Bay; and Captain Cook being directed not to begin his search till he
should arrive in the latitude of 65°, it may not be improper to say
something here of the reasons which weighed with those who planned the
voyages, and framed the instructions, to carry their views so far
northward, as the proper situation, where the passage, if it existed at
all, was likely to be attempted with success. It may be asked, why was
Hudson’s Bay neglected on our side of America? and why was not Captain
Cook ordered to begin his search on its opposite side, in much lower
latitudes? particularly, why not explore the strait leading into the
Western sea of John de Fuca, between the latitudes of 47° and 48°; the
Archipelago of St. Lazarus of Admiral de Fonte, between 50° and 55°; and
the rivers and lakes through which he found a passage north-eastward,
till he met with a ship from Boston?
As to the pretended discoveries of de Fuca, the Greek pilot, or of de
Fonte, the Spanish admiral, though they have sometimes found their way
into fictitious maps, or have been warmly contended for by the espousers
of fanciful systems, to have directed Captain Cook to spend any time in
tracing them, would have been as wise a measure as if he had been
directed to trace the situation of Lilliput or Brobdignac. The latter
are, indeed, confessedly, mere objects of imagination; and the former,
destitute of any sufficient external evidence, bear so many striking
marks of internal absurdity, as warrant our pronouncing them to be the
fabric of imposture. Captain Cook’s instructions were founded on an
accurate knowledge of what had been already done, and of what still
remained to do; and this knowledge pointed out the inutility of
beginning his search for a passage till his arrival in the latitude of
65°; of which every fair and capable inquirer will be abundantly
convinced, by an attention to the following particulars.
Middleton, who commanded the expedition in 1741 and 1742, into Hudson’s
Bay, had proceeded farther north than any of his predecessors in that
navigation. But though, from his former acquaintance with that Bay, to
which he had frequently sailed in the service of the company, he had
entertained hopes of finding out a passage through it into the Pacific
Ocean, the observations which he was now enabled to make, induced him to
change his opinion; and, on his return to England, he made an
unfavourable report. Mr. Dobbs, the patron of the enterprize, did not
acquiesce in this; and, fortified in his original idea of the
practicability of the passage, by the testimony of some of Middleton’s
officers, he appealed to the public, accusing him of having
misrepresented facts, and of having, from interested motives, in concert
with the Hudson’s Bay Company, decided against the practicability of the
passage, though the discoveries of his own voyage had put it within his
reach.
He had, between the latitude of 65° and 66°, found a very considerable
inlet running westward, into which he entered with his ships; and,
“after repeated trials of the tides, and endeavours to discover the
nature and course of the opening, for three weeks successively, he found
the flood constantly to come from the eastward; and that it was a large
river he had got into;” to which he gave the name of Wager River.[43]
The accuracy, or rather the fidelity of this report was denied by Mr.
Dobbs, who contended that this opening _is a strait, and not a fresh
water river_, and that Middleton, if he had examined it properly, would
have found a passage through it to the Western American Ocean. The
failure of this voyage, therefore, only served to furnish our zealous
advocate for the discovery, with new arguments for attempting it once
more; and he had the good fortune, after getting the reward of twenty
thousand pounds established by act of parliament, to prevail upon a
society of gentlemen and merchants to fit out the Dobbs and California;
which ships, it was hoped, would be able to find their way into the
Pacific Ocean, by the very opening which Middleton’s voyage had pointed
out, and which he was believed to have misrepresented.
This renovation of hope only produced fresh disappointment. For it is
well known, that the voyage of the Dobbs and California, instead of
confuting, strongly confirmed all that Middleton had asserted. The
supposed strait was found to be nothing more than a fresh water river,
and its utmost western navigable boundaries were now ascertained, by
accurate examination. But though Wager’s Strait had thus disappointed
our hopes, as had also done Rankin’s Inlet, which was now found to be a
close bay; and though other arguments, founded on the supposed course of
the tides in Hudson’s Bay appeared to be groundless, such is our
attachment to an opinion once adopted, that, even after the unsuccessful
issue of the voyage of the Dobbs and California, a passage through some
other place in that bay was, by many, considered as attainable; and,
particularly, Chesterfield’s (formerly called Bowden’s) Inlet, lying
between latitude 63° and 64°, succeeded Wager’s Strait, in the sanguine
expectations of those who remained unconvinced by former
disappointments. Mr. Ellis, who was on board the ships, and who wrote
the history of the voyage, holds up this as one of the places where the
passage may be sought for, _upon very rational grounds, and with very
good effects_.[44] He also mentions Repulse Bay, nearly in latitude 67°;
but as to this he speaks less confidently; only saying, that by an
attempt there, we might probably _approach nearer to the discovery_.[45]
He had good reason for thus guarding his expression; for the committee
who directed this voyage, admitting the impracticability of effecting a
passage at Repulse Bay, had refused allowing the ships to go into it,
_being satisfied as to that place_.[46]
Setting Repulse Bay, therefore, aside, within which we have no reason
for believing that any inlet exists, there remained no part of Hudson’s
Bay to be searched, but Chesterfield’s Inlet, and a small track of coast
between the latitude 62°, and what is called the South Point of Main,
which had been left unexplored by the Dobbs and California.
But this last gleam of hope has now disappeared. The aversion of the
Hudson’s Bay Company to contribute any thing to the discovery of a
north-west passage, had been loudly reported by Mr. Dobbs; and the
public seemed to believe that the charge was well founded. But still, in
justice to them, it must be allowed, that, in 1720, they had sent
Messrs. Knight and Barlow in a sloop on this very discovery; but these
unfortunate people were never more heard of. Mr. Scroggs, who sailed in
search of them, in 1722, only brought back proofs of their shipwreck,
but no fresh intelligence about a passage, which he was also to look
for. They also sent a sloop and a shallop, to try for this discovery, in
1737; but to no purpose. If obstructions were thrown in the way of
Captain Middleton, and of the commanders of the Dobbs and California,
the Governor and Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company, since that time,
we must acknowledge, have made amends for the narrow prejudices of their
predecessors; and we have it in our power to appeal to facts, which
abundantly testify, that every thing has been done by them, that could
be required by the public, toward perfecting the search for a north-west
passage.
