$Unique_ID{how02677}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Narrative Of The Voyages Round The World
Part VII.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Cook, Captain James}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{upon
lieutenant
sea
ship
cook
land
islands
time
water
every}
$Date{1779}
$Log{}
Title:       Narrative Of The Voyages Round The World
Book:        Chapter II: Narrative Of Captain Cook's First Voyage Round The World.
Author:      Cook, Captain James
Date:        1779

Part VII.

     On the 17th, Mr. Cook sent the master and one of the mates in the
pinnace, to search for a channel northward; after which, accompanied by Mr.
Banks and Dr. Solander, he went into the woods on the other side of the water.
In this excursion, the gentlemen had a farther opportunity of improving their
acquaintance with the Indians, who by degrees became so familiar, that several
of them the next day ventured on board the ship.  There the lieutenant left
them, apparently much entertained, that he might go with Mr. Banks to take a
farther survey of the country, and especially to indulge an anxious curiosity
they had, of looking round about them upon the sea; of which they earnestly
wished, but scarcely dared to hope, that they might obtain a favourable and
encouraging prospect.  When, after having walked along the shore seven or
eight miles to the northward, they ascended a very high hill, the view which
presented itself to them inspired nothing but melancholy apprehensions.  In
every direction they saw rocks and shoals without number, and there appeared
to be no passage out to sea, but through the winding channels between them,
the navigation of which could not be accomplished without the utmost degree of
difficulty and danger.  The spirits of the two gentlemen were not raised by
this excursion.

     On the 19th, our voyagers were visited by ten of the natives, and six or
seven more were seen at a distance, chiefly women, who were as naked as the
male inhabitants of the country.  There being at that time a number of turtles
on the deck of the ship, the Indians who came on board were determined to get
one of them, and expressed great disappointment and anger when our people
refused to comply with their wishes.  Several attempts were made by them to
secure what they wanted by force; but all their efforts proving unsuccessful,
they suddenly leaped into their canoe in a transport of rage, and paddled
towards the shore.  The lieutenant, with Mr. Banks, and five or six of the
ship's crew, immediately went into the boat, and got ashore, where many of the
English were engaged in various employments. As soon as the natives reached
the land, they seized their arms, which had been laid up in a tree, and having
snatched a brand from under a pitch kettle that was boiling, made a circuit to
the windward of the few things our people had on shore, and with surprising
quickness and dexterity set fire to the grass in their way.  The grass, which
was as dry as stubble, and five or six feet high, burnt with surprising fury;
and a tent of Mr. Banks's would have been destroyed, if that gentleman had not
immediately got some of the men to save it, by hauling it down upon the beach.
Every part of the smith's forge that would burn was consumed.  This
transaction was followed by another of the same nature.  In spite of threats
and entreaties, the Indians went to a different place, where several of the
Endeavour's crew were washing, and where the seine, the other nets, and a
large quantity of linen were laid out to dry, and again set fire to the grass.
The audacity of this fresh attack rendered it necessary that a musket, loaded
with small shot, should be discharged at one of them, who being wounded at the
distance of about forty yards, they all betook themselves to flight.  In the
last instance the fire was extinguished before it had made any considerable
progress; but where it had first began, it spread far into the woods.  The
natives being still in sight, Mr. Cook, to convince them that they had not yet
gotten out of his reach, fired a musket, charged with ball, a-breast of them
among the mangroves, upon which they quickened their pace, and were soon out
of view. It was now expected that they would have given our navigators no
farther trouble; but in a little time their voices were heard in the woods,
and it was perceived that they came nearer and nearer.  The lieutenant,
therefore, together with Mr. Banks, and three or four more persons, set out to
meet them; and the result of the interview, in consequence of the prudent and
lenient conduct of our commander and his friends, was a complete
reconciliation.  Soon after the Indians went away, the woods were seen to be
on fire at the distance of about two miles.  This accident, if it had happened
a little sooner, might have produced dreadful effects; for the powder had been
but a few days on board and it was not many hours that the store tent, with
all the valuable things contained in it had been removed. From the fury with
which the grass would burn in this hot climate, and the difficulty of
extinguishing the fire, our voyagers determined never to expose themselves to
the like danger, but to clear the ground around them, if ever again they
should be under the necessity of pitching their tents in such a situation.

