tains, 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, close packed together, so that it was not possible for any thing to enter it. Such mountains of ice as these, captain Cook believes, never were seen in the Greenland seas, so that no comparison can be drawn between the ice here and there; and it was the opinion of most on board, that this ice extended quite to the pole, to which they were then within less than nineteen degrees; or perhaps joined to some land, to which it had been from the earliest time; and that it is to the south of this parallel that all the ice is formed, which is found scattered up and down to the northward, and afterwards broken off by gales of wind, or other causes, and brought forward by the currents, which were always found to set in that direction in high latitudes. Some penguins were heard here, but none seen, and few other birds, or any thing that could lead to a supposition that there was any land near: however, captain Cook is of opinion, that there must be some land to the south behind this ice. "But if there is," says he, "it can afford no better retreat for birds, or any other animals, than the ice itself, with which it must be wholly covered. I, who was ambitious, not only of going further than any one had been before, but as far as it was possible for man to go, was not sorry at meeting with this interruption, as it in some measure relieved us, at least shortened the dangers and hardships inseparable from the navigation of the southern polar regions. Since therefore we could not proceed further to the south, no other reason need be assigned for my tacking, and standing back to the north, being at this time

in the latitude of 71° 10' south, longitude 106° 54′ west; which was the nearest approximation to the pole during the whole voyage."

Captain Cook than sailed northward; in which track he went in search of land said to have been discovered by Juan Fernandez about a century before, in latitude 38 degrees south, and laid down by Mr. Dalrymple in 90 degrees west, but no such land was found; if it does exist, our navigator is of opinion that it can be only a small island. Mr. Forster says the matter was not fully searched into, owing to a dangerous bilious colic which seized the captain, and for some days greatly endangered his life; but the sedulous attention of Mr. Patten, the surgeon, proved successful to restore him to health. Without any occurrence worth relating, they fell in with Easter Island the 11th of March, 1774, having been out of sight of land one hundred and four days.

This spot is said to have been first visited by captain Davis, an Englishman, who called it Davis's Land; Roggewein, a Dutchman, touched here in 1722, and gave it the name of Easter Island. It is about four leagues over, from north-east to southwest, and its greatest width is about two leagues. The country is barren and rocky; the natives, who are not numerous, draw a wretched subsistence from the earth, and the fish which they catch on the coast. Mr. Forster is of opinion, that the island was at first produced by a volcano, and that it had been recently reduced to its present desolate state by an eruption. The most remarkable curiosity belonging to this spot is, a number of colossal statues, of which, however, very few remain entire; these statues are placed only on the sea coast: at the east

side of the island were seen the ruins of three platforms of stone-work, on each of which had stood four of these large statues; but they were all fallen down from two of them, and one from the third: they were broken or defaced by the fall; Mr. Wales measured one which had fallen; it was fifteen feet in length, and six broad over the shoulders. Each statue had on its head a large cylindric stone, of a red colour, wrought perfectly round: others were found that measured near twenty-seven feet, and upwards of eight feet across the shoulders; and a still larger one was seen standing, the shade of which was sufficient to shelter all the party, consisting of near thirty persons, from the rays of the sun. The workmanship, though rude, was not bad; nor were the features of the face ill-formed; the ears were long, according to the distortion fashionable in the country; and the bodies had hardly any thing of a human figure about them. How these islanders, wholly unacquainted with any mechanical power, could raise such stupendous figures, and afterwards place the large cylindric stones upon their heads, is truly wonderful: the most probable conjecture seems to be, that the stone is factitious; and that each figure was gradually erected, by forming a temporary platform round it, and raising it as the work advanced; but they are, at any rate, very strong proofs of the ingenuity and perseverance of the islanders, in the age when these figures were made; and indicate that the ancestors of the present race saw better days than their descendants now enjoy.

The Resolution then proceeded to the Marquesas of Mendana, which were first discovered in 1597, by a Spaniard; they are five islands, which occupy

one degree of latitude, and near half a degree of longitude; the most northern of the cluster was not seen by Mendana, and was first discovered by captain Cook, in April, 1774. He gave it the name of Hood Island; it lies in latitude 9° 26' S. longitude 139° 13′ W. The other four islands are named La Magdalena, St. Pedro, La Dominica, and Santa Christina; the whole population of the group was calculated at 50,000 persons.

Captain Cook proceeded a second time to Otaheite; then to the Society Islands, where they parted with Heete-hete, or Mahine. Having refreshed his crew he sailed in search of land which had been seen by that great navigator Quiros, in 1606, and to which he gave the name of Tierra del Esperitu Santo. From the time when they were first seen, until captain Cook's voyage in the Endeavour, this island had been supposed to be part of the southern continent, called Terra Australis Incognita: our navigator, by sailing round New Zealand, and along the eastern coast of New Holland, was fully satisfied that this land was quite detached from either of those countries; he therefore now resolved to explore it accurately. M. de Bougainville had visited the northern parts in 1768, which he found to consist of many islands: these he called the Archipelago of the Great Cyclades. Captain Cook did much more than either of his predecessors; for besides ascertaining the extent and situation of these islands, he discovered several in the group which were before unknown; he explored the whole cluster, and thinking himself thereby entitled to affix to it a general appellation, he named these islands the New Hebrides. They are situated between the latitudes of 14° 29′ and 20° 4' S. and

between 166° 41' and 170° 21′ E. longitude; and extend one hundred and twenty-five leagues in the direction of N. N. W. and S. S. E. The New Hebrides consist of the following islands, some of which have received names from the different European navigators; others retain the names which they bear among the natives, viz. Tierra del Esperitu Santo, Mallicollo, St. Bartholomew, Isle of Lepers, Aurora, Whitsuntide, Ambrym, Immer, Apee, Three Hills, Sandwich, Montagu, Hinchinbrook, Shepherd, Eorramanga, Irronan, Annatom and Tanna. On the latter island a volcano was seen, about four miles to the west of the ship, burning with great fury. In the night of the 5th of August it vomited up vast quantities of fire and smoke, and the flames were seen to rise above the hills which lay between it and the ship. At every eruption, it made a loud rumbling noise, like that of thunder, or the blowing up of large mines. A heavy shower of rain, which fell at the same time, seemed to increase it; and the wind blowing from that quarter, the air was loaded with its ashes, which fell so thick that every thing was covered with the dust. It was a kind of fine sand or stone, ground or burnt to powder, and was exceedingly troublesome to the eyes. Mr. Forster, in his botanical excursions on this island, shot a pigeon, in the craw of which was a wild nutmeg; and on showing it to the natives, one of them produced three other nutmegs, which were wrapped in their mace; but they could not, or at least did not, point out the tree on which they grew.

The inhabitants of Mallicollo, which island lies nearly in the centre of the group, discovered very little curiosity, and held iron, edge-tools, nails and