In the year 1761, Captain Christopher sailed from Fort Churchill, in the
sloop Churchill; and his voyage was not quite fruitless: for he sailed
up Chesterfield’s Inlet, through which a passage had, by Mr. Ellis’s
account of it, been so generally expected. But when the water turned
brackish, which marked that he was not in a strait, but in a river, he
returned.
To leave no room for a variety of opinion, however, he was ordered to
repeat the voyage the ensuing summer, in the same sloop, and Mr. Norton,
in a cutter, was appointed to attend him. By the favour of the Governor
and Committee of the Company, the Journals of Captain Christopher, and
of Mr. Norton, and Captain Christopher’s chart of the Inlet, have been
readily communicated. From these authentic documents, it appears that
the search and examination of Chesterfield’s Inlet was now completed. It
was found to end in a fresh water lake, at the distance of about one
hundred and seventy miles from the sea. This lake was found also to be
about twenty-one leagues long, and from five to ten broad, and to be
completely closed up on every side, except to the west, where there was
a little rivulet; to survey the state of which, Mr. Norton and the crew
of the cutter having landed, and marched up the country, saw that it
soon terminated in three falls, one above another, and not water for a
small boat over them; and ridges, mostly dry from side to side, for five
or six miles higher.
Thus ends Chesterfield’s Inlet, and all Mr. Ellis’s expectations of a
passage through it to the Western Ocean. The other part of the coast,
from latitude 62°, to the South Point of Main, within which limits hopes
were also entertained of finding a passage, have, of late years, been
thoroughly explored. It is here that Pistol Bay is situated; which the
author who has writ last in this country, on the _probability of a
north-west passage_[47], speaks of as the only remaining part of
Hudson’s Bay where this western communication may exist. But this has
been also examined; and, on the authority of Captain Christopher, we can
assure the reader, that there is no inlet of any consequence in all that
part of the coast. Nay, he has, in an open boat, sailed round the bottom
of what is called Pistol Bay, and, instead of a passage to a western
sea, found it does not run above three or four miles inland.
Besides these voyages by sea, which satisfy us that we must not look for
a passage to the South of 67° of latitude; we are indebted to the
Hudson’s Bay Company for a journey by land which has thrown much
additional light on this matter, by affording what may be called
demonstration, how much farther north, at least in some part of their
voyage, ships must hold their course, before they can pass from one side
of America to the other. The Northern Indians, who come down to the
Company’s forts for trade, had brought to the knowledge of our people,
the existence of a river; which, from copper abounding near it, had got
the name of the _Copper-mine River_. We read much about this river in
Mr. Dobbs’s publications, and he considers the Indian accounts of it as
favourable to his system. The Company being desirous of examining the
matter with precision, ordered their Governor of Prince of Wales’s Fort,
to send a proper person to travel by land, under the escort of some
trusty Northern Indians, with orders to proceed to this famous river, to
take an accurate survey of its course, and to trace it to the sea, into
which it empties itself. Mr. Hearne, a young gentleman in their service,
who, having been an officer in the navy, was well qualified to make
observations for fixing the longitude and latitude, and make drawings of
the country he shall pass through, and of the river which he was to
examine, was appointed for this service.
Accordingly, he set out from Fort Prince of Wales, on Churchill River,
in latitude 58° 50ʹ, on the 7th of December, 1770; and the whole of his
proceedings, from time to time, are faithfully preserved in his written
Journal. The publication of this would not be an unacceptable present to
the world, as it draws a plain artless picture of the savage modes of
life, the scanty means of subsistence, and indeed of the singular
wretchedness, in every respect, of the various tribes, who, without
fixed habitations, pass their miserable lives, roving throughout the
dreary deserts, and over the frozen lakes of the immense track of
continent through which Mr. Hearne passed, and which he may be said to
have added to the geography of the globe. His general course was to the
north-west, in the month of June, 1771, being then at a place called
_Conge catha wha Chaga_, he had, to use his own words, _two good
observations, both by meridian and double altitudes, the mean of which
determines this place to be in latitude 68° 46ʹ north, and, by account,
in longitude 24° 2ʹ west of Churchill River_. On the 13th of July
(having left _Conge catha wha Chaga_ by the 2d, and travelling still to
the west of north) he reached the Copper-mine River: and was not a
little surprized to find it differ so much from the descriptions given
of it by the natives at the fort; for, instead of being likely to be
navigable for a ship, it is, at this part, scarcely navigable for an
Indian canoe; three falls being in sight, at one view, and being choked
up with shoals and stony ridges.
Here Mr. Hearne began his survey of the river. This he continued till he
arrived at its mouth, near which his Northern Indians massacred
twenty-one Esquimaux, whom they surprized in their tents. We shall give
Mr. Hearne’s account of his arrival at the sea, in his own words. “After
the Indians had plundered the tents of the Esquimaux of all the copper,
&c. they were then again ready to assist me in making an end to the
survey; the sea then in sight from the north-west by west to the
north-east, distant about eight miles. It was then about five in the
morning of the 17th, when I again proceeded to survey the river to the
mouth, still found, in every respect, no ways likely, or a possibility
of being made navigable, being full of shoals and falls: and, at the
entrance, the river emptying itself over a dry flat of the shore. For
the tide was then out, and seemed, by the edges of the ice, to flow
about twelve or fourteen feet, which will only reach a little within the
river’s mouth. That being the case, the water in the river had not the
least brackish taste. But I am sure of its being the sea, or some part
thereof, by the quantity of whale-bone and seal-skins the Esquimaux had
at their tents; as also the number of seals which I saw upon the ice.
The sea, at the river’s mouth, was full of islands and shoals, as far as
I could see, by the assistance of a pocket telescope; and the ice was
not yet broken up, only thawed away about three quarters of a mile from
the shore, and a little way round the islands and shoals.