     In the evening of this day, when every thing was gotten on board the
ship, and she was nearly ready for sailing, the master returned with the
disagreeable account that there was no passage for her to the north ward. The
next morning, the lieutenant himself sounded and buoyed the bar.  At this
time, all the hills for many miles round were on fire, and the appearance they
assumed at night was eminently striking and splendid.

     In an excursion which was made by Mr. Banks, on the 23d, to gather
plants, he found the greatest part of the cloth that had been given to the
Indians lying in a heap together.  This, as well as the trinkets which had
been bestowed upon them, they probably regarded as useless lumber.  Indeed
they seemed to set little value on any thing possessed by our people,
excepting their turtle; and that was a commodity which could not be spared.

     As Lieutenant Cook was prevented by blowing weather from attempting to
get out to sea, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander seized another opportunity, on the
24th, of pursuing their botanical researches.  Having traversed the woods the
greater part of the day, without success, as they were returning through a
deep valley, they discovered lying upon the ground several marking nuts, the
anacardium orientale.  Animated with the hope of meeting with the tree that
bore them, a tree which perhaps no European botanist had ever seen, they
sought for it with great diligence and labor, but to no purpose.  While Mr.
Banks was again gleaning the country, on the 26th, to enlarge his treasure of
natural history, he had the good fortune to take an animal of the opossum
tribe, together with two young ones.  It was a female, and, though not exactly
of the same species, much resembled the remarkable animal which Mons. De
Buffon hath described by the name of phalanger.

     On the morning of the 29th, the weather becoming calm, and a light breeze
having sprung up by land, Lieutenant Cook sent a boat to see what water was
upon the bar, and all things were made ready for putting to sea. But, on the
return of the boat, the officer reported, that there were only thirteen feet
of water on the bar.  As the ship drew thirteen feet six inches, and the sea
breeze set in again in the evening, all hope of sailing on that day was given
up.  The weather being more moderate on the 31st, the lieutenant had thoughts
of trying to warp the vessel out of the harbour; but upon going out himself in
the boat, he found that the wind still blew so fresh that it would not be
proper to make the attempt.  A disagreeable piece of intelligence occurred on
the succeeding day.  The carpenter, who had examined the pumps, reported that
they were all of them in a state of decay. One of them was so rotten, that,
when hoisted up, it dropped to pieces, and the rest were not in a much better
condition.  The chief confidence, therefore, of our navigators, was now in the
soundness of the ship; and it was a happy circumstance, that she did not admit
more than one inch of water in an hour.

     Early on the 3d of August, another unsuccessful attempt was made to warp
the vessel out of the harbour: but in the morning of the next day the efforts
of our voyagers were more prosperous, and the Endeavour got once more under
sail with a light air from the land, which soon died away, and was followed by
sea breezes from south-east by south.  With these breezes the ship stood off
to sea, east by north, having the pinnace ahead, which was ordered to keep
sounding without intermission.  A little before noon the lieutenant anchored
in fifteen fathom water, with a sandy bottom; the reason of which was, that he
did not think it safe to run in among the shoals, till, by taking a view of
them from the mast-head at low water, he might be able to form some judgment
which way it would be proper for him to steer.  This was a matter of nice and
arduous determination.  As yet Mr. Cook was in doubt, whether he should beat
back to the southward, round all the shoals, or seek a passage to the eastward
or the northward: nor was it possible to say, whether each of these courses
might not be attended with equal difficulty and danger.

     The impartiality and humanity of Lieutenant Cook's conduct in the
distribution of provisions ought not to pass unnoticed.  Whatever turtle or
other fish were caught, they were always equally divided among the whole
ship's crew, the meanest person on board having the same share with the
lieutenant himself.  He hath justly observed, that this is a rule which every
commander will find it his interest to follow, in any voyage of a similar
nature.

