east course; but for nearly a week they struggled amidst shoals and breakers to reach the open sea through the dangers of coral rocks. On the 10th, between a headland and three small islands, they thought they had discovered a clear opening; but this not being the case, the headland was named Cape Flattery. In a few days, however, they gained the deep sea, having been nearly three months entangled within the reefs. They next steered northward, flattering themselves that the danger was over, when at daybreak of the 16th the wind abated, and the depth of the sea was so great that they could not reach the ground with an anchor; while the ship drifted fast towards the reefs which nearly lined the coast, and on which the angry waves of the Southern Ocean broke with a tremendous surf. The Endeavour was now driven towards the breakers, and her destruction seemed inevitable, when a narrow opening was descried at no great distance, through which the ship was steered so rapidly as to avoid striking either side of the channel. To this pass­age was given the name of Providential Channel. To two islands in the vicinity the names of Lizard and Eagle Islands were given.

On the 21st August Cook made Cape York, the most northerly point of the land; and here he resolved to follow the coast in order to determine whether New Holland and New Guinea were separate islands. This he found to be the case, and having given to the channel which divides them the name of Endeavour Straits (known more commonly as Torres Straits, from its first explorer), he resolved upon performing the ceremony of taking possession of New South Wales.

“As I was now about to quit the eastern coast of New Holland, which I had coasted from latitude 38° to this place, and which I am confident no European had ever seen before, I once more hoisted English colours, and though I had already taken possession of several particular parts, I now took possession of the whole eastern coast, from latitude 38° to this place, in right of his Majesty King George III, by the name of New South Wales, with all the bays, harbours, rivers, and islands situated upon it. We then fired three volleys of small arms, which Were answered by the same number from the ship. Having performed this ceremony upon the island, we called it Possession Island”.

 

 

CHAPTER V.

COOK’S RETURN VOYAGE.

 

The Endeavour left the coast of Australia on the 23d of August 1770, and after a narrow escape from striking on some shoals, reached New Guinea on the 3d September. The homeward voyage by the Cape of Good Hope was very disastrous, no less than thirty-one of the ship’s company having died in the course of a few weeks, including Tupia the Otaheitan and his son Tayeto. On the 14th of April Cook left the Cape, and on the 12th June 1771, the good ship Endeavour came to an anchor in the Downs, and the voyagers landed at Deal on the coast of Kent in England.

Thus was completed this long and glorious voyage of nearly three years, so memorable in the annals of maritime adventure. In the course of it the globe was circumnavigated, many new lands were explored, immense additions were made to geographical and general science, and two magnificent countries—one of them a continent nearly as large as Europe—were added to the British Empire.

The return of the great navigator and his brave fellow-explorers excited the most intense interest amongst all classes of persons in England, and indeed in most countries of Europe. The great botanist Linnaeus wrote from Upsala in Sweden his congratulations. “If I were not bound fast here by sixty-four years of age and a worn-out body”, he said, “I would this very day set out for London to see my dear Solander, that great hero of botany. Moses was not permitted to enter Palestine, but only to view it from a distance; so I conceive an idea in my mind of the acquisitions and treasures of those who have visited every part of the globe”. The stories which the voyagers had to tell of their adventures, their perilous escapes, their strange experiences amongst the wild inhabitants—or, as they were called, the Indians—of the vast Southern Ocean, were listened to with eager ears. Cook was the hero of the hour. All ranks and conditions of men vied with each other in doing him honour. He was presented to the king at St James’s Palace, when he presented a journal of his voyage, with illustrative maps and charts. He was raised, by royal commission dated the 29th of August 1771, to the rank of Commander in the Royal Navy. Banks and his scientific companions were objects of general curiosity to all classes. Their conversation was eagerly sought by the learned and the noble. The young king himself took much delight in listening to the adventures of the discoverers, and examining the specimens of arts and manufactures which they had gathered in the strange new lands they had explored. The account of the voyage, drawn up from the journals and papers of Cook and his companions, was prepared for publication by Dr John Hawkesworth, a learned author of the day. Most of the curiosities and specimens brought home were deposited in the British Museum.

With the exception of Columbus, no navigator had ever made more important original discoveries than Cook. It is impossible, while reading the narrative of this first voyage, to fail being struck with the evidences of a Divine providential guidance throughout it. The wonderful protection of the ship in circumstances of the extremest peril on several occasions; the preservation of the life of the great navigator from the hostility of savage tribes, and from the ravages of the pestilence that carried off so many of his companions; the astonishing inter­positions occurring just at the critical moment of imminent danger; the amazing energy and firmness displayed by Cook under the most trying circumstances; md the safe accomplishment of the purpose of founding a new empire in the far south, whence civilization, enlightenment, and Christianity should radiate outwards on the savage races inhabiting the numberless surrounding ocean-islands : all bespeak the working of that Omnipotent Divine Power, whose bright designs and sovereign will ever make for the best and highest interests of mankind.

The letter in which Cook announced to the Lords of the Admiralty the completion of his commission is a model of simple and manly modesty of style. The original is preserved in the records of the Admiralty at Whitehall, and runs as follows:

 

“Endeavour’ Barque, Downs, 12th July 1771.

Sir,—It is with pleasure I have to request that you will be pleased to acquaint my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty with the arrival of H.M. barque under my command at this place, where I shall leave her to wait until further orders, and in obedience to their Lordships’ orders immediately, and with this letter, repair to their office in order to lay before them a full account of the proceedings of the whole voyage.

I make no doubt but that you have received my letters and journal forwarded from Batavia in Dutch ships in October last, and likewise my letter of the 10th of May, together with some of the officers’ journals, which I put on board his Majesty’s ship Portland, since which time nothing material hath happened, excepting the death of Lieut. Hicks. The vacancy made on this occasion I filled up by appointing Mr Charles Clerke, a young man well worthy of it, and as such, must beg leave to recommend him to their Lordships. This, as well as all other appointments made in the barque vacant by the death of former officers, agreeable to the enclosed list, will, I hope, meet their Lordships' approbation.