“By the time I had completed this survey it was about one in the morning
of the 18th; but in these high latitudes, and this time of the year, the
sun is always a good height above the horizon. It then came on a thick
drizzling rain, with a thick fog; and, as finding the river and sea, in
every respect, not likely to be of any utility, I did not think it worth
while to wait for fair weather, to determine the latitude exactly by an
observation. But, by the extraordinary care I took in observing the
courses and distances, walked from _Congecathawhachaaga_, where I had
two good observations, the latitude may be depended on, within twenty
miles at farthest.”
From the map which Mr. Hearne constructed of the country through which
he passed, in this singular journey, and which we have been permitted to
copy upon our general chart, it appears that the mouth of the
Copper-mine river lies in the latitude 72°, and above 25° West longitude
from the fort, from whence he took his departure.[48]
The consequences resulting from this extensive discovery are obvious. We
now see that the continent of North America stretches from Hudson’s Bay
so far to the north-west that Mr. Hearne had travelled near thirteen
hundred miles before he arrived at the sea. His most western distance
from the coast of Hudson’s Bay was near six hundred miles[49]; and that
his Indian guides were well apprized of a vast tract of continent
stretching farther on in that direction is certain from many
circumstances mentioned in his journal; one of which, as besides
establishing this fact, it presents us with a very striking picture of
savage life, has been transcribed in the following note.[50]
What is now for the first time authentically laid before the public,
with regard to the discoveries made by the Hudson’s Bay Company, was
well known to the noble lord who presided at the Board of Admiralty,
when this voyage was undertaken; and the intimate connection of those
discoveries with the plan of the voyage, of course regulated the
instructions given to Captain Cook.
And now, may we not take it upon us to appeal to every candid and
capable inquirer, whether that part of the instructions which directed
the captain _not to lose time, in exploring rivers or inlets, or upon
any other account, till he got into the latitude_ of 65°, was not framed
judiciously: as there were such indubitable proofs that no passage
existed so far to the south as any part of Hudson’s Bay, and that if a
passage could be effected at all, part of it at least must be traversed
by the ships as far to the northward as the latitude 72°, where Mr.
Hearne arrived at the sea?
We may add as a farther consideration, in support of this article of the
instructions, that Beering’s Asiatic discoveries, in 1728, having traced
that continent to the latitude of 67°, Captain Cook’s approach toward
that latitude was to be wished for, that he might be enabled to bring
back more authentic information than the world had hitherto obtained,
about the relative situation and vicinity of the two continents, which
was absolutely necessary to be known, before the practicability of
sailing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, in any northern
direction, could be ascertained.
After all that search in a lower latitude which they who give credit (if
any such there now be) to the pretended discoveries of de Fonte, affect
to wish had been recommended to Captain Cook, has (if that will cure
them of their credulity,) been satisfactorily made. The Spaniards,
roused from their lethargy by our voyages, and having caught a spark of
enterprize from our repeated visits to the Pacific Ocean, have followed
us more than once into the line of our discoveries within the Southern
tropic; and have also fitted out expeditions to explore the American
continent to the north of California. It is to be lamented, that there
should be any reasons why the transactions of those Spanish voyages have
not been fully disclosed, with the same liberal spirit of information
which other nations have adopted. But, fortunately, this excessive
caution of the court of Spain has been defeated, at least in one
instance, by the publication of an authentic Journal of their last
voyage of discovery upon the coast of America, in 1775; for which the
world is indebted to the Honourable Mr. Daines Barrington. This
publication, which conveys some information of real consequence to
geography, and has therefore been referred to more than once in the
following work, is particularly valuable in this respect, that some
parts of the coast which Captain Cook, in his progress northward, was
prevented by unfavourable winds from approaching, were seen and examined
by the Spanish ships who preceded him; and the perusal of the following
extract from their Journal, may be recommended to those (if any such
there be) who would represent it as an imperfection in Captain Cook’s
voyage, that he had not an opportunity of examining the coast of
America, in the latitude assigned to the discoveries of Admiral Fonte.
“We now attempted to find out the Straits of Admiral Fonte, though, as
yet, we had not discovered the Archipelago of St. Lazarus, through which
he is said to have sailed. With this intent, we searched every bay and
recess of the coast, and sailed round every headland, lying to in the
night, that we might not lose sight of this entrance. _After these pains
taken, and being favoured by a north-west wind, it may be pronounced
that no such straits are to be found._[51]”
In this Journal, the Spaniards boast of “having reached so high a
latitude as 58°, beyond what any other navigators had been able to
effect in those seas.”[52] Without diminishing the merit of their
performance, we may be permitted to say that it will appear very
inconsiderable, indeed, in comparison of what Captain Cook effected, in
the voyage of which an account is given in these volumes. Besides
exploring the land in the South Indian Ocean, of which Kerguelen, in two
voyages, had been able to obtain but a very imperfect knowledge; adding
also many considerable accessions to the geography of the Friendly
Islands, and discovering the noble group, now called Sandwich Islands,
in the Northern part of the Pacific Ocean, of which not the faintest
trace can be met with in the account of any former voyage; besides these
preliminary discoveries, the reader of the following work will find,
that in one summer, our English navigator discovered a much larger
proportion of the north-west coast of America than the Spaniards, though
settled in the neighbourhood, had, in all their attempts for above two
hundred years, been able to do; that he has put it beyond all doubt that
Beering and Tscherikoff had really discovered the continent of America
in 1741, and has also established the prolongation of that continent
westward opposite Kamtschatka, which speculative writers, wedded to
favourite systems, had affected so much to disbelieve[53], and which,
though admitted by Muller, had, since he wrote, been considered as
disproved by later Russian discoveries[54]; that, besides ascertaining
the true position of the western coasts of America, with some
inconsiderable interruptions, from latitude 44° up to beyond the
latitude 70°, he has also ascertained the position of the north-eastern
extremity of Asia, by confirming Beering’s discoveries in 1728, and
adding extensive accessions of his own; that he has given us more
authentic information concerning the islands lying between the two
continents, than the Kamtschatka traders, ever since Beering first
taught them to venture on this sea, had been able to procure[55]; that,
by fixing the relative situation of Asia and America, and discovering
the narrow bounds of the strait that divides them, he has thrown a blaze
of light upon this important part of the geography of the globe, and
solved the puzzling problem about the peopling of America, by tribes
destitute of the necessary means to attempt long navigations; and,
lastly, that, though the principal object of the voyage failed, the
world will be greatly benefited even by the failure, as it has brought
us to the knowledge of the existence of the impediments which future
navigators may expect to meet with in attempting to go to the East
Indies through Beering’s Strait.