     Great difficulties occurred in the navigation from the Endeavour river.
On the 5th of August the lieutenant had not kept his course long, before
shoals were discovered in every quarter, which obliged him, as night
approached, to come to an anchor.  In the morning of the sixth, there was so
strong a gale, that our voyagers were prevented from weighing.  When it was
low water, Mr. Cook, with several of his officers, kept a look-out at the
mast-head, to see if any passage could be discovered between the shoals.
Nothing, however, was in view, excepting breakers, which extended from the
south round by the east as far as to the north-west, and reached out to sea,
beyond the sight of any of the gentlemen.  It did not appear that these
breakers were caused by one continued shoal, but by several, which lay
detached from each other.  On that which was farthest to the eastward, the sea
broke very high, so that the lieutenant was induced to think that it was the
outermost shoal.  He was now convinced, that there was no passage to sea, but
through the labyrinth formed by these shoals; and, at the same time, he was
wholly at a loss what course to steer, when the weather should permit the
vessel to sail.  The master's opinion was, that our navigators should beat
back the way they came: but as the wind blew strongly, and almost without
intermission, from that quarter, this would have been an endless labour; and
yet, if a passage could not be found to the northward, there was no other
alternative.  Amidst these anxious deliberations, the gale increased, and
continued with little remission till the morning of the 10th, when the weather
becoming more moderate, our commander weighed, and stood in for the land.  He
had now come to a final determination of seeking a passage along the shore to
the northward.

     In pursuance of this resolution, the Endeavour proceeded in her course,
and at noon came between the farthermost headland that lay in sight, and three
islands which were four or five leagues to the north of it, out at sea. Here
our navigators thought they saw a clear opening before them, and began to hope
that they were once more out of danger.  Of this hope, however, they were soon
deprived, on which account the lieutenant gave to the headland the name of
Cape Flattery.  After he had steered some time along the shore, for what was
believed to be the open channel, the petty officer at the mast-head cried
aloud, that he saw land ahead, which extended quite round to the three
islands, and that between the ship and them there was a large reef.  Mr. Cook,
upon this, ran up to the mast-head himself, and plainly discerned the reef,
which was so far to the windward that it could not be weathered.  As to the
land which the petty officer had supposed to be the main, our commander was of
opinion that it was only a cluster of small islands.  The master, and some
others who went up the mast-head after the lieutenant, were entirely of a
different opinion.  All of them were positive that the land in sight did not
consist of islands, but that it was a part of the main; and they rendered
their report still more alarming, by adding, that they saw breakers round them
on every side.  In a situation so critical and doubtful, Mr. Cook thought
proper to come to an anchor, under a high point, which he immediately
ascended, that he might have a farther view of the sea and the country.  The
prospect he had from this place which he called Point Look-out, clearly
confirmed him in his former opinion; the justness of which displayed one of
the numerous instances, wherein it was manifest, how much he exceeded the
people about him in the sagacity of his judgment concerning matters of
navigation.

     The lieutenant, being anxious to discover more distinctly the situation
of the shoals, and the channel between them, determined to visit the
northernmost and largest of the three islands before mentioned; which, from
its height, and its lying five leagues out to sea, was peculiarly adapted to
his purpose.  Accordingly, in company with Mr. Banks, whose fortitude and
curiosity stimulated him to take a share in every undertaking, he set out in
the pinnace, on the morning of the eleventh, upon this expedition.  He sent,
at the same time, the master in the yawl, to sound between the low islands and
the main land.  About one o'clock, the gentlemen reached the place of their
destination, and immediately, with a mixture of hope and fear, proportioned to
the importance of the business, and the uncertainty of the event, ascended the
highest hill they could find.  When the lieutenant took a survey of the
prospect around him, he discovered, on the out side of the islands, and at the
distance of two or three leagues from them, a reef of rocks, upon which the
sea broke in a dreadful surf, and which extended farther than his sight could
reach.  Hence, however, he collected, that there were no shoals beyond them;
and, as he perceived several breaks or openings in the reef, and deep water
between that and the islands, he entertained hopes of getting without the
rocks.  But though he saw reason to indulge, in some degree, this expectation,
the haziness of the weather prevented him from obtaining that satisfactory
intelligence which he ardently desired.  He determined, therefore, by staying
all night upon the island, to try whether the next day would not afford him a
more distinct and comprehensive prospect. Accordingly, the gentlemen took up
their lodging under the shelter of a bush, which grew upon the beach.  Not
many hours were devoted by them to sleep; for, at three in the morning, Mr.
Cook mounted the hill a second time, but had the mortification of finding the
weather much more hazy than it had been on the preceding day.  He had early
sent the pinnace, with one of the mates, to sound between the island and the
reefs, and to examine what appeared to be a channel through them.  The mate,
in consequence of its blowing hard, did not dare to venture into the channel,
which he reported to be very narrow. Nevertheless, our commander, who judged,
from the description of the place, that it had been seen to disadvantage, was
not discouraged by this account.

