pean animals to be put on board, for the use of thofe countries.

Befides thefe, the captain was furnished with a quantity of garden feeds, and the Board of Admiralty added fuch articles of commerce as were most likely to promote a friendly intercourse with the natives of the other hemifphere, and induce them to open a traffic with the Englifh.

Omai, who has been mentioned in the preceding voyage, was likewife to be carried back to his native country. It feems he left his friends in London with a mixture of regret and fatisfaction. When he reflected on the kindneffes he had received, he could not refrain from tears: but the pleafing idea of revifiting his original connections, foon made his eyes fparkle with joy.

As the original voyage, from which our hiftorical account is abftracted, is written in the words of Captain Cook, till his lamented death, and afterwards in those of Captain King, who published the whole, we have, for many ftrong reafons, preferred giving the narrative in the fame perfon, with occafional remarks; and we truft our readers will fee the propriety and advantage of our determination in this refpect. Some general defcriptions are furnished by Mr. Anderfon, the furgeon of the Resolution, a man of diftinguished abilities; and to whose talents Captain Cook acknowledges himfelf much indebted for many interefting parts of his voyage.

Contrary winds, and other circumstances of little confequence, prevented the ships from clearing the Channel till the 14th of July 1776. On board both veffels were one hundred and ninetytwo perfons, officers included. Nothing material

happened

happened till the 1ft of Auguft, when we arriv-" ed off Teneriffe, one of the Canaries, where feveral of the gentlemen landed. It is faid, that none of the aboriginal inhabitants remain here as a diftinct people; but that the produce of their intermarriages with the Spaniards may fill be traced in a strong and muscular race, difperfed over the islands.

On the 4th, we weighed anchor and proceeded on our voyage. At nine o'clock in the evening of the 10th, we faw the land of Bonavifta, bearing fouth, diftant little more than a league ; though, at this time, we thought ourselves much farther off; but this proved a mistake. For, after hauling to the eastward till twelve o'clock, to clear the funken rocks that lie about a league from the fouth-eaft point of the island, we found ourfelves, at that time, close upon them, and did but juft weather the breakers. Our fituation, for a few minutes, was very alarming. I did not chufe to found, as that might have heightened the danger, without any poffibility of leffening it.

We had, for fome days preceding the 6th of October, feen albatroffes, pintadoes, and other peterels; and now we faw three penguins, which occafioned us to found; but we found no ground with a line of one hundred and fifty fathoms..

On the 8th, in the evening, one of thofe birds, which failors call noddies, fettled on our rigging, and was caught. It was fomething larger than an English blackbird, and nearly as black, except the upper part of the head, which was white, looking as if it were powdered; the whiteft feathers growing out from the bafe of the upper bill, from which they gradually affumed a darker colour,

B 3

!

colour, to about the middle of the upper part of the neck, where the white fhade was loft in the black, without being divided by any line. It was web-footed, had black legs, and a long black bill. It is faid, these birds never fly far from land. We knew of none nearer the ftation we were in, than Gough's or Richmond's Ifland, from which our diftance could not be less than one hundred leagues. But it must be obferved, that the Atlantic Ocean, to the fouthward of this latitude, has been but little frequented; fo that there may be more islands there than we are acquainted with.

On the 18th of October, we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, and found in the bay two French Eaft India fhips; the one outward, and the other homeward bound. And two or three days before our arrival, another homeward bound fhip, of the fame nation, had parted from her cable, and been driven on fhore at the head of the bay, where fhe was loft. The crew were faved; but the greatest part of the cargo fhared the fame fate with the fhip, or was plundered and ftolen by the inhabitants. This is the account the French officers gave me; and the Dutch themselves could not deny the facts. But, by way of excufing themfelves from being guilty of a crime difgraceful to every civilized ftate, they endeavoured to lay the whole blame on the French captain, for not applying in time for a guard.

As foon as we had faluted, I went on fhore, accompanied by fome of my officers, and waited on the governor, the lieutenant governor, the fiscal, and the commander of the troops. These gentlemen received me with the greatest civility; and

the

the governor, in particular, promifed me every affiftance that the place afforded. At the fame time, I obtained his leave to fet up our obfervatory; to pitch tents for the failmakers and coopers; and to bring the cattle on fhore, to graze near our encampment. Before I returned on board, I ordered foft bread, fresh meat, and greens, to be provided, every day, for the fhip's company,

Nothing remarkable happened till the evening of the 31ft, when it began to blow exceflively hard at fouth-eaft, and continued for three days; during which time there was no communication between the fhip and the fhore. The Refolution was the only fhip in the bay that rode out the gale without dragging her anchors. We felt its effects as fenfibly on fhore. Our tents and obfervatory were torn to pieces; and our aftronomical quadrant narrowly efcaped irreparable damage. On the 3d of November the ftorm ceafed.

The Discovery having been detained fome days at Plymouth, after the Refolution, did not arrive here till the 10th. Captain Clerke informed me, that he had failed from Plymouth on the 1ft of Auguft, and fhould have been with us here a week fooner, if the late gale of wind had not blown him off the coaft. Upon the whole, he was feven days longer in his paffage from England than we had been. He had the misfortune to lofe one of his marines, by falling overboard; but there had been no other mortality amongst his people, and they now arrived well and healthy.

While the fhips were getting ready, fome of our officers made an excurfion into the neighbouring country, Mr. Anderson, my furgeon, who was

one of the party, gave me the following relation of their proceedings:

"On the 16th, in the forenoon, I fet out in a waggon, with five more, to take a view of fome part of the country. We croffed the large plain that lies to the eastward of the town, which is entirely a white fand, like that commonly found on beaches, and produces only heath, and other fmall plants of various forts. At five in the afternoon we paffed a large farm-house, with fome corn-fields, and pretty confiderable vineyards, fituated beyond the plain, near the foot of fome low hills, where the foil becomes worth cultivating. Between fix and seven we arrived at Stellenboth, the colony next to that of the Cape for its importance.

The village does not confift of more than thirty houfes, and ftands at the foot of the range of lofty mountains, above twenty miles to the eastward of the Cape Town. The houses are neat; and, with the advantage of a rivulet which runs near, and the shelter of fome large oaks, planted at its first fettling, forms a rural profpect in this defert country. There are fome vineyards and orchards, which, from their thriving appearance, indicate an excellent foil; though, perhaps, they owe much to climate, as the air has an uncom◄ mon ferenity.

I employed the next day in fearching for plants and infects, but had little fuccefs. Few plants are in flower here at this feason, and infects but foarce. I examined the foil in feveral places, and found it to confift of yellowish clay, mixed with a good deal of fand.

We left Stellenboth next morning, and arrive d at the house we had paffed on Saturday; the

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