You will herewith receive my journals containing an account of the proceedings of the whole voyage, together with all the charts, plans, and drawings I have made of the respective places we touched at, which you will be pleased to lay before their Lordships. I flatter myself that the latter will be found sufficient to convey a tolerable knowledge of the places they are intended to illustrate, and that the discoveries we have made, though not great, will apologies for the length of the voyage.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, James Cook.

         Philip Stephens, Esq”.

(Captain's letters, G. vol. 22. Records of the Admiralty, Whitehall)

 

LIST of OFFICERS appointed to his Majesty’s barque the Endeavour, by Lieutenant James Cook, Commander, in the room of others, deceased.

1770, Nov. 6, William Perry, surgeon, in the room of Wm. B. Munkhouse, dd. 5th Nov. 1770, at Batavia.

1771, Feb. 5, Samuel Evans, boatswain, in the room of John Gathrey, dd. 4th Feb. 1771.

          Feb. 13, George Nowell, carpenter, in the room of John Satterley, dd. 12th Feb.

          April 16, Richard Pickersgill, master, in the room of Robt. Molineux, dd. 15th April.

          May 26th, John Gore, 2d lieut., in the room of Zachariah Hicks, dd. 25th May.

          Charles Clerke, 3d lieut., in the room of John Gore, appointed 2d lieut.

James Cook.

 

 

CHAPTER VI.

COOK’S SECOND EXPEDITION.

 

Although Cook, in his first voyage, by sailing round New Zealand and exploring part of New Holland, had proved that these countries were distinct islands, and did not form a portion of the great Terra Australis Incognita, as had been supposed, yet many well-informed persons still believed in the existence of a vast southern continent. To set this question completely at rest, it was resolved to despatch another expedition from England. The king was favourable to the design, as was also the Earl of Sandwich, then at the head of the Admiralty; and Cook was at once named as the fittest person to be entrusted with the expedition. Two vessels which, like the Endeavour, had been built at Whitby for coal-trade, were accordingly fitted out for the voyage—the Resolution, 462 tons burthen, of which Cook had the command, and the Adventure, 336 tons, under Captain Furneaux, who had sailed as second lieutenant under Wallis. The Resolution had 112, and the Adventure 81 officers and men. The ships were amply stored and provided for a long and difficult voyage, particularly with articles to prevent the scurvy and to preserve the health of the crews. Among the stores were clothing adapted for a cold climate, implements for fishing, articles to serve as presents, and money. The advancement of science was equally provided for: Messrs Wales and Bayley undertook the astronomical observations; and Banks and Solander having declined accompanying the expedition, John Reinhold Forster and his son were engaged as naturalists, with a competent artist, Mr Hodges, as draughtsman. The expenses of the expedition were to be defrayed by a grant from Parliament of £4000, as “an encouragement for the more effectually prosecuting the discoveries towards the South Pole”. Cook’s instructions were to proceed to the Cape of Good Hope, then to set sail southward in quest of Cape de la Circoncision, reported to have been visited by a French officer named Bouvet in 1738, in latitude 54° 20' S., and between 9° and 11° of east longitude. Cook was to ascertain whether this point belonged to an island, or formed part of the long-sought-for Southern Continent. But should he not find the cape, he was to sail southward in search of the supposed continent, and thence eastward with the same object. He was likewise to visit the unexplored portion of the southern hemisphere, keeping in high latitudes, and proceeding as near as possible to the pole, until he had circumnavigated the globe.

The ships sailed from Plymouth on the 13th of July 1772, and made the Cape of Good Hope on the 29th of October, where they remained till the 22d of November. Previously to sailing, Cook was induced by Mr Forster to receive on board an assistant-naturalist, Dr Sparmann, a native of Sweden, and a disciple of the celebrated Linnaeus.

The navigators left the Cape on the 22d, and directed their course to the south. They met with several ice-islands, some of which were two miles in circuit and upwards of fifty feet in height, over which the sea broke with terrific fury. Their course was stopped at length by an endless field of ice. Cook hoped by steering, first east and then southward, to get behind this field, but in doing so he observed no sign of land. On the 17th of December he crossed the ant­arctic circle in the longitude of 39° 35'; but he found it was hopeless to persist any longer in that course, as the ice extended from east to west, without any appearance of an opening. He then sailed to the north-east in search of the lands said to have been discovered in that direction by Bouvet; but though the ships kept some miles apart, in order to extend the search, neither gained sight of land.

The design of seeking further for the doubtful Southern Continent was there­fore abandoned. But. to Cook must be given the credit of having penetrated further to the South Pole than any previous navigator. Since his time, however, further explorations have been prosecuted in that direction. Weddell, in 1823, sailed 214 geographical miles beyond Cook's highest point; and the memorable expedition of Sir James Clark Eoss, in 1841, led to the discovery, in latitude 78° 4', of the great South Polar Barrier, extending 450 miles in length with a perpendicular face of ice 180 feet above the sea-level. On the 8th of February 1773, in thick and hazy weather, the two vessels unintentionally separated; the rendezvous appointed in case of this accident was Queen Charlotte’s Sound in New Zealand, and thither Cook directed his course. In the course of the voyage thither, the splendid phenomenon of the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights, was several times seen. At length, after having been 117 days at sea, during which time the Resolution had sailed 3660 leagues, without having once come within sight of land, Cook saw again the shores of New Zealand on the 25th of March, and on the following day came to anchor in Dusky Bay. Here the voyagers were strangers; Cook having in his first voyage only discovered and named the bay.

Notwithstanding the length and hardships of his voyage, there was no sickness in the ship; for great attention had been paid to the health of the men by enforcing cleanliness, by keeping the ship dry and well-ventilated, and by the judicious use of diet to keep off scurvy. On the 28th, a more convenient harbour was found, to which the name of Pickersgill Harbour was given, from its having been discovered by Lieutenant Pickersgill. Thither the ship was removed, and as fish, fowl, and fresh water were abundant in the bay, the voyagers hoped to enjoy what, after their numerous perils and privations, might be called the luxuries of life. They first cleared a place in the woods; then set up the observa­tory, the forge to repair their iron-work, and tents for the sail-maker and cooper to work in. They landed the casks to fill with water, and began to brew beer from the branches or leaves of the spruce fir. The change from their late wearisome life on the icy seas was delightful. As they explored the country in search of provisions, and to collect plants, they found the climate mild and the soil fertile, whilst the woods, now just assuming their autumnal tints, re-echoed the songs of numerous birds. The stay of the voyagers at Dusky Bay exceeded six weeks; during which time they had several interviews with parties of natives, and a chief and his daughter ventured on board the ship, where they made pre­sents to Cook, the astronomer, and the draughtsmen. This custom of making presents first had not been hitherto observed in New Zealand. Of the articles given by the voyagers in return, the chief most prized hatchets and spike-nails.