     While the lieutenant was engaged in his survey Mr. Banks, always
attentive to the great object of natural history, collected some plants which
he had never met with before.  No animals were perceived upon the place,
excepting lizards, for which reason the gentlemen gave it the name of Lizard
Island.  In their return to the ship, they landed on a low, sandy island, that
had trees upon it, and which abounded with an incredible number of birds,
principally sea-fowl.  Here they found the nest of an eagle, and the nest of
some other bird, of what species they could not distinguish; but it must
certainly be one of the largest kinds that exist.  This was apparent from the
enormous size of the nest, which was built with sticks upon the ground, and
was no less than six and twenty feet in circumference, and two feet eight
inches in height.  The spot which the gentlemen were now upon they called
Eagle Island.

     When lieutenant Cook got on board, he entered into a very serious
deliberation concerning the course he should pursue.  After considering what
he had seen himself, and the master's report, he was of opinion, that by
keeping in with the main land, he should run the risk of being locked in by
the great reef, and of being compelled at last to return back in search of
another passage.  By the delay that would hence be occasioned, our navigators
would almost certainly be prevented from getting in time to the East Indies,
which was a matter of the utmost importance, and indeed of absolute necessity;
for they had now not much more than three months' provision on board, at short
allowance.  The judgment the lieutenant had formed, together with the facts
and appearances on which it was grounded, he stated to his officers, by whom
it was unanimously agreed, that the best thing they could do would be to quit
the coast entirely, till they could approach it again with less danger.

     In pursuance of this resolution, the Endeavour, early in the morning of
the 13th, got under sail, and successfully passed through one of the channels
or openings in the outer reef, which Mr. Cook had seen from the island.  When
the ship had gotten without the breakers, there was no ground within one
hundred and fifty fathom, and our people found a large sea rolling in upon
them from the south-east.  This was a certain sign that neither land nor
shoals were near them in that direction.

     So happy a change in the situation of our voyagers was sensibly felt in
every breast, and was visible in every countenance.  They had been little less
than three months in a state that perpetually threatened them with
destruction.  Frequently had they passed their nights at anchor within hearing
of the surge that broke over the shoals and rocks, and they knew, that, if by
any accident the anchors should not hold against an almost continual tempest,
they must in a few minutes inevitably perish.  They had sailed three hundred
and sixty leagues, without once, even for a moment, having a man out of the
chains heaving the lead.  This was a circumstance which perhaps never had
happened to any other vessel.  But now our navigators found themselves in an
open sea, with deep water; and the joy they experienced was proportioned to
their late danger, and their present security.  Nevertheless, the very waves,
which proved by their swell that our people had no rocks or shoals to fear,
convinced them, at the same time, that they could not put a confidence in the
ship equal to what they had done before she struck.  So far were her leaks
widened by the blows she received from the waves, that she admitted no less
than nine inches of water in an hour.  If the company had not been lately in
so much more imminent danger, this fact, considering the state of the pumps,
and the navigation which was still in view, would have been a matter of very
serious concern.

     The passage or channel, through which the Endeavour passed into the open
sea beyond the reef, lies in latitude 14 degrees 32' south.  It may always be
known by the three high islands within it, to which, on account of the use
they may be of guiding the way of future voyagers, our commander gave the
appellation of the Islands of Direction.