The extended review we have taken of the preceding voyages, and the
general outline we have sketched out, of the transactions of the last,
which are recorded at full length in these volumes, will not, it is
hoped, be considered as a prolix or unnecessary detail. It will serve to
give a just notion of the whole plan of discovery executed by his
Majesty’s commands. And it appearing that much was aimed at, and much
accomplished, in the unknown parts of the globe, in both hemispheres,
there needs no other consideration, to give full satisfaction to those
who possess an enlarged way of thinking, that a variety of useful
purposes must have been effected by these researches. But there are
others, no doubt, who, too diffident of their own abilities, or too
indolent to exert them, would wish to have their reflections assisted,
by pointing out what those useful purposes are. For the use of such, the
following enumeration of particulars is entered upon. And if there
should be any, who affect to undervalue the plan, or the execution of
our voyages, what shall now be offered, if it do not convince them, may,
at least, check the influence of their unfavourable decision.
1. It may be fairly considered, as one great advantage accruing to the
world from our late surveys of the globe, that they have confuted
fanciful theories, too likely to give birth to impracticable
undertakings.
After Captain Cook’s persevering and fruitless traverses through every
corner of the southern hemisphere, who, for the future, will pay any
attention to the ingenious reveries of Campbell, de Brosses, and de
Buffon? or hope to establish an intercourse with such a continent as
Maupertuis’s fruitful imagination had pictured? A continent equal, at
least, in extent, to all the civilized countries in the known northern
hemisphere, where new men, new animals, new productions of every kind,
might be brought forward to our view, and discoveries be made, which
would open inexhaustible treasures of commerce.[56] We can now boldly
take it upon us to discourage all expeditions, formed on such reasonings
of speculative philosophers, into a quarter of the globe where our
persevering English navigator, instead of this promised fairy land,
found nothing but barren rocks, scarcely affording shelter to penguins
and seals; and dreary seas, and mountains of ice, occupying the immense
space allotted to imaginary paradises, and the only treasures there to
be discovered, to reward the toil, and to compensate the dangers of the
unavailing search.
Or, if we carry our reflections into the northern hemisphere, could Mr.
Dobbs have made a single convert, much less could he have been the
successful solicitor of two different expeditions, and have met with
encouragement from the legislature, with regard to his favourite passage
through Hudson’s Bay, if Captain Christopher had previously explored its
coasts, and if Mr. Hearne had walked over the immense continent behind
it? Whether, after Captain Cook’s and Captain Clerke’s discoveries on
the west side of America, and their report of the state of Beering’s
Strait, there can be sufficient encouragement to make future attempts to
penetrate into the Pacific Ocean in any northern direction, is a
question, for the decision of which the public will be indebted to this
work.
2. But our voyages will benefit the world, not only by discouraging
future unprofitable searches, but also by lessening the dangers and
distresses formerly experienced in those seas, which are within the line
of commerce and navigation, now actually subsisting. In how many
instances have the mistakes of former navigators, in fixing the true
situations of important places, been rectified? What accession to the
variation chart? How many nautical observations have been collected, and
are now ready to be consulted, in directing a ship’s course, along rocky
shores, through narrow straits, amidst perplexing currents, and
dangerous shoals? But, above all, what numbers of new bays, and
harbours, and anchoring-places, are now, for the first time, brought
forward, where ships may be sheltered and their crews find tolerable
refreshments? To enumerate all these would be to transcribe great part
of the journals of our several commanders, whose labours will endear
them to every navigator whom trade or war may carry into their tracks.
Every nation that sends a ship to sea, will partake of the benefit; but
Great Britain herself, whose commerce is boundless, must take the lead
in reaping the full advantage of her own discoveries.
In consequence of all these various improvements lessening the
apprehensions of engaging in long voyages, may we not reasonably indulge
the pleasing hope that fresh branches of commerce may, even in our time,
be attempted, and successively carried on? Our hardy adventurers in the
whale-fishery have already found their way, within these few years, into
the South Atlantic; and who knows what fresh sources of commerce may
still be opened, if the prospect of gain can be added, to keep alive the
spirit of enterprise? If the situation of Great Britain be too remote,
other trading nations will assuredly avail themselves of our
discoveries. We may soon expect to hear that the Russians, now
instructed by us where to find the American continent, have extended
their voyages from the Fox Islands to Cook’s River, and Prince William’s
Sound. And if Spain itself should not be tempted to trade from its most
northern Mexican ports, by the fresh mine of wealth discovered in the
furs of King George’s Sound, which they may transport in their Manilla
ships, as a favourite commodity for the Chinese market, that market may
probably be supplied by a direct trade to America, from Canton itself,
with those valuable articles which the inhabitants of China have
hitherto received only by the tedious and expensive circuit of
Kamtschatka and Kiachta.
These and many other commercial improvements may reasonably be expected
to result from the British discoveries, even in our own times. But if we
look forward to future ages, and to future changes in the history of
commerce, by recollecting its various past revolutions and migrations,
we may be allowed to please ourselves with the idea of its finding its
way, at last, throughout the extent of the regions with which our
voyages have opened an intercourse; and there will be abundant reason to
subscribe to Captain Cook’s observation with regard to New Zealand,
which may be applied to other tracks of land explored by him, that
“although they be far remote from the present trading world, we can, by
no means, tell what use future ages may make of the discoveries made by
the present.”[57] In this point of view, surely, the utility of the late
voyages must stand confessed; and we may be permitted to say, that the
history of their operations, which will be completed in these volumes,
has the justest pretensions to be called κτῆμα ἐς ἀεὶ, as it will convey
to latest posterity a treasure of interesting information.