Having surveyed Dusky Bay, on the 11th of May, the navigators sailed along the shore towards Queen Charlotte’s Sound, where they expected to join the Adventure. Nothing remarkable occurred till the afternoon of the 17th, when the sky became suddenly darkened with clouds, and several water-spouts were seen, one of which passed within fifty yards of the ship. Their first appearance was indicated by the violent agitation and rising up of the water, which was joined by a column or tube from the clouds above; this increased considerably in size, and then decreased, soon after which the sea calmed, the tube was drawn up gradually to the clouds and disappeared.

On the 18th, at daybreak, Cook reached Queen Charlotte’s Sound, and found the Adventure in the harbour. It appeared that Captain Furneaux, having lost sight of the Resolution in a thick fog, fired half-hour signal guns without success, and cruised near the spot for three days, according to agreement, when he followed a more northerly course along the southern and eastern shores of Van Diemen’s Land; and from examination of them, he reported that there was no strait between this land and New Holland, but a very deep bay. On the 19th of March he stood away for New Zealand, which he reached on April 7th, since which date, till Cook’s arrival, the voyagers of the Adventure had held friendly intercourse with the natives. In this they were joined by Cook, who, before the two vessels left the sound, put on shore a ewe and ram and two goats. A garden was also dug, and several seeds and vegetables adapted to the climate were sown in it. Cook next intended to visit Van Diemen's Land, to ascertain whether or not it made a part of New Holland, as Captain Furneaux had reported, but at length he considered the point settled by the judgment of his colleague. The report of Captain Furneaux proved to have been over­estimated for its accuracy by Cook, for, twenty-five years after, in 1798, Flinders and Bass discovered the channel named Bass's Straits which separates Van Diemen's Land from Australia.

 

 

 

CHAPTER VII.

COOK'S EXPLORATION OF THE PACIFIC.

 

Although the winter had now set in, Cook determined not to lose his time in utter inactivity. His ships being sound, and their crews healthy, on June 7th he proceeded with the intention of examining the Southern Ocean within the latitude of 46°, then refreshing at some of the islands between the tropics, and returning in the summer to his researches in a higher latitude. He sailed eastward till July 17th, when seeing no land, he steered north-eastward and was then convinced by the great sea which rolled from the south that no land of any extent could lie near him in that direction, which circumstance, with the sickly state of the Adventure’s crew, induced him to direct his course to Otaheite.

After a short stay there, and a cruise amongst the Society Islands, as the period of the year for prosecuting his researches in the high southern latitudes had come round again, Cook directed his course to New Zealand, which he descried on the 21st of October. The ships encountered a succession of severe gales and bad weather, during which the Adventure was again lost sight of and not rejoined during the voyage. At length, on the 3d of November, the Resolution again anchored in Queen Charlotte’s Sound. While here, indubitable proofs presented themselves that cannibalism was common among the natives. They seemed as much addicted to theft as formerly. On one occasion a chief undertook to protect Cook from the thieving natives, but was himself detected in stealing the navigator’s pocket handkerchief, at which he laughed with such address that it was scarcely possible to be angry with him.

After waiting in the sound for three weeks in hopes of the Adventure rejoining him, Cook left New Zealand on the 26th of November. The ship's company was in good health and high spirits. On the 6th of December they crossed the antipodes of London, and were thus at that point of the globe which was most distant from their home. On the 12th the first ice-island was seen, from which time till the 26th the dangers of icebergs and loose ice continued to increase. Fortunately the voyagers had continual daylight and clear weather: had it been foggy, nothing less than a miracle could have saved them from being dashed to pieces. On the 26th they crossed the antarctic circle for the third time, and on the 30th reached 71° 19' of southern latitude.

Here the ice extended east and west far out of sight, and from the mast-head ninety-seven ice-hills were distinctly seen within the field, besides those on the outside, many of them very large and looking like a ridge of mountains, rising one above another till they were lost in the clouds. The outer or northern edge of this immense field was composed of loose or broken ice closely packed together, so that it was not possible for anything to enter it. This was about a mile broad, within which was solid ice in one continued compact body. Cook therefore considered it would be a dangerous enterprise to attempt to proceed any farther south, adding, “it was indeed my opinion, as well as the opinion of most on board, that this ice extended quite to the pole, or perhaps joined some land to which it had been fixed from the earliest time, and that it is here (that is, to the south of this parallel) where all the ice we find scattered up and down to the north is first formed, and afterwards broken off by gales of wind or other causes, and brought to the north by currents which we always found to set in that direction in the high latitudes. As we drew near this ice, some penguins were heard but not seen, and but few other birds or any other thing that could induce us to think that any land was near”. Yet Cook thought there must be some land to the south behind this point, though, if such were the case, it must be inaccessible from the ice. Therefore, as he could not proceed one inch farther to the south, he tacked and stood back to the north.

The cruise in the Pacific occupied several months, and in the course of it many romantic incidents occurred and many important discoveries were made. Amongst other islands visited and named were the New Hebrides group. Cook sailed from thence south-westward on the 1st of September 1774, and three days after sighted an extensive coast beset with reefs, on which the sea broke with great violence. A passage through this dangerous barrier having been discovered, the Resolution came to anchor on the 5th, and immediately afterwards the ship was surrounded by a great number of natives in sixteen or eighteen canoes. They were of a peaceable and friendly disposition, and offered no opposition to the landing of a boat's crew. The country seemed to Cook generally to resemble New Holland, being mostly rocky and barren on the high ground, but having fertile spots on the plains and slopes. The inhabitants were a strong, active, and handsome race, excelling the people of Tanna: their language was of the same mixed character; they had not before seen Europeans; and they were strictly honest. To this island Cook gave the name of New Caledonia. Though he could not fully explore it, he ascertained it to be from north to south about two hundred miles, and from east to west thirty miles.

