Part 1 — CHAPTER IV. (continued 2)

After leaving Staten Island, Cook set sail on the 3rd of January, for the south-east, to explore the only part of the ocean which had hitherto escaped him. He soon reached Southern Georgia, seen in 1675 by Laroche, and again by M. Guyot Duclos in 1756, when in command of the Spanish vessel the Leön. This discovery was made on the 14th of January, 1775. The captain landed in three places and took possession in the name of King George III. of England, bestowing his name upon the newly-found country. Possession Bay is bordered by pointed rocks of ice exactly similar to those which had been met with in the high southern latitudes.

"The interior of the country," says the narrative, "is no less savage and frightful. The summits of the rocks are lost in the clouds and the valleys are covered with perpetual snow. Not a tree or even the smallest shrub is to be seen."

After leaving Georgia, Cook penetrated further to the south-east, amidst floating ice. The continual dangers of the voyage overcame the crew. Southern Thule, Saunder's Island, and Chandeleur Islands, and finally Sandwich Land were discovered. These sterile and deserted archipelagoes have no value for the merchant or geographer. Once certain of their existence, it was unnecessary to remain, for to do so was to risk in exploring them the valuable records the Resolution was taking to England.

Cook was convinced by the discovery of these isolated islands "that near the pole there is a stretch of land, where the greater part of the floating ice spread over this vast southern ocean is formed." This ingenious theory has been confirmed in every particular by the explorers of the 19th century.

After another fruitless search for Cape Circumcision, mentioned by Bouvet, Cook decided to regain the Cape of Good Hope, and he arrived there on the 22nd of March, 1775.

The Adventure had put into this port, where Captain Furneaux had left a letter relating all that had happened in New Zealand. Captain Furneaux arrived in Queen Charlotte's Sound on the 13th of November, 1773, and took in wood and water. He then sent one of his boats under Lieutenant Rowe to gather edible plants. As the lieutenant did not return on board either in the evening or the next morning, Captain Furneaux, feeling sure that an accident had happened, sent in search of him. The following is a short account of what he learned.

After various useless searchings, the officer in command of the sloop came upon some traces, as he landed upon the shore, near Grass Creek. Portions of a boat and some shoes, one of which had belonged to an officer of the watch, were found. A sailor, at the same time, noticed a piece of fresh meat, which was taken to be the flesh of a dog, for it was not known then that the people of the place were cannibals. "We opened," says Furneaux, "about eight baskets which we found on the beach, tightly corded. Some were full of roast flesh, and others of roots used by the natives for bread. Continuing our search, we found more shoes, and a hand, which we recognized as that of Thomas Hill, because T. H. was tatooed upon it in the Tahitan fashion.

"At a short distance an officer perceived four pirogues and a number of natives, assembled round a large fire. The English landed and fired a regular volley, which put the Zealanders to flight, with the exception of two, who left with the greatest sang-froid. One of them was severely wounded, and the sailors advanced up the beach.

"A frightful scene was soon presented before our eyes. We saw the heads, hearts, and lungs of many of the crew upon the sands, and at a little distance dogs were devouring the entrails."

The officer had not a sufficient force with him, being backed by only ten men, to meet this fearful massacre with fitting vengeance. The weather, too, became bad, and the savages collected in large numbers. It was necessary to regain the Adventure.

"I do not believe," says Captain Furneaux, "that this butchery was premeditated on the part of the natives, for in the morning Mr. Rowe said that he observed two vessels pass us, and remain all the forenoon in sight of the ship. The bloodshed was most likely the result of a quarrel which was instantly fought out, or possibly as our men took no measures for their own safety, their want of caution tempted the Indians."

The natives having heard one discharge, were encouraged by observing that a gun was not an infallible instrument, that it sometimes missed fire, and that once fired it was necessary to reload before firing again.

In this fearful ambuscade the Adventure lost ten of her best sailors.

Furneaux left New Zealand on the 23rd of December, 1773, doubled Cape Horn, put into the Cape of Good Hope, and reached England on the 14th of July, 1774.

After Cook had taken in provisions and repaired his vessel, he left False Bay on the 27th of May, put into St. Helena, Ascension Island, and Fernando de Noronha, at Fayal, one of the Azores, and finally at Plymouth, on the 29th of July, 1775. During his voyage of three years and eighteen days, he had only lost four men, that is to say, without reckoning the ten sailors who were massacred at New Zealand.

No former expedition had reaped such a harvest of discoveries and hydrographical, physical, and ethnological observations. The learned and ingenious investigations pursued by Cook elucidated many of the difficulties of earlier navigators. He made various important discoveries, amongst others, that of New Caledonia and Easter Island. The non-existence of an antarctic continent was definitely ascertained. The great navigator received the fitting reward of his labours almost immediately. He was nominated ship's captain nine days after his landing, and was elected a member of the Royal Society of London on the 29th of February, 1776.