3. Admitting, however, that we may have expressed too sanguine
expectations of commercial advantages, either within our own reach, or
gradually to be unfolded at some future period, as the result of our
voyages of discovery, we may still be allowed to consider them as a
laudable effort to add to the stock of human knowledge, with regard to
an object which cannot but deserve the attention of enlightened man. To
exert our faculties in devising ingenious modes of satisfying ourselves
about the magnitude and distance of the sun; to extend our acquaintance
with the system to which that luminary is the common centre, by tracing
the revolutions of a new planet, or the appearance of a new comet; to
carry our bold researches through all the immensity of space, where
world beyond world rises to the view of the astonished observer; these
are employments which none but those incapable of pursuing them can
depreciate, and which every one capable of pursuing them must delight
in, as a dignified exercise of the powers of the human mind. But while
we direct our studies to distant worlds, which, after all our exertions,
we must content ourselves with having barely discovered to exist, it
would be a strange neglect, indeed, and would argue a most culpable want
of rational curiosity, if we did not use our best endeavours to arrive
at a full acquaintance with the contents of our own planet; of that
little spot in the immense universe, on which we have been placed, and
the utmost limits of which, at least its habitable parts, we possess the
means of ascertaining, and describing, by actual examination.
So naturally doth this reflection present itself, that to know something
of the terraqueous globe is a favourite object with every one who can
taste the lowest rudiments of learning. Let us not, therefore, think so
meanly of the times in which we live, as to suppose it possible, that
full justice will not be done to the noble plan of discovery so steadily
and so successfully carried on since the accession of his Majesty; which
cannot fail to be considered, in every succeeding age, as a splendid
period in the history of our country, and to add to our national glory,
by distinguishing Great Britain as taking the lead in the most arduous
undertakings for the common benefit of the human race. Before these
voyages took place, nearly half the surface of the globe we inhabit was
hid in obscurity and confusion. What is still wanting to complete our
geography, may justly be termed the _minutiæ_ of that science.
4. Let us now carry our thoughts somewhat farther. It is fortunate for
the interests of knowledge, that acquisitions in any one branch
generally, and indeed unavoidably, lead to acquisitions in other
branches, perhaps of still greater consequence; and that we cannot even
gratify mere curiosity, without being rewarded with valuable
instruction. This observation applies to the subject before us. Voyages,
in which new oceans have been traversed, and in which new countries have
been visited, can scarcely ever be performed, without bringing forward
to our view fresh objects of science. Even when we are to take our
report of what was discovered, from the mere sailor, whose knowledge
scarcely goes beyond the narrow limits of his own profession, and whose
inquiries are not directed by philosophical discernment, it will be
unfortunate indeed, if something hath not been remarked, by which the
scholar may profit, and useful accessions be made to our old stock of
information. And if this be the case in general, how much more must be
gained by the particular voyages now under consideration? Besides naval
officers equally skilled to examine the coasts they might approach, as
to delineate them accurately upon their charts, artists[58] were
engaged, who, by their drawings, might illustrate what could only be
imperfectly described; mathematicians[59] who might treasure up an
extensive series of scientific observations; and persons versed in the
various departments of the history of nature, who might collect, or
record, all that they should find new and valuable, throughout the wide
extent of their researches. But while most of these associates of our
naval discoverers were liberally rewarded by the public, there was one
gentleman, who thinking it the noblest reward he could receive, to have
an opportunity of making the ample fortune he inherited from his
ancestors subservient to the improvement of science, stepped forward of
his own accord, and, submitting to the hardships and dangers of a
circumnavigation of the globe, accompanied Captain Cook in the
Endeavour. The learned world, I may also say the unlearned, will never
forget the obligations which it owes to Sir Joseph Banks.
What real acquisitions have been gained, by this munificent attention to
science, cannot be better expressed than in the words of Mr. Wales, who
engaged in one of these voyages himself, and contributed largely to the
benefits derived from them.
“That branch of natural knowledge which may be called _nautical
astronomy_, was undoubtedly in its infancy, when these voyages were
first undertaken. Both instruments and observers, which deserved the
name, were very rare; and so late as the year 1770, it was found
necessary, in the appendix to _Meyer’s Tables_, published by the Board
of Longitude, to state facts, in contradiction to the assertions of so
celebrated an astronomer as the Abbé de la Caille, that the altitude of
the sun at noon, the easiest and most simple of all observations, could
not be taken with certainty to a less quantity than five, six, seven, or
even eight minutes.[60] But those who will give themselves the trouble
to look into the _astronomical observations_ made in Captain Cook’s last
voyage, will find, that there were few, even of the petty officers, who
could not observe the distance of the moon from the sun, or a star, the
most delicate of all observations, with sufficient accuracy. It may be
added, that the method of making and computing observations for finding
the variation of the compass, is better known, and more frequently
practised by those who have been on these voyages, than by most others.
Nor is there, perhaps, a person who ranks as an officer, and has been
concerned in them, who would not, whatever his real skill may be, feel
ashamed to have it thought that he did not know how to observe for, and
compute the time at sea; though, but a short while before these voyages
were set on foot, such a thing was scarcely ever heard of amongst
seamen; and even first-rate astronomers doubted the possibility of doing
it with sufficient exactness.[61]
“The number of places, at which the rise and times of flowing of tides
have been observed, in these voyages, is very great; and hence an
important article of useful knowledge is afforded. In these
observations, some very curious and even unexpected circumstances have
offered themselves to our consideration. It will be sufficient to
instance the exceedingly small height to which the tide rises in the
middle of the great Pacific Ocean; where it falls short, two-thirds at
least, of what might have been expected from theory and calculation.
“The direction and force of currents at sea make also an important
object. These voyages will be found to contain much useful information
on this head; as well relating to seas nearer home, and which, in
consequence, are navigated every day, as to those which are more remote,
but where, notwithstanding, the knowledge of these things may be of
great service to those who are destined to navigate them hereafter. To
this head also we may refer the great number of experiments which have
been made for enquiring into the depth of the sea, its temperature, and
saltness at different depths, and in a variety of places and climates.