     It was not a long time that our navigators enjoyed the satisfaction of
being free from the alarm of danger.  As they were pursuing their course in
the night of the 15th, they sounded frequently, but had no bottom with one
hundred and forty fathom, nor any ground with the same length of line.
Nevertheless, at four in the morning of the 16th, they plainly heard the
roaring of the surf, and at break of day saw it foaming to a vast height, at
not more than the distance of a mile.  The waves which rolled in upon the
reef, carried the vessel towards it with great rapidity; and, at the same
time, our people could reach no ground with an anchor, and had not a breath of
wind for the sail.  In a situation so dreadful, there was no resource but in
the boats; and, most unhappily, the pinnace was under repair.  By the help,
however, of the long-boat and the yawl, which were sent ahead to tow, the
ship' head was got round to the northward, a circumstance which might delay,
if it could not prevent destruction.  This was not effected till six o'clock,
and our voyagers were not then a hundred yards from the rock, upon which the
same billow that washed the side of the vessel broke to a tremendous height,
the very next time it rose.  There was only, therefore, a dreary valley
between the English and destruction; a valley no wider than the base of one
wave, while the sea under them was unfathomable.  The carpenter, in the
meanwhile, having hastily patched up the pinnace, she was hoisted out, and
sent ahead to tow in aid of the other boats.  But all these efforts would have
been ineffectual, if a light air of wind had not sprung up, just at the crisis
of our people's fate.  It was so light an air, that at any other time it would
not have been observed: but it was sufficient to turn the scale in favour of
our navigators; and in conjunction with the assistance which was afforded by
the boats it gave the ship a perceptible motion obliquely from the reef.  The
hopes of the company now revived: but in less than ten minutes a dead calm
succeeded, and the vessel was again driven towards the breakers, which were
not at the distance of two hundred yards.  However, before the ground was lost
which had already been gained, the same light breeze returned, and lasted ten
minutes more.  During this time a small opening, about a quarter of a mile
distant, was discovered in the reef; upon which, Mr. Cook immediately sent one
of the mates to examine it, who reported that its breadth was not more than
the length of the ship, but that within it there was smooth water.  This
discovery presented the prospect of a possibility of escape, by pushing the
vessel through the opening. Accordingly, the attempt was made, but it failed
of success; for when our people, by the joint assistance of their boats and
the breeze, had reached the opening, they found that it had become high water;
and, to their great surprise, they met the tide of ebb running out like a
mill-stream.  In direct contrariety to their expectations, some advantage was
gained by this event. Though it was impossible to go through the opening, the
stream, which prevented the Endeavour from doing it, carried her out about a
quarter of a mile; and the boats were so much assisted in towing her, by the
tide of ebb, that at noon she had gained the distance of nearly two miles.
However, there was yet too much reason to despair of deliverance.  For even if
the breeze, which had now died away, had revived, our navigators were still
embayed in the reef: and the tide of ebb being spent, the tide of flood,
notwithstanding their utmost efforts, drove the ship back again into her
former perilous situation.  Happily, about this time, another opening was
perceived, nearly a mile to the westward.  Our commander immediately sent Mr.
Hicks, the first lieutenant, to examine it; and in the meanwhile the Endeavour
struggled hard with the flood, sometimes gaining and sometimes losing ground.
During this severe service, every man did his duty with as much calmness and
regularity as if no danger had been near.  At length, Mr. Hicks returned with
the intelligence, that the opening, though narrow and hazardous, was capable
of being passed.  The bare possibility of passing it was encouragement
sufficient to make the attempt; and indeed all danger was less to be dreaded
by our people, than that of continuing in their present situation.  A light
breeze having fortunately sprung up, this, in conjunction with the aid of the
boats, and the very tide of flood, that would otherwise have been their
destruction, enabled them to enter the opening, through which they were
hurried with amazing rapidity.  Such was the force of the torrent by which
they were carried along, that they were kept from driving against either side
of the channel, which in breadth was not more than a quarter of a mile.  While
they were shooting this gulf, their soundings were remarkably irregular,
varying from thirty to seven fathom, and the ground at bottom was foul.