This is the largest island in the South Pacific Ocean, except New Zealand. In sailing round it, some small islands were discovered, one of which was named the Isle of Pines, from there being found on it a great abundance of spruce pines, fit for spars—a discovery of great importance, as, excepting New Zealand, there was not an island in this sea where a mast or yard could be found. To a smaller island, on which a party landed, and found many new trees, shrubs, and plants, was given the name of Botany Island.

It is a fact much to be regretted that the British Government never took possession of New Caledonia; its vicinity to the continent rendering it of very great value for colonizing purposes. In 1853 the French seized upon it, and at once converted it into a penal settlement, which character it still retains (1878). There can be no question that the existence of a large foreign criminal establish­ment within three or four days’ sail of the Australian colonies is a serious evil for the latter; and already some of the bad effects inevitably resulting from its proximity have been experienced, in the escape to these colonies of French prisoners from New Caledonia.

On the 1st of October the voyagers again lost sight of land and steered southward for nine days, when they discovered an island to which Cook gave the name of Norfolk Island, in honour of the noble family of Howard, Duke of Norfolk. It was somewhat lofty, and about five leagues in circuit. In fertility it much resembled New Zealand, the flax-plant of that country being here very luxuriant; but the chief produce were noble pines, the trunks of which, breast-high, two men could scarcely clasp. The island was uninhabited, and the navigators were probably the first persons that ever set foot on its shores. Some years later a party of British settlers fixed here, but they abandoned it, on account of its dangerous coast. In 1825 the British Government fixed upon this island as the place for a penal settlement, to which the worst class of offenders might be sent from New South Wales. The experiment proved a failure, as it was bound to do, and thirty years afterwards, in 1855, the penal establishment on the island was broken up. It may safely be affirmed that the records of Norfolk Island during that period of thirty years exceed in horror any chronicle of crime and suffering ever written in this world. Humanity shudders at the recollection, and hastily drops all mention of the subject. In 1856 the descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty, who had become too numerous for the small island (Pitcairn’s) they inhabited, petitioned the British Government to grant them the much more productive Norfolk Island, then deserted. The petition was granted, and this interesting little community was accordingly transferred thither. Four years after two families, numbering in all seventeen persons, returned to Pitcairn's Island, leaving 202 souls as the total population. The new Norfolk Islanders are an exceedingly cheerful and virtuous race of people. They retain all their primitive simplicity of disposition, are very hospitable, and passionately fond of music and dancing. The men are engaged in whaling and herding cattle, or in cultivating their gardens and plantations. The women attend to the children, manage the dairies, and take part occasionally in the labours of the field. At present (1878) the total population of the island is about 500 souls.

Sailing away from Norfolk Island, the voyagers, on the 17th of October, descried the “everlasting snows” of Mount Egmont, in New Zealand, and next day anchored in Queen Charlotte's Sound, for the third time during this voyage. From not finding the bottle with a memorandum, which Cook, on his last visit, had left for Captain Furneaux, and from other circumstances, especially from timber having been cut there with axes and saws, it was plain that the Adventure been there. The natives, of whom only a few appeared, and those in a state of great fear, gave information from which it was inferred that some calamity had befallen the crew. The mystery was subsequently cleared up by a letter from Furneaux, which Cook found awaiting him at the Cape of Good Hope on his homeward voyage

It will be remembered that Cook, on his approaching New Zealand for the second time in the course of this voyage, in October 1773, lost sight of the Adventure, and did not again join company with that ship. From the letter it appeared that Furneaux, being blown off the coast, was beaten about by violent storms till the 6th of November, when he put into Tologa Bay, for water and wood; and sailed from thence for Queen Charlotte’s Sound, the appointed rendezvous for the ships in case of separation, which he reached on the 30th. The Resolution not being there, Furneaux and his companions began to doubt her safety; but on landing, they observed cut on an old stump of a tree these words: “Look underneath”. They dug accordingly, and found a bottle, corked and sealed, containing a letter from Cook, stating his arrival there on the 3d of November, and his departure on the 26th, and that he intended passing a few days in the entrance to the straits to look out for the Adventure.

The Adventure was now got ready for sea with all speed, and on the 17th December, Furneaux sent a midshipman, with nine men, in a large cutter, to gather wild greens for the ship’s company, with orders to return that evening. As they did not return by the next morning, and the ship was now ready for sea, the second lieutenant, Mr Burney, set out in search of the cutter, in the launch, manned with the boat’s crew and ten marines. They proceeded, firing guns into all the coves by way of signals, and landed at a settlement to search the houses, but could not find any trace of the missing voyagers. Persevering in the search, they saw on the beach adjoining Grass Cove, a large double canoe, just hauled up, with two men and a dog. On seeing the launch the men ran off into the woods, when Burney and his. companions landed, and on searching the canoe, found in it the shoes of a midshipman; and subsequently was picked up a hand, tattooed T. H., which was immediately known to have belonged to Thomas Hill, one of the forecastle men of the Adventure. Around Grass Cove, the natives had collected in great numbers, shouting and inviting the English to land. From the number of the savages, and the suspicion excited by finding the shoes and hand, the lieutenant would not trust himself ashore, but fired among the people until they retired. He then landed with the marines, and soon ascertained the melancholy fate of the missing boat’s crew. “On the beach”, he says, “were two bundles of celery, which had been gathered for loading the cutter; a broken oar was stuck upright in the ground, to which the natives had tied their canoes a proof that the attack had been made here. I then searched all along at the back of the beach, to see if the cutter was there. We found no boat, but instead of her, such a shocking scene of carnage and barbarity as can never be mentioned nor thought of but with horror”. The savages had not only butchered the whole crew, ten in number, but feasted on the remains of the victims of their ferocity, and left parts of them strewn along the beach.

After this lamentable occurrence, the Adventure was detained in the sound ten days; but no more natives were seen. At length Captain Furneaux, despairing of meeting with Cook, got to sea on the 23d of December, and being favoured with a strong easterly current and westerly winds, in about a month doubled Cape Horn, and arrived at Spithead on the 14th of July 1774.

