A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, IN THE YEARS 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771,

BY

LIEUT. JAMES COOK,

COMMANDER OF HIS MAJESTY'S BARK THE ENDEAVOUR.

CHAP. I.

Design of the voyage. Character of lieutenant Cook. Arrival at Madeira; description of that island. Arrival at Rio de Janeiro; description of. Of the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego; fatal accident there. Description of Otaheite. Transactions with the natives. Observation of the transit of Venus. Departure from Otaheite.

IN consequence of a memorial which the Royal Society preferred to the king, in February 1768, setting forth the advantages which would be derived to science, if an accurate observation of the transit of Venus over the sun, which, according to astronomical observations, was to happen in June, 1769, was taken in some part of the South Sea, the lordscommissioners of the admiralty were directed to provide a ship, for the purpose of conveying such observers as the society should think fit to nominate, to the South Sea: and in the beginning of April following, the society received a letter from the secretary of the admiralty, informing it, that a bark of 370 tons had been fitted up for that purpose. This vessel was called the Endeavour, and the command of her given to lieutenant James Cook,

a gentleman of undoubted abilities in astronomy and navigation, who was soon after appointed by the Royal Society, with Mr. Charles Green, a gentleman who had long been assistant to Mr. Bradley, at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, to observe the transit. Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Banks, a gentleman of large fortune, and zealously devoted to the acquisition of knowledge, in pursuit of which, no hardships were considered as severe, or danger beheld with dismay, accompanied by Dr. Solander, a native of Sweden, and a learned disciple of the great Linnæus, embarked on this expedition.

The Endeavour had been built for the coaltrade, and was on many accounts preferred before a ship of any other construction, for the service to which she was destined. Her complement of officers and men was, lieutenant Cook, the commander, with two lieutenants under him, a master and a boatswain, with each two mates, a surgeon and a carpenter, with each one mate, a gunner and cook, a clerk and steward, two quarter-masters, an armourer, a sail-maker, three midshipmen, fortyone able seamen, twelve marines and nine servants; in all eighty-five persons, besides the commander. Mr. Banks took with him two draughtsmen, one to delineate views and subjects, the other to paint such objects of natural history as might offer, together with a secretary and four servants, two of whom were negroes. She was victualled for eighteen months, took on board ten carriage and twelve swivel guns, with good store of ammunition, and other necessaries. By the instructions given to the commander, after the astronomical observation should be made, he was to prosecute the design of making discoveries in the South Sea. The voyage

was undertaken with great advantages, by the opportune arrival of captain Wallis, not many weeks before they sailed; for by this means, King George's Island, which he had discovered, and which has been since better known by its primitive name of Otaheite, was pointed out as the most eligible spot for making the observation.

Mr. Cook, who was about to display his uncom mon talents in the most advantageous manner, was then in the forty-second year of his age. He had from his youth been trained to the sea, by serving in the coal-trade. At the commencement of hostilities with France, in the year 1755, he entered into the king's service, and served under Sir Hugh Palliser, who soon saw his merit, and introduced him on the quarter-deck. Three years after, he had risen to be master of the Northumberland, the flagship of lord Colville, when he commanded the fleet on the coast of America. While in this capacity, during a hard winter, he first read Euclid; and applied himself to the study of the mathematics and astronomy, without any other assistance than what a few books, and his own natural genius and industry afforded him. His great merit caused Sir Charles Saunders, who succeeded to the command in chief, to entrust to him the superintendance of most of the important naval services. He it was who piloted the boats to the attack of Montmorency; he 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. The courage and address which he displayed in these services, gained him the warm patronage of Sir Charles Saunders and lord Colville. At the conclusion of the war, he was appointed to survey

the Gulf of St. Laurence, and the coasts of New foundland, in which service he was engaged until the year 1767, when he was fixed upon by Sir Edward Hawke, who then presided at the Admiralty Board, to command the present expedition.

The Endeavour sailed on the 30th of July, 1768, and on the 2d of September made the land, between Cape Finisterre and Cape Ortegal, on the coast of Gallicia, in Spain. During this course, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander observed many marine animals, of which no naturalist had hitherto taken notice; particularly a new species of the oniscus, which was found adhering to the Medusa-pelagica; and an animal of an angular figure, about three inches long, and one thick, with a hollow passing quite through it, and a brown spot at one end, which they conjectured might be its stomach; four of these adhered together by their sides when they were taken, so that at first they were thought to be one animal; but upon being put into a glass of water, they soon separated, and swam about very briskly. These animals are of a new genus, to which Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander gave the name of dagysa, from the likeness of one species of them to a gem: several specimens of them were taken adhering together, sometimes to the length of a yard or more, and shining in the water with very beautiful colours. Another animal of a new genus they also discovered, which shone in the water with colours still more beautiful and vivid, and which indeed exceeded in variety and brightness any thing that they had ever seen: the colouring and splendour of these animals were equal to those of an opal, and from their resemblance to that gem, the genus was called carcinium-opalinum. One of these

lived several hours in a glass of salt water, swimming about with great agility, and at every motion displaying a change of colours almost infinitely various. We caught also among the rigging of the ship, when we were at the distance of about ten leagues from Cape Finisterre, several birds, which have not been described by Linnæus; they were supposed to have come from Spain, and our gentlemen called the species, motacilla velificans, as they said none but sailors would venture themselves on board a ship that was going round the world; one of them was so exhausted, that it died in Mr. Banks's hand, almost as soon as it was brought to him. It was thought extraordinary that no naturalist had hitherto taken notice of the dagysa, as the sea abounds with them not twenty leagues from the coast of Spain; but, unfortunately for the cause of science, there are very few of those who traverse the sea, that are either disposed or qualified to remark the curiosities of which nature has made it the repository.

On the 12th we discovered the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira, and on the next day anchored in Funchiale road. When the island of Madeira is first approached from the sea, it has a very beautiful appearance; the sides of the hills being entirely covered with vines, almost as high as the eye can distinguish; and the vines are green when every kind of. herbage, except where they shade the ground, and here and there by the sides of a rill, is entirely burned up, which was the case at this time.

The next day we went on shore, when Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander went in search of natural curiosities; but it was the worst season in the year for that purpose. The soil is very rich; and there is such a