“An extensive foundation has also been laid for improvements in
magnetism, for discovering the cause and nature of the polarity of the
needle, and a theory of its variations, by the number and variety of the
observations and experiments which have been made, both on the variation
and dip, in almost all parts of the world. Experiments also have been
made, in consequence of the late voyages, on the effects of gravity, in
different and very distant places, which may serve to increase our stock
of natural knowledge. From the same source of information we have
learned that the phænomenon, usually called the _aurora borealis_ is not
peculiar to high northern latitudes, but belongs equally to all cold
climates, whether they be north or south.
“But perhaps no part of knowledge has been so great a gainer by the late
voyages, as that of botany. We are told[62] that, at least twelve
hundred new plants have been added to the known system; and that very
considerable additions have been made to every other branch of natural
history, by the great skill and industry of Sir Joseph Banks, and the
other gentlemen[63] who have accompanied Captain Cook for that purpose.”
To our naval officers in general, or to their learned associates in the
expeditions, all the foregoing improvements of knowledge may be traced;
but there is one very singular improvement indeed, still behind, for
which, as we are solely indebted to Captain Cook, let us state it in his
own words: “Whatever may be the public judgment about other matters, it
is with real satisfaction, and without claiming any merit but that of
attention to my duty, that I can conclude this account with an
observation, which facts enable me to make, that our having discovered
the possibility of preserving health amongst a numerous ship’s company,
for such a length of time, in such varieties of climate, and amidst such
continued hardships and fatigues, will make this voyage remarkable, in
the opinion of every benevolent person, when the disputes about a
southern continent shall have ceased to engage the attention, and to
divide the judgment of philosophers.”[64]
5. But while our late voyages have opened so many channels to an
increase of knowledge in the several articles already enumerated; while
they have extended our acquaintance with the contents of the globe;
while they have facilitated old tracks, and have opened new ones for
commerce; while they have been the means of improving the skill of the
navigator, and the science of the astronomer; while they have procured
to us so valuable accessions in the several departments of natural
history, and furnished such opportunities of teaching us how to preserve
the healths and lives of seamen, let us not forget another very
important object of study, for which they have afforded to the
speculative philosopher ample materials: I mean the study of human
nature in various situations, equally interesting as they are uncommon.
However remote or secluded from frequent intercourse with more polished
nations the inhabitants of any parts of the world be, if history or our
own observation should make it evident that they have been formerly
visited, and that foreign manners and opinions, and languages, have been
blended with their own, little use can be made of what is observed
amongst such people, toward drawing a real picture of man in his natural
uncultivated state. This seems to be the situation of the inhabitants of
most of the islands that lie contiguous to the continent of Asia, and of
whose manners and institutions the Europeans, who occasionally visit
them, have frequently given us accounts. But the islands which our
enterprising discoverers visited in the centre of the South Pacific
Ocean, and are, indeed, the principal scenes of their operations, were
untrodden ground. The inhabitants, as far as could be observed, were
unmixed with any different tribe, by occasional intercourse, subsequent
to their original settlement there; left entirely to their own powers
for every art of life; and to their own remote traditions for every
political or religious custom or institution; uninformed by science;
unimproved by education; in short, a fit soil from whence a careful
observer could collect facts for forming a judgment, how far unassisted
human nature will be apt to degenerate; and in what respects it can ever
be able to excel. Who could have thought, that the brutal ferocity of
feeding upon human flesh, and the horrid superstition of offering human
sacrifices, should be found to exist amongst the natives lately
discovered in the Pacific Ocean, who, in other respects, appear to be no
strangers to the fine feelings of humanity, to have arrived at a certain
stage of social life, and to be habituated to subordination and
government which tend so naturally to repress the ebullitions of wild
passion, and expand the latent powers of the understanding?
Or, if we turn from this melancholy picture, which will suggest copious
matter for philosophical speculation, can we without astonishment
observe to what a degree of perfection the same tribe (and, indeed, we
may here join, in some of those instances, the American tribes visited
in the course of the present voyage) have carried their favourite
amusements; the plaintive songs of their women; their dramatic
entertainments; their dances; their Olympian games, as we may call them;
the orations of their chiefs; the chants of their priests; the solemnity
of their religious processions; their arts and manufactures; their
ingenious contrivances to supply the want of proper materials, and of
effective tools and machines; and the wonderful productions of their
persevering labour under a complication of disadvantages; their cloth
and their mats; their weapons; their fishing instruments; their
ornaments; their utensils; which, in design and execution, may vie with
whatever modern Europe, or classical antiquity can exhibit.
It is a favourite study with the scholar to trace the remains of Grecian
or Roman workmanship: he turns over his Montfaucon with learned
satisfaction; and he gazes with rapture on the noble collection of Sir
William Hamilton. The amusement is rational and instructive. But will
not his curiosity be more awakened, will he not find even more real
matter for important reflection, by passing an hour in surveying the
numerous specimens of the ingenuity our newly-discovered friends brought
from the utmost recesses of the globe to enrich the British Museum, and
the valuable repository of Sir Ashton Lever? If the curiosities of Sir
Ashton’s Sandwich-room alone, were the only acquisition gained by our
visits to the Pacific Ocean, who that has taste to admire, or even eyes
to behold, could hesitate to pronounce, that Captain Cook had not sailed
in vain? The expence of his three voyages did not perhaps far exceed
that of digging out the buried contents of Herculaneum. And we may add,
that the _novelties_ of the Society or Sandwich islands, seem better
calculated to engage the attention of the studious in our times than the
_antiquities_, which exhibit proofs of Roman magnificence.