To return to Cook. He took his departure from New Zealand on the 10th of November 1774, and steering S. by E., ran directly across the Pacific. “I have now done with the Southern Pacific Ocean”, he writes,  and flatter myself that none will think that I have left it unexplored, or that more could have been done in one voyage, towards obtaining that end, than has been done in this”. He reached the Cape of Good Hope on 19th March 1775, where he got Furneaux’s letter. On the 30th of July the Resolution anchored at Spithead, after an absence from England of three years and eighteen days. Cook landed at Portsmouth next day, and set out for London, to report his arrival to the Admiralty. Through all the hardships and privations of the voyage, and all the severe changes of climate, only four men had been lost of the ship’s company, and only one of these died from sickness.

Cook’s concluding remarks on this famous voyage are well deserving of quotation:

“It does not become me to say how far the principal objects of our voyage have been attained. Though it has not abounded with remarkable events, nor been diversified by sudden transitions of fortune; though my relation of it has been more employed in tracing our course by sea, than in recording our operations on shore; this perhaps is a circumstance from which the curious reader may infer, that the purposes for which we were sent into the southern hemisphere were diligently and effectually pursued. Had we found out a continent there, we might have been better enabled to gratify curiosity; but we hope our not having found it, after all our persevering searches, will leave less room for future speculation about unknown worlds remaining to be explored. But whatever may be the public judgment about other matters, it is with real satisfaction, and without claiming any merit but that of attention to my duty, that I can conclude this account with an observation which facts enable me to make, that our having discovered the possibility of preserving health amongst a numerous ship's company, for such a length of time, in such varieties of climate and amidst such continued hardships and fatigues, will make this voyage remarkable in the opinion of every benevolent person, when the disputes about a southern continent shall have ceased to engage the attention and to divide the judgment of philosophers”.

 

 

CHAPTER VIII.

COOK’S SECOND RETURN TO ENGLAND.

 

The design of the voyage now completed was in vastness and grandeur without a parallel in the history of maritime enterprise; and never, perhaps, had any expedition been conducted with greater skill, perseverance, or success. Cook was received with every mark of approbation and honour. He was raised to the rank of post-captain, by a commission dated the 9th of August; and three days thereafter he was named Captain in Greenwich Hospital, an appointment which afforded him the means of spending the rest of his days in honourable and easy retirement. In February 1776 he was unanimously elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and on the 7th of March, the evening of his admission, a communication was read in which he detailed the means he had employed to preserve the health of his crew in their long and perilous navigation. For this most valuable and important essay, the council awarded to him the Copley medal; and on the occasion of its delivery the president, Sir John Pringle, delivered a discourse highly encomiastic of the great discoverer. He observed :

" What inquiries can be so useful as that which has for its object the saving of the lives of men ? and where shall we find one more successful than that before us1? Here are no vain boastings of the empiric, nor ingenious and delusive theories of the dogmatist; but a concise, and artless, and an unconceited relation of the means by which, under Divine favour, Captain Cook, with a com­pany of 118 men, performed a voyage of three years and eighteen days, through­out all the climates from 52° N. to 71° S. latitude, with the loss of only one man by sickness. I would now inquire of the most conversant with the bills of mortality whether in the most healthy climate and the best conditions of life, they have ever found so small a number of deaths within that space of time ? How great and how agreeable, then, must our surprise be, after perusing the histories of long navigations in former days, when so many perished by marine diseases, to find the air acquitted of all malignity, and, in fine, that a voyage round the world may be undertaken with less danger, perhaps, to health than a common tour in Europe % If Rome decreed the civic crown to him who saved the life of a single citizen, what wreaths are due to that man who having himself saved many, perpetuates in your Transactions the means by which Britain may now, on the most distant voyages, save numbers of her intrepid mariners, who, braving every danger, have so liberally contributed to the fame, to the opulence, and to the maritime empire of their country ! "

 

The account of his first voyage, along with the narrative of the expeditions of Byron, Wallis, and Carteret, had been prepared for publication by Dr Hawkes-worth. The manner in which that gentleman executed the charge entrusted to him gave little satisfaction, and on this occasion it was deemed more advisable that the history of the enterprise should be written by him who had so ably con­ducted it. In submitting his work to the public, Cook considered it necessary to plead, in excuse for any inaccuracies of composition or deficiencies in the elegance of style which might be observed in his narrative, " that it was the production of a man who had not had the advantage of much school education, but who had been constantly at sea since his youth; and though, with the assistance of a few good friends, he had passed through all the stations belonging to a seaman from an apprentice boy in the coal trade to a post-captain in the Eoyal Navy, he had had no opportunity of cultivating letters." But, in truth, the "Voyage towards the South Pole " stands in no need of such an apology. The sentiments and reflections are in every instance just, manly, and sagacious ; the descriptions are clear and graphic; and the style is free from affectation, plain, flowing, and expressive. Cook was great in everything he undertook.

 

 

CHAPTER IX.

COOK’S THIRD EXPEDITION.

 

Cook’s second expedition had completely set at rest the question as to the existence of a Great Southern Continent. But one important problem in nautical geography still remained to be solved: it was the existence of a practicable communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, or what is more generally known as the North-West Passage. If such a communication could be discovered, it would very much shorten the passage between the continents of Asia and America. Many eminent geographers were led to believe in its existence by the appearance of the coast on the east side of North America, the deep and extensive bays there seeming to promise a communication with the Pacific. An expedition had actually been sent from England to explore, with this view, the region around the North Pole, whilst Cook's second expedition was in progress; but it was not successful. Hopes were still cherished, however, that a channel might be discovered on the northern verge of the American continent; and another expedition was planned, the command of which was offered to Cook. He was invited to a consultation with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Hugh Palliser, and other experienced officers. In the course of the discussion, the importance of the design, the advantages which it would confer on science and navigation, and the fair field which it opened for honour and distinction, were so strongly represented, that the great discoverer, becoming exceedingly animated, started to his feet, and declared that he himself would take the command of the expedition. His active and enterprising spirit scorned the inglorious ease of "the fine retreat" in Greenwich Hospital. The limits of the old world were too narrow for his active mind. He longed, like Columbus to give new worlds to the human race. His offer was joyfully accepted by the Lords of the Admiralty, and he was accordingly reappointed to the "Resolution "on the 9th of February 1776. The Discovery, a vessel of 300 tons burthen, fitted out exactly as the Adventure had been in the previous voyage, and commanded by Captain Clerke, was placed under Cook’s orders as a companion and aid in the voyage.