     As soon as our navigators had gotten within the reef, they came to an
anchor; and their joy was exceedingly great at having regained a situation
which, three days before, they had quitted with the utmost pleasure and
transport.  Rocks and shoals, which are always dangerous to the mariner, even
when they are previously known and marked, are peculiarly dangerous in seas
which have never been navigated before; and in this part of the globe they are
more perilous than in any other.  Here they consist of reefs of coral rock,
which rise like a wall almost perpendicularly out of the deep, and are always
overflowed at high water.  Here, too, the enormous waves of the vast southern
ocean, meeting with so abrubt a resistance, break, with inconceivable
violence, in a surf which cannot be produced by any rocks or storms in the
northern hemisphere.  A crazy ship, shortness of provision, and a want of
every necessary, greatly increased the danger to our present voyagers of
navigating in this ocean.  Nevertheless, such is the ardour of the human mind,
and so flattering is the distinction of a first discoverer, that Lieutenant
Cook and his companions cheerfully encountered every peril, and submitted to
every inconvenience.  They chose rather to incur the charge of imprudence and
temerity, than to leave a country unexplored which they had discovered, or to
afford the least colour for its being said, that they were deficient in
perseverance and fortitude.  It scarcely needs to be added, that it was the
high and magnanimous spirit of our commander, in particular, which inspired
his people with so much resolution and vigour.

     The lieutenant, having now gotten within the reef, determined, whatever
might be the consequence, to keep the main land on board, in his future route
to the northward.  His reason for this determination was, that, if he had gone
without the reef again, he might have been carried by it so far from the
coast, as to prevent his being able to ascertain whether this country did, or
did not, join to New Guinea; a question which he had fixed upon resolving,
from the first moment that he had come within sight of land.  To the opening
through which the Endeavour had been passed, our commander, with a proper
sense of gratitude to the Supreme Being, gave the name of Providential
Channel.  In the morning of the 17th, the boats had sent out to see what
refreshments could be procured; and returned in the afternoon with two hundred
and forty pounds of the meat of shell fish, chiefly of cockles.  Some of the
cockles were as much as two men could move, and contained twenty pounds of
good meat.  Mr. Banks, who had gone out in his little boat, accompanied by Dr.
Solander, brought back a variety of curious shells, and many species of
corals.

     In the prosecution of the voyage, our people, on the 19th, were
encompassed on every side with rocks and shoals; but, as they had lately been
exposed to much greater danger, and these objects were now became familiar,
they began to regard them comparatively with little concern.  On the 21st,
there being two points in view, between which our navigators could see no
land, they conceived hopes of having at last found a passage into the Indian
Sea.  Mr. Cook, however, that he might be able to determine the matter with
greater certainty, resolved to land upon an island which lies at the
south-east point of the passage.  Accordingly, he went into the boat, with a
party of men, accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander.  As they were getting
to shore, some of the natives seemed inclined to oppose their landing, but
soon walked leisurely away.  The gentlemen immediately climbed the highest
hill, from which no land could be seen between the south-west and
west-south-west; so that the lieutenant had not the least doubt of finding a
channel, through which he could pass to New Guinea.  As he was now about to
quit the coast of New Holland, which he had traced from latitude thirty-eight
to this place, and which he was certain no European had ever seen before, he
once more hoisted English colours.  He had, indeed, already taken possession
of several particular parts of the country.  But he now took possession of the
whole eastern coast, with all the bays, harbours, rivers, and islands situated
upon it, from latitude 38 degrees to latitude 10 degrees 1/2' south, in right
of his Majesty King George the Third, and by the name of New South Wales.  The
party then fired three volleys of small arms, which were answered by the same
number from the ship.  When the gentlemen had performed this ceremony upon the
island, which they called Possession Island, they re-embarked in their boat,
and in consequence of a rapid ebb tide, had a very difficult and tedious
return to the vessel.

