CHAP.

OF DISOTTERY.

It was not long ere, from the isthmus of Darien, LIX the Spaniards spread their conquests along the VOTAGES eastern shores of the Pacific, to Peru and Chili ca one side, and to California on the other. Nor did they leave altogether unexplored the wide range of sea before them. There was one voyage in 1595 from their new port of Callao under Alvaro Mendana; there was another in 1606 from the same place, under Pedro de Quiros. From that time, however, as their greatness declined their ardour for discovery cooled. There was still, indeed, as we have seen in the account of Anson's expedition, a huge galleon laden with rich merchandise which once every year sailed across the Pacific from Acapulco to the Philippines. vessel, however, seldom swerved far to the left or to the right from its appointed course, content to fulfil its mission, and with no aim beyond. Thus geographers perceived that within the bounds of the Pacific immense spaces yet remained unknown; spaces within which many clusters of islands, or even whole continents, might be comprised. To seek out these might have seemed the more especial duty of that nation which had first discovered the New World, and which still possessed its fairest portion bounding the Pacific shores. But on Englishmen devolved the cost, the toil, the danger; and to Englishmen the glory belongs.

That

The principal results which Commodore Byron attained in 1764 and 1765 were, beyond Cape Horn the discovery of several small islands, and on this

LIX.

OF DIS

COVERY.

side of it the fuller knowledge of the Falklands. On CHAP. his return, his ship, the Dolphin, was immediately put into commission under Captain Wallis for VOYAGES another voyage. It was to be accompanied by a second and smaller vessel, the Swallow, under Captain Carteret. These two ships proceeded together till within sight of the South Seas, at the western entrance of the strait of Magellan, from whence they returned, each by a different course, to England. Captain Carteret fell in with a tiny cluster, to which he gave the name of Queen Charlotte's Islands. Captain Wallis was more fortunate; in June 1767, he discovered the central and chief island, as it proved to be, of the whole Pacific. Not less loyal than Carteret, he named it "King "George the Third's Island," although the native appellation Otaheite, or perhaps more truly, Tahiti, has since universally prevailed.

But all other explorers of this period are cast into the shade by the superior merit of Captain James Cook. Born in 1728, and the son of a daylabourer in Yorkshire, he commenced his maritime career as ship-boy to a collier. At the breaking out of war in 1755 he entered the Royal Navy. He had no assistance in his studies beyond what a few books and his own industry supplied; but he was determined to master the scientific as well as the practical part of his profession, and first read Euclid during a long winter on the coast of North America. He soon attracted the notice of Sir Hugh Palliser, and afterwards of Sir Charles Saunders. By the last commander he was em

CHAP. ployed on several most important services at the LIX. siege of Quebec. It was Cook who piloted the VOYAGES boats to the attack of Montmorency; it was Cook who conducted the embarkation to the heights of Abraham. At the peace he was not left inactive; he was appointed to survey the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the coasts of Newfoundland.

OF DISCOVERY.

It so chanced that at this period the astronomers of England were much intent on a Transit of the planet Venus over the sun's disk, which, according to their calculations, would happen in June, 1769. By means of the Transit, they expected to be able to determine with precision the distance of the sun; but for that purpose it would be necessary to make simultaneous observations from various quarters of the globe. One of the points required must fall within the bounds of the Pacific Ocean, and on Captain Wallis's report, there was none that appeared preferable to the newly discovered isle of Otaheite. Even before Wallis's return, the Royal Society, as representing British science, had sent in a petition to the King, that he would order the required observation to be made in the South Seas. The request thus made was most willingly complied with. There was appointed for the purpose a good ship, first built for the coal trade, the Endeavour, and an excellent commander, Lieutenant James Cook.

The Endeavour sailed upon her voyage in August, 1768. She was victualled for eighteen months, and her complement of men and officers

LIX.

OF DISCOVERY

amounted in all to eighty-five. Besides these, CHAP. there embarked Mr. Banks, then a youth of twenty-four, afterwards Sir Joseph, and Presi- VOYAGES dent of the Royal Society during three-and-forty years. Even as a boy, Mr. Banks inherited a large estate in Lincolnshire; but ease and sloth, those besetting sins of early wealth, cast around him their meshes in vain. From the first he showed himself both eager and enlightened in the cause of science

those branches of science, above all, to which the name of Natural History is commonly applied. In pursuit of these his favourite objects he was liberal of expense, careless both of danger and fatigue. Already had he explored the wild coasts. of Newfoundland and Labrador. On embarking with Captain Cook for a voyage round the world, he took with him, besides his secretary and four servants, two draftsmen, the one to delineate landscapes and figures, and the other the objects in Natural History. He also engaged, as his companion, Dr. Solander, a distinguished botanist, by birth a countryman of Linnæus, but holding an appointment in the British Museum.*

Touching on their way at Rio Janeiro, Captain

• The Voyages of Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and the first of Cook, were ill-compiled by Dr. Hawkesworth from the journals of the respective commanders and of Mr. Banks. (3 vols. London, 1773.) Cook's Second Voyage is related by himself (2 vols. London, 1777), and his Third partly by himself, but continued after his death by his gallant mess-mate, Captain King. (3 vols. London, 1784.) These are my principal materials for the present Chapter.

OF DISCOVERY.

CHAP. Cook and his passengers were by no means corLIX. dially received. The Portuguese Viceroy listened VOYAGES with distrust to their assurances that they were going to observe an astronomical phenomenon from the Pacific. Of the Transit of Venus his Excellency had never heard, but said that he supposed it was the passing of the North Star through the South Pole! Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander being reported as philosophers, became especial objects of suspicion; they were prohibited from landing; and could only do so once, and in disguise.

Captain Cook sailed around Cape Horn, preferring that coast, though stormy, to the more dangerous shallows of Magellan. On Tierra del Fuego, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, with ten other persons, went on shore to make discoveries. It was now the month of January, the midsummer of those regions; yet, on the hills there were violent snowblasts and such severity of cold, that two of the party perished. The rest, benighted as they were, owed their safe return in no small degree to the energy and presence of mind of Mr. Banks. They had no food besides a vulture which they happened to shoot, and which, equally divided among them, supplied each man with about three mouthfulls.

From Tierra del Fuego, Captain Cook pursued his voyage of some four thousand miles to Otaheite. "It is necessary," says a more recent voyager, "to sail over this great ocean to comprehend