The instructions for conducting this expedition were dated on the 6th of July 1776. The equipment of the expedition was similar to that of the second voyage, except that Mr Anderson, who had been the surgeon of the Resolution, was now appointed naturalist. Cook’s main instructions were to proceed into the Pacific Ocean, and to commence his researches on the north-west coast of America, in the latitude of 65°; very carefully to search for, and to explore, such rivers or inlets as may appear to be of considerable extent, and pointing towards Hudson’s or Baffin’s Bays; and if there should appear to be a certainty, or even a probability, of a water-passage into the afore-mentioned bays, to use his utmost endeavours to pass through. Should he fail in this, he was to winter in Kamtschatka, and in the spring to renew the search for a north-east passage into the Atlantic Ocean. By an Act of Parliament, for these services Cook would be entitled to a premium of £20,000.

On the 12th of July 1776, the Resolution sailed from Plymouth. The Discovery, not being ready, was delayed for a few days; but the two ships joined at the Cape of Good Hope, on the 10th of November.

They put to sea on the 3d of December, and proceeded south-east, according to their instructions, in search of the alleged discoveries of Kerguelen, the French navigator, in 1772. Ten days later they reached Kerguelen’s Land, which they found to be a small and sterile island, and not, as represented by the discoverer, a large and fertile continent. Since Cook's visit it is set down in English maps as the Island of Desolation.

On the 30th of December the voyagers quitted this dreary coast, and fell in with winds from the north, and so heavy a fog that the ships ran above three hundred leagues in the dark, and it was requisite to fire guns continually to prevent the separation of the vessels. At length, on the 24th of January 1777, they descried the coast of Van Diemen’s Land, and on the 26th they anchored in Adventure Bay, named by Captain Furneaux on his visit here. Fodder was first cut for the cattle by the crew, wood and water were obtained by some, while a party caught fish, and others surveyed the bay. The natives approached with­out fear, though none of them had any weapons except one, who carried a pointed stick about two feet long, which he used as a lance. They wore neither clothes nor ornaments, but there were seen punctures or ridges raised on their bodies in straight lines and curves. They were of the common stature, but rather slender; their skin was black, as was their hair, which was woolly; they had not, however, the thick lips or flat noses of the negro race, for their features were tolerably even. On a musket being fired they ran instantly into the woods. Next day, however, were seen more natives, who wore round their necks folds of fur-cord, and had slips of kangaroo skin tied round their ankles. The women carried their children on their backs in kangaroo skins. Cook gave to each of the natives a string of beads and a medal, with which they were pleased; but they did not value iron nor iron tools, or know the use of fish-hooks. Neither canoe nor other vessel was seen. The dwellings were little sheds or hovels, built of sticks, or covered with bark, and the trunks of large trees burned hollow.

On the 30th of January the ships left Van Diemen’s Land, and steered east­ward till the 10th of February, when they descried New Zealand; and on the 12th anchored once more in Queen Charlotte's Sound. Several canoes filled with natives soon came alongside the ships; but they would not venture aboard, although they recognized Cook, and the cause of their timidity was soon explained. Judging Cook to be acquainted with the horrible affair of the murder of the ten men of Furneaux’s crews, they feared he had come to punish them. The captain, however, assured them he had "no intention of revenge, and at length succeeded in convincing them of his friendly disposition; when they answered Cook's inquiries respecting the sad fate of their former companions.

It appeared that the voyagers, having landed, left their boat in charge of Captain Furneaux’s black servant, while the party sat down to dinner at about two hundred yards' distance, surrounded by the natives; during the meal, some of the savages snatched up a portion of the bread and fish, for which the voyagers beat them ; and nearly at the same moment a native attempted to steal some articles from the boat, for which the black servant struck him severely with a stick. His cries being heard by his countrymen, they imagined him to be mortally wounded; and, exasperated by some of their own party having been beaten, they immediately began the attack upon the voyagers. Two of the savages were shot dead by the only two muskets that were fired; for, before the English could re-load, the natives, armed with their stone weapons, rushed upon them, and, overpowering them by numbers, slew every one of them. A chief named Kahoora confessed that he had killed the commander of the party, as he said, because one of the two muskets fired was levelled at him, from which he escaped behind the boat. Kahoora was more feared than beloved by his countrymen, who, not satisfied by telling Cook he was a bad man, importuned the captain to kill him, and were much surprised at not being listened to; for, according to their notions of justice, this ought to have been done. “But”, observes Cook, “if I had followed the advice of all our pretended friends, I might have extirpated the whole race; for the people of each hamlet, by turns, applied to me to destroy the other”.

The natives who related these particulars to Cook, showed him the very spot where the slaughter took place; and by pointing to the place of the sun, signified that it happened late in the afternoon. They also marked the place of landing, but Cook could not ascertain what became of the boat. Some said she was broken to pieces and burned; others stated that she was carried, they knew not whither, by a party of strangers. More than fifty years afterwards, Mr Augustus Earle, a resident in New Zealand, met with an old native who told him that he did not remember Cook, but well recollected Furneaux, and was one of the party that cut off and massacred his boat’s crew. Mr Earle had reason, from some other information he received, to credit this story of the New Zealander.

Before leaving the sound, Cook gave to one chief two goats, and to another two pigs. He learned that the poultry which he had formerly left here had increased; that the garden vegetables, though neglected, had flourished; and that some of them, as the potato, were greatly improved by the richness of the soil.

On the 25th of February the ships left Queen Charlotte's Sound and stood for the Society Islands. Cook took with him two young New Zealanders, who at first were delighted with the change; but no sooner had they lost sight of land than they wept loudly in a song of praise to their native country. They were overwhelmed with grief for many days, but at length forgot their sorrows and their absent friends in the novelty of their new situation, and became very much attached to the voyagers. They were subsequently left at the island of Huahaine, where a grant of land was obtained for them, and a house built for them, by Cook. A well-stocked garden and some English fire-arms were also bestowed on them. The after-history of these transplanted youths was not a happy one. They either did not take kindly to the new soil, or they led a careless and dissipated life. Both died in a few years.