     On the 23d, the wind had come round to the south-west; and though it was
but a gentle breeze, yet it was accompanied by a swell from the same quarter,
which, in conjunction with other circumstances, confirmed Mr Cook in his
opinion that he had arrived to the northern extremity of New Holland, and that
he had now an open sea to the westward.  These circumstances afforded him
peculiar satisfaction, not only because the dangers and fatigues of the voyage
were drawing to a conclusion, but because it could no longer be doubted
whether New Holland and New Guinea were two separate islands.  The north-east
entrance of the strait lies in the latitude of 10 degrees 39' south, and in
the longitude of 218 degrees 36' west; and the passage is formed by the main
land, and by a congeries of islands, to the north-west, called by the
lieutenant the Prince of Wales's Islands, and which may probably extend as far
as to New Guinea.  Their difference is very great, both in height and circuit,
and many seemed to be well covered with herbage and wood: nor was there any
doubt of their being inhabited.  Our commander was persuaded, that among these
islands as good passages might be found, as that through which the vessel
came, and the access to which might be less perilous.  The determination of
this matter he would not have left to future navigators, if he had been less
harassed by danger and fatigue, and had possessed a ship in better condition
for the purpose.  To the channel through which he passed, he gave the name of
Endeavour Straits.

     New Holland, or, as the eastern part of it was called by Lieutenant Cook,
New South Wales, is the largest country in the known world which does not bear
the name of a continent.  The length of coast along which our people sailed,
when reduced to a straight line, was no less than twenty-seven degrees of
latitude, amounting nearly to two thousand miles.  In fact, the square surface
of the island is much more than equal to the whole of Europe. We may observe,
with regard to the natives, that their number bears no proportion to the
extent of their territory.  So many as thirty of them had never been seen
together but once, and that was at Botany Bay.  Even when they appeared
determined to engage the English, they could not muster above fourteen or
fifteen fighting men; and it was manifest that their sheds and houses did not
lie so close together as to be capable of accommodating a larger party.
Indeed our navigators saw only the sea-coast on the eastern side; between
which and the western shore there is an immense tract of land that is wholly
unexplored.  But it is evident, from the totally uncultivated state of the
country which was seen by our people, that this immense tract must either be
altogether desolate, or at least more thinly inhabited than the parts which
were visited.  Of traffic, the natives had no idea, nor could any be
communicated to them.  The things which were given them they received, but did
not appear to understand the signs of the English requiring a return. There
was no reason to believe that they eat animal food raw.  As they have no
vessel in which water can be boiled, they either broil their meat upon the
coals, or bake it in a hole by the help of hot stones, agreeably to the custom
of the inhabitants of the South-Sea islands.  Fire is produced by them with
great facility, and they spread it in a surprising manner.  For producing it,
they take two pieces of soft wood, one of which is a stick about eight or nine
inches long, while the other piece is flat.  The stick hey shape into an
obtuse point at one end, and pressing it upon the flat wood, turn it nimbly by
holding it between both their hands.  In doing this, they often shift their
hands up, and then move them down, with a view of increasing the pressure as
much as possible.  By this process they obtain fire in less than two minutes,
and from the smallest spark they carry it to any height or extent with great
speed and dexterity.

     It was not possible, considering the limited intercourse which our
navigators had with the natives of New South Wales, that much could be learned
with regard to their language.  Nevertheless, as this is an object of no small
curiosity to the learned, and is indeed, of peculiar importance in searching
into the origin of the various nations that have been discovered, Mr. Cook and
his friends took some pains to collect such a specimen of it as might, in a
certain degree answer the purpose.  Our commander did not quit the country
without making such observations relative to the currents and tides upon the
coast as, while they increase the general knowledge of navigation, may be of
service to future voyagers.  The irregularity of the tides is an object worthy
of notice.

     From the coast of New South Wales the lieutenant steered, on the 23d of
August, for the coast of New Guinea, and on the 25th fell upon a dangerous
shoal.  The ship was in six fathom, but scarcely two were found upon sounding
round her, at the distance of half a cable's length.  This shoal was of such
an extent, reaching from the east round by the north and west to the
south-west, that there was no method for the vessel to get clear of it, but by
her going back the way in which she came.  Here was another hair's breadth
escape; for it was nearly high water, and there ran a short cockling sea,
which if the ship had struck must very soon have bulged her.  So dangerous was
her situation, that had her direction had been half a cable's length more,
either to the right or left, she must have struck before the signal for the
shoal could have been made.