had been stove against a rock and could not be launched. In pursuance of this latter conjecture, when the missing crew failed to

The natives at first menaced the crew to prevent their landing, and their behaviour was doubtful, as though they meditated hostilities, but were deterred from any overt demonstration by the presence of the marines. For some time nothing suspicious was found; but at length, in a sequestered cove, the searching party came upon a number of baskets filled with meat, packed together with the fern-root which the natives use for bread. What this meat was they soon discovered to their horror; for presently one of the party picked up a human hand, and by the letters "T. H." tattooed on it in the Otaheitan fashion, the hand was identified as belonging to Thomas Hill, a forecastle man. In the next cove a number of mutilated remains were found, on some of which a party of native dogs were greedily feasting. A broken oar, stuck in the ground, to which the canoes had been fastened, showed that the attack on the boat's crew had been made here; and at some distance off a number of natives were observed watching the movements of the English, and inviting them by signs to land. Some volleys of musketry fired among them by the enraged marines sent them scrambling away into the woods, and it was not deemed prudent to follow them into their hiding-places for the doubtful satisfaction of killing some more of them. Therefore, after collecting for interment what mournful relics they could find strewn along the shore, Lieutenant Burney and his party returned on board, to report the miserable fate that had befallen ten of the best men in their ship. It was conjectured, and subsequent inquiries during Cook's third voyage proved the correctness of the idea, that the tragical occurrence had not been premeditated, but was the result of a sudden quarrel between the sailors and some of the natives. The English had trusted too much to the effect which they supposed their firearms would have in intimidating the natives; while the New Zealanders were quite cunning enough to know that when a musket has been discharged it must be reloaded before it can do them any further damage; and they knew how to take advantage of this interval to make a renewed charge. After this misfortune the Adventure made the best of her way back to England.

From New Zealand Cook purposed to return home round Cape Horn; and with his accustomed activity and zeal he examined that stormy region, and especially the coasts of Staten Island and Cape le Maire, much more closely than any former navigator had done. Such numbers of seals and sea-lions were found on the little islands near the

Horn that it was a very easy matter to kill scores of them. There was no danger in this sport, except in the chance of being run down by the seal in its endeavour to escape into the sea, whither they always fled for refuge when attacked. Cook says "Sometimes when we came suddenly upon them, or woke them out of their sleep (for they are a sluggish, sleepy animal), they would raise up their heads, snort and snarl, and look as fierce as if they meant to devour us; but as we advanced upon them they always ran away, so that they are downright bullies." Sea birds were also found in these regions in vast numbers, and among land birds were noticed eagles, hawks, bald-headed vultures, the American turkey buzzard, and some thrushes and small birds.

In the far south Cook discovered another island, to which he gave the name of Georgia. It was a wild, desolate region of which Cook now took possession, with hoisting of colours and firing of muskets, in the name of King George; and, as the commander himself says, it did not seem probable that any one would ever be benefited by the discovery. Of the place where he landed Cook gives the following account:— "The head of the bay, as well as two places on each side, was terminated by perpendicular ice-cliffs of considerable height. Pieces were continually breaking off and floating out to sea; and a great fall happened while we were in the bay, which made a noise like cannon. The inner parts of the country were not less savage and horrible. The wild rocks raised their summits till they were lost in the clouds, and the

valleys lay covered with everlasting snow. Not a tree was to be seen, nor a shrub even big enough to make a toothpick. The only vegetation we met was a coarse, strong-bladed grass growing in tufts, wild burnet, and a plant like moss, which sprang from the rocks. From various appearances, Cook made a conjecture, which subsequent observations have verified, concerning the existence of land round the South Pole. "It is true, however," he says, "that the greatest part of this southern continent (supposing there is one) must be within the polar circle, where the sea is so pestered with ice that the land is thereby inaccessible. The risk one runs in exploring a coast in these unknown and icy seas is so very great, that I can be bold enough to say that no man will ever venture farther than I have done, and that the lands which may lie to the south will never be explored. Thick fogs, snow-storms, intense cold, and everything that can render navigation dangerous must be encountered; and these difficulties are greatly heightened by the inex

pressibly horrid aspect of the country-a country doomed by Nature never once to feel the warmth of the sun's rays, but to be buried in everlasting snow and ice. The ports which may be on the coast are in a manner wholly filled up with frozen snow of vast thickness, but if any should be so far open as to invite a ship into it, she would run a risk of being fixed there for ever, or of coming out in an ice island. The islands and floats on the coast, the great falls from the ice-cliffs in the port, or a heavy snowstorm attended with a sharp frost, would be equally fatal."

From the Horn the Resolute ran to Fayal, a port in the Azores, where a short stay was made; and thence Cook returned to England, completing this, his second voyage, in three years and eighteen days. During this long period he had lost only one man by sickness; and it was noticed that his men, when they returned to England, presented an appearance of robust health very different from the sickly look former crews had worn on their return from similar voyages. This immunity from such scourges as wrought havoc with the crews of Anson's squadron is to be attributed almost entirely to the practical good sense of the commander. Cook was not content to look upon sickness and misery as necessary adjuncts to a seaman's existence, or to regard the mortality produced by ignorance, indifference, and a systematic neglect of all sanitary rules and precautions as a visitation. One of the most important results of this second voyage is to be found in the plain, straightforward sentences in which the kind-hearted commander describes what he did to keep his men in health, and the effect of his expedients and precautions; and like the company in the story of Columbus and the egg, many captains and merchants who read Cook's journal must have been surprised to find how simple were the means by which such an important result as the keeping 118 men in health during a three years' voyage through every variety of climate had been attained. They may be briefly summed up as follow:-Care, in the selection of provisions, to enforce the use of anti-scorbutic vegetables, the muchmaligned preparation called sour-krout being especially recommended when fresh vegetables cannot be procured; the frequent changing of the drinking water, the old store that had remained in the ship for some time being poured away whenever a fresh supply from the shore could be obtained; a rigid attention to the rules of cleanliness, and a thorough and frequent ventilation of every part of the ship, fires being kindled when it was necessary to produce a draught of air, and

fumigation being also frequently resorted to; finally, special attention to the comfort and well-being of the crew, who were divided into three