The further discoveries and adventures of Cook in the Pacific Ocean, up till the date of his lamented death, do not comprise any part of the history of Australasia. The exploring voyage lasted two years. On the 17th of January 1779, the expedition came to anchor in the Bay of Karakakooa in Owhyhee, or Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands. Here Cook was at first hailed and wor­shipped as a god, a very singular legend of the natives pointing to him as one of their early heroes returned to them. The Resolution left the bay on the 8th of February, but the breaking of the foremast in a gale obliged Cook to return, as no other convenient harbour could be found. A very marked change in the bearing of the natives was at once noticed. It was evident that mischief was brewing. The situation of the voyagers was fast becoming one of great peril. Cook to the last behaved with his wonted courage and humanity; but an un­happy accident provoked the fury of the savages, and Cook fell a victim. The date of his murder was the 14th of February 1779. Of the ship’s crew there fell with their commander, Corporal Thomas of the marines, Theophilus Hinks, John Allan, and Thomas Flabchett. A lieutenant, a sergeant, and two other seamen, were wounded.

The remains of the great navigator were recovered by Captain King, and having been enclosed in a coffin, were reverentially committed to the deep. “After he was dead we all wailed!” was the expression used by the natives respecting the savage deed to Mr Ellis, the missionary; and there is ample testimony to the fact that for forty years after, down to the date of the abolition of idolatry in Owhyhee, some relics of Cook were worshipped with divine honours.

Thus perished, in the very noon of life and of his services to the world, the illustrious James Cook. The command of the expedition after his death devolved on Captain Clerke, who sailed northward to Kamtschatka, where he died. A monument was erected to his memory over the spot where his remains were buried, which still exists. The command of the expedition then fell to Captain Gore, on board the Resolution, while Captain King took command of the Discovery. On the 4th of October 1780, the two ships arrived safely at the Nore, at the mouth of the Thames, in England, after an absence of four years, two months, and twenty-one days. Thus ended an expedition which, although it had proved fatal to its principal conductors, Captains Cook and Clerke, was distinguished above many expeditions by the extent and importance of its discoveries. Besides other inferior islands, it added the fine group named by Cook the Sandwich Islands, in honour of Lord Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, to the former known limits of the terraqueous globe, and ascertained the proximity of the two great continents of America and Asia.

 

 

CHAPTER X.

COOK'S CHARACTER

 

The sad intelligence of Cook’s melancholy fate excited deep and general sorrow throughout Europe. Distinguished honours were rendered to his name, alike by foreigners and by his own countrymen. The Royal Society of London ordered a medal to be struck in commemoration of him, bearing on one side the head of the illustrious navigator, with the inscription, Jac. Cook, Oceani Investigator Acerrimus : immediately under the head, in smaller characters, Reg. Soc. Lond. Socio. Suo;  on the reverse, the figure of Britannia holding a globe, with the words, Nil Intentatum Nostri Liquere; and under the figure of Bri­tannia, Auspiciis Ceorgii III. A few impressions of this medal were struck in gold, which were distributed as follows: one to the sovereign under whose auspices Captain Cook proceeded on his discoveries; one to the King of France, for his courtesy in holding Cook’s ships neutral in the time of war; one to the Empress of Russia, for the hospitality shown towards the voyagers when at Kamtschatka; one to Mrs Cook; one to be deposited in the British Museum, and another in the College of the Royal Society. Silver impressions were distributed among the Lords of the Admiralty and other distinguished persons. The king settled on his widow a pension of £200 a year, and on each of his sons an annual sum of £25. Upon them also was bestowed one-half of the profits of the account of the voyage, the charts and plates for which were executed at the expense of the British Government. Armorial bearings, emble­matic of the great discoverer's important services, were assigned to his family.

His earliest patron, Sir Hugh Palliser, erected a monument to his memory. In 1812 the people of his native village, Marton in Yorkshire, England, proud of his being born amongst them, placed in their ancient parish church (wherein he was baptized) a marble table setting forth his exemplary worth. In 1843, an obelisk, fifty-one feet in height, was erected for the same good purpose, in the neighbouring township of Eastby.

When he set out on his last voyage, Cook’s family consisted of his wife and three sons. The after-story of these three brave lads offers a striking instance of the vicissitudes of fortune, and the mysterious dealings of Divine Providence with mankind. The second son, Nathaniel, was lost in the Thunderer man-of-war, about six months after his father’s death. The eldest son, James, was appointed master and commander of the Spitfire sloop-of-war. The vessel was lying off Poole in Dorsetshire waiting for hands, and young Cook was driven out to sea one night in a heavy gale of wind, whilst attempting to get on board. Himself and every soul in the boat perished. The misfortune was aggravated by a circumstance disclosed afterwards by a sailor on board the vessel. Cook’s boat was met, when in distress, by a revenue cutter, the hands of which threw them a rope, and lay to till they could bale their boat, or the fury of the wind should cease. But the master of the cutter, who was then in bed, was no sooner made acquainted with these circumstances, and that it was a king’s boat, than, with an oath, he ordered his men immediately to set them adrift, and in that situation they were left to be overwhelmed by a tempestuous sea.

James Cook’s body was afterwards found, and conveyed to Spithead on board his own vessel, whence it was conveyed to Cambridge, and buried by the side of the youngest brother, who had suddenly died of a fever, and whose funeral he had attended only about six weeks before.

Thus was the tender mother prematurely deprived of her husband and children, and left to mourn their untimely fates, which had so powerful an effect on her mind as to reduce Mrs Cook to a mere shadow of what she was formerly.

Mrs Cook had resided at Clapham, near London, for several years, where she was universally respected for her many offices of charity to the poor. To them she left £750, and to the Schools for the Indigent Blind, and the Royal Maternity Charity, about £1000. To the parish in which she was buried, at Cambridge, she bequeathed £1000, upon condition that, from the interest of that sum, the family monument should be kept in repair; that the clergyman should be annually remunerated for attending to the discharge of the trust; and that the remainder should be divided annually among five poor and aged women, parishioners. She bequeathed to the British Museum the Copley medal, awarded to her husband for his second voyage, and one of the gold medals described above. She had survived her illustrious husband for the long period of fifty-six years, and died at the age of ninety-four.

The father of Cook outlived his son only a few weeks, and never heard of his untimely end. He is stated to have been born at Ednam, on the Tweed. About the time that young Cook entered the navy, the father became a mason, and built for himself at Ayton a house, which is still in existence. Here he was visited by the great navigator, in the brief interval between the second and third voyages.

From the nature of his profession Cook did not enjoy much of the quiet scenes of domestic life. But he was a most amiable husband and a tender father. His hours at home were devoted to the instruction or amusement of his children, varied at times by the study of his own favourite sciences. He was fond of drawing, but not very much inclined to music or to the pursuits of rural life. His widow cherished his memory to the last with the most devoted affection, and never, even in extreme old age, could speak of his fate without emotion.

Cook was, in person, of a strong-built frame, about six feet high, and though a well-looking man, he was plain both in address and appearance. His head was small; his hair, which was of a dark-brown colour, he wore tied behind. His features were very expressive; his nose exceedingly well shaped; his eyes, which were small and of a brown cast, were quick and piercing, and his eyebrows prominent, which gave his countenance altogether an air of austerity. His conversation was, modest and agreeable, but thoughtful at times.

Captain King, who knew him intimately, leaves this testimony to his many fine qualifications: “He appears to have been most eminently and peculiarly qualified for the enterprise he was engaged in. The earliest habits of his life, the course of his services, and the constant application of his mind, all conspired to fit him for it, and gave him a degree of professional knowledge which can fall to the lot of very few. The constitution of his body was robust, inured to labour, and capable of undergoing the severest hardships. His stomach bore, without difficulty, the coarsest and most ungrateful food. Indeed, temperance in him was scarcely a virtue; so great was the indifference with which he submitted to every kind of self-denial. The qualities of his mind were of the same hardy, vigorous kind with those of his body. His understanding was strong and perspicacious; his judgment, in whatever related to the services he was engaged in, quick and sure. His designs were bold and manly; and both in the conception, and in the mode of execution, bore evident marks of a great original genius. His courage was cool and determined, and accompanied with an admirable presence of mind in the moment of danger. His manners were plain and unaffected. His temper might perhaps have been justly blamed as subject to hastiness and passion, had not these been disarmed by a disposition the most benevolent and humane. Such were the outlines of Captain Cook’s character; but its most distinguishing feature was that unremitting perseverance in the pursuit of his object, which was not only superior to the opposition of dangers and the pressure of hardships, but even exempt from the want of ordinary relaxation. During the long and tedious voyages in which he was engaged, his eagerness and activity were never in the least abated. No incidental temptation could detain him for a moment; even those intervals of recreation, which sometimes unavoid­ably occurred, and were looked for by us with a longing, that persons who have experienced the fatigues of service will readily excuse, were submitted to by him with a certain impatience, whenever they could not be employed in making further provision for the more effectual prosecution of his designs”.

“He was beloved by his people”, says Mr Samwell, surgeon to the Discovery, who looked up to him as a father, and obeyed his commands with alacrity; “the confidence we placed in him was unremitting; our admiration of his great talents unbounded; our esteem for his good qualities affectionate and sincere. England has been unanimous in her tribute of applause to his virtues, and all Europe has borne testimony to his merit. There is hardly a corner of the earth, however remote and savage, that will not long remember his benevolence and humanity”. Mr Forster, the naturalist to Cook’s last expedition, thus records the commander’s worth : “If we consider his extreme abilities, both natural and acquired, the firmness and constancy of his mind, his truly paternal care for the crew entrusted to him, the amiable manner with which he knew how to gain the friendship of all the savage and uncultivated nations, and even his conduct towards his friends and acquaintances, we must acknowledge him to have been one of the greatest men of his age, and that reason justifies the tear which friendship pays to his memory”.

In the Church of St Andrews the Great, Cambridge, in England, there is a tablet near the communion table, bearing the following inscription ;

 

IN MEMORY OF

CAPTAIN JAMES COOK, of the Royal Navy,

One of the most celebrated Navigators that this or former ages can boast,

Who was killed by the natives of Owyhee,

In the Pacific Ocean, on the 14th day of February 1779,

In the 51st year of his age.

Of Mr Nathaniel Cook, who was lost with the Thunderer man-of-war, Captain Boyle Wahsinglmm, in a most dreadful hurricane in October 1780, aged 16 years.

Of Mr Hugh Cook, of Christ's College, Cambridge, who died on the 21st December 1793; aged 17 years.

Of James Cook, Esq., Commander in the Royal Navy, who lost his life on the 25th January 1794, in going from Poole to the Spitfire sloop-of-war; which he commanded; in the 31st year of his age.

Of Elizabeth Cook, who died April 9th, 1771; aged 4 years.

Joseph Cook, who died September 13th, 1768; aged 1 month.

George Cook, who died October 1st, 1772; aged 4 months.

All children of the first-mentioned Captain James Cook, by Elizabeth Cook, who survived her husband 56 years, and departed this life 13th May 1835, at her residence, Claphain, Surrey, in the 94th year of her age. Her remains are deposited with those of her sons, James and Hugh, in the middle aisle of this church.

 

Inscription on the slab in the floor of the middle aisle of the same church :

Mr Hugh Cook,

Died 21st December 1793;

Aged 17 years.

James Cook, Esq.,

Died 25 th January 1794;

Aged 31 years.

Also,

Elizabeth Cook, their Mother,

Obit. 13th May 1835;

 

On the spot in Owhyhee where Cook's savage murderers burned part of his body, the officers of the British ship-of-war Blonde, erected in 1825 a cross of oak, ten feet in height, with this inscription:

Sacred

To the memory of

Capt. James Cook, R.N.,

Who discovered these islands,

In the year of our Lord 1778 :

This humble monument is erected

By his countrymen

In the year of our Lord 1825.

Few visitors to the Sandwich Islands leave Owhyhee without making a pilgrimage to the spot where the discoverer met his untimely end; and many carry away pieces of the dark lava-rock on which he stood when he received his death-wound.