The grounds for making this remark cannot be better explained, than in
the words of a very ingenious writer; “In an age (says Mr. Warton[65]),
advanced to the highest degree of refinement, that species of curiosity
commences, which is busied in contemplating the progress of social life,
in displaying the gradations of society, and in tracing the gradations
from barbarism to civility. That these speculations should become the
favourite topics of such a period is extremely natural. We look back on
the savage condition of our ancestors with the triumph of superiority;
and are pleased to mark the steps by which we have been raised from
rudeness to elegance; and our reflections on this subject are
accompanied with a conscious pride, arising, in a great measure, from a
tacit comparison of the infinite disproportion between the feeble
efforts of remote ages, and our present improvements in knowledge. In
the mean time, the manners, monuments, customs, practices, and opinions
of antiquity, by forming so strong a contrast with those of our own
times, and by exhibiting human nature and human inventions in new
lights, in unexpected appearances, and in various forms, are objects
which forcibly strike a feeling imagination. Nor does this spectacle
afford nothing more than a fruitless gratification to the fancy. It
teaches us to set a just estimation on our own acquisitions, and
encourages us to cherish that cultivation which is so closely connected
with the existence and the exercise of every social virtue.” We need not
here observe, that the _manners, monuments, customs, practices, and
opinions_ of the present inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean, or of the
West side of North America, form the _strongest contrast_ with those of
our own time in enlightened Europe; and that _a feeling imagination_
will probably be more struck with the narration of the ceremonies of a
_Naiche_ at Tongataboo, than of a Gothic tournament at London; with the
contemplation of the colossuses of Easter Island, than of the mysterious
remains of Stonehenge.
Many singularities respecting what may be called the natural history of
the human species, in different climates, will, on the authority of our
late navigators, open abundant sources for philosophical discussion. One
question of this sort, in particular, which had formerly divided the
opinions of the inquisitive, as to the existence, if not of “giants on
the earth,” at least of a race (inhabiting a district bordering on the
north side of the strait of Magalhaens), whose stature considerably
exceeds that of the bulk of mankind, will no longer be doubted or
disbelieved. And the ingenious objections of the sceptical author of
_Recherches sur les Américains_[66], will weigh nothing in the balance
against the concurrent and accurate testimony of Byron, Wallis and
Carteret.
Perhaps there cannot be a more interesting inquiry than to trace the
migrations of the various families or tribes that have peopled the
globe; and in no respect have our late voyages been more fertile in
curious discoveries. It was known in general (and I shall use the words
of Kæmpfer[67]), that the Asiatic nation called Malayans, “in former
times had by much the greatest trade in the Indies, and frequented with
their merchant ships, not only all the coasts of Asia, but ventured even
over to the coasts of Africa, particularly to the great island of
Madagascar.[68] The title which the king of the Malayans assumed to
himself, of _Lord of the Winds and Seas to the East and to the West_, is
an evident proof of this; but much more the Malayan language, which
spread most all over the east, much after the same manner as formerly
the Latin, and of late the French, did all over Europe.” Thus far, I
say, was known. But that from Madagascar to the Marqueses and Easter
Island, that is, nearly from the east side of Africa, till we approach
towards the west side of America, a space including above half the
circumference of the globe, the same tribe or nation, the Phœnicians, as
we may call them, of the Oriental World, should have made their
settlements, and founded colonies throughout almost every intermediate
stage of this immense tract, in islands at amazing distances from the
mother continent, and ignorant of each others’ existence; this is an
historical fact, which could be but very imperfectly known before
Captain Cook’s two first voyages discovered so many new inhabited spots
of land lurking in the bosom of the South Pacific Ocean; and it is a
fact which does not rest solely on similarity of customs and
institutions, but has been established by the most satisfactory of all
proofs, that drawn from affinity of language. Mr. Marsden, who seems to
have considered this curious subject with much attention, says, that
_the links of the latitudinal chain remain yet to be traced_.[69] The
discovery of the Sandwich islands in this last voyage has added some
links to the chain. But Captain Cook had not an opportunity of carrying
his researches into the more westerly parts of the North Pacific. The
reader, therefore, of the following work will not, perhaps, think that
the Editor was idly employed when he subjoined some notes, which contain
abundant proof that the inhabitants of the Ladrones, or Marianne
islands, and those of the Carolines, are to be traced to the same common
source, with those of the islands visited by our ships. With the like
view, of exhibiting a striking picture of the amazing extent of this
oriental language, which marks, if not a common original, at least an
intimate intercourse between the inhabitants of places so very remote
from each other, he has inserted a comparative table of their numerals,
upon a more enlarged plan than any that has hitherto been executed.[70]
Our British discoverers have not only thrown a blaze of light on the
migrations of the tribe which has so wonderfully spread itself
throughout the islands in the Eastern Ocean; but they have also favoured
us with much curious information concerning another of the families of
the earth whose lot has fallen in less hospitable climates. We speak of
the Esquimaux, hitherto only found seated on the coasts of Labradore and
Hudson’s Bay, and who differ in several characteristic marks from the
inland inhabitants of North America. That the Greenlanders and they
agree in every circumstance of customs, and manners, and language, which
are demonstrations of an original identity of nation, had been
discovered about twenty years ago.[71] Mr. Hearne, in 1772, traced this
unhappy race farther back, toward that part of the globe from whence
they had originally coasted along in their skin boats, having met with
some of them at the mouth of the Coppermine River, in the latitude of
72°, and near five hundred leagues farther W. than Pickersgill’s most
westerly station in Davis’s Strait. Their being the same tribe who now
actually inhabit the islands and coasts on the west side of North
America, opposite Kamtschatka, was a discovery, the completion of which
was reserved for Captain Cook. The reader of the following work will
find them at Norton Sound, and at Oonalashka, and Prince William’s
Sound; that is, near 1500 leagues distant from their stations in
Greenland, and on the Labradore coast. And lest similitude of manners
should be thought to deceive us, a table exhibiting proofs of affinity
of language, which was drawn up by Captain Cook, and is inserted in this
work[72], will remove every doubt from the mind of the most scrupulous
inquirer after truth.
There are other doubts of a more important kind, which it may be hoped
will now no longer perplex the ignorant, or furnish matter of cavil to
the ill-intentioned. After the great discovery, or at least the full
confirmation of the great discovery of the vicinity of the two
continents of Asia and America, we trust that we shall not be any more
ridiculed, for believing that the former could easily furnish its
inhabitants to the latter. And thus, to all the various good purposes
already enumerated, as answered by our late voyages, we may add this
last, though not the least important, that they have done service to
religion, by robbing infidelity of a favourite objection to the
credibility of the Mosaic account of _the peopling of the earth_.[73]
6. Hitherto we have considered our voyages as having benefited the
_discoverers_. But it will be asked, have they conveyed, or are they
likely ever to convey any benefit to the _discovered_? It would afford
exquisite satisfaction to every benevolent mind to be instructed in
facts which might enable us, without hesitation, to answer this question
in the affirmative. And yet, perhaps, we may indulge the pleasing hope,
that, even in this respect, our ships have not sailed in vain. Other
discoveries of new countries have, in effect, been wars, or rather
massacres; nations have been no sooner found out, than they have been
extirpated; and the horrid cruelties of the conquerors of Mexico and
Peru can never be remembered, without blushing for religion and human
nature; but when the recesses of the globe are investigated, not to
enlarge private dominion, but to promote general knowledge; when we
visit new tribes of our fellow-creatures as friends, and wish only to
learn that they exist, in order to bring them within the pale of the
offices of humanity, and to relieve the wants of their imperfect state
of society, by communicating to them our superior attainments; voyages
of discovery, planned with such benevolent views by George the Third,
and executed by Cook, have not, we trust, totally failed in this
respect. Our repeated visits, and long continued intercourse with the
natives of the Friendly, Society, and Sandwich Islands, cannot but have
darted some rays of light on the infant minds of those poor people. The
uncommon objects they have thus had opportunities of observing and
admiring, will naturally tend to enlarge their stock of ideas, and to
furnish new materials for the exercise of their reason. Comparing
themselves with their visitors, they cannot but be struck with the
deepest conviction of their own inferiority, and be impelled, by the
strongest motives, to strive to emerge from it, and to rise nearer to a
level with those children of the sun who deigned to look upon them, and
left behind so many specimens of their generous and humane attention.
The very introduction of our useful animals and vegetables, by adding
fresh means of subsistence, will have added to their comforts of life
and immediate enjoyments; and if this be the only benefit they are ever
to receive, who will pronounce that much has not been gained? But may we
not carry our wishes and our hopes still farther? Great Britain itself,
when first visited by the Phœnicians, was inhabited by painted savages,
not perhaps blessed with higher attainments than are possessed by the
present natives of New Zealand; certainly less civilized than those of
Tongataboo or Otaheite. Our having opened an intercourse with them is
the first step toward their improvement. Who knows, but that our late
voyages may be the means appointed by Providence, of spreading, in due
time, the blessings of civilization, amongst the numerous tribes of the
South Pacific Ocean; of abolishing their horrid repasts and their horrid
rites; and of laying the foundation for future and more effectual plans,
to prepare them for holding an honourable station amongst the nations of
the earth? This, at least is certain that our having, as it were,
brought them into existence by our extensive researches, will suggest to
us fresh motives of devout gratitude to the Supreme Being, for having
blessed us with advantages hitherto withheld from so great a proportion
of the human race; and will operate powerfully to incite us to persevere
in every feasible attempt, to be his instruments in rescuing millions of
fellow-creatures from their present state of humiliation.
The several topics which occurred, as suitable to this general
Introduction, being now discussed, nothing remains but to state a few
particulars, about which the reader of these volumes has a right to
expect some information.
Captain Cook, knowing, before he sailed upon this last expedition, that
it was expected from him to _relate_, as well as to _execute_, its
operations, had taken care to prepare such a journal as might be made
use of for publication. This journal, which exists in his own
hand-writing, has been faithfully adhered to. It is not a bare extract
from his log-books, but contains many remarks which it appears had not
been inserted by him in the nautical register; and it is also enriched
with considerable communications from Mr. Anderson, surgeon of the
Resolution. The confessed abilities and great assiduity of Mr. Anderson,
in observing every thing that related either to natural history, or to
manners and language; and the desire which, it is well known, Captain
Cook, on all occasions, showed to have the assistance of that gentleman,
stamped a great value on his collections. That nothing, therefore, might
be wanting to convey to the public the best possible account of the
transactions of the voyage, his journal, by the order of Lord Sandwich,
was also put into the hands of the editor, who was authorized and
directed to avail himself of the information it might be found to
contain, about matters imperfectly touched, or altogether omitted, in
Captain Cook’s manuscript. This task has been executed in such a manner,
that the reader will scarcely ever be at a loss to distinguish in what
instances recourse has been had to Mr. Anderson. To preclude, if
possible, any mistake, the copy of the first and second volumes, before
it went to the printer, was submitted to Captain King; and after it had
been read over and corrected by one so well qualified to point out any
inaccuracies, the Earl of Sandwich had the goodness to give it a
perusal. As to the third volume, nothing more need be said than that it
was completely prepared for the press by Captain King himself. All that
the editor of the work has to answer for, are the notes occasionally
introduced in the course of the two volumes, contributed by Captain
Cook; and this introduction, which was intended as a kind of epilogue to
our voyages of discovery. He must be permitted, however, to say, that he
considers himself as intitled to no inconsiderable share of candid
indulgence from the public; having engaged in a very tedious and
troublesome undertaking upon the most _disinterested_ motives; his only
reward being the satisfaction he feels, in having been able to do an
essential service to the family of our great navigator, who had honoured
him in the journal of this voyage, with the appellation of friend.
They who have repeatedly asked why this publication has been so long
delayed, need only look at the volumes, and their attendant
illustrations and ornaments, to be satisfied that it might, with at
least equal reason, be wondered at, that it has not been delayed longer.
The journal of Captain Cook, from the first moment that it came into the
hands of the editor had been ready for the press; and Captain King had
left with him his part of the narrative, so long ago as his departure
for the West Indies, when he commanded the Resistance man-of-war. But
much besides remained to be done. The charts, particularly the general
one, were to be prepared by Mr. Roberts, who gives an account of his
work in the note[74]; the very numerous and elegant drawings of Mr.
Webber were to be reduced by him to the proper size; artists were next
to be found out who would undertake to engrave them; the prior
engagements of those artists were to be fulfilled before they could
begin; the labour and skill to be exerted in finishing many of them,
rendered this a tedious operation; paper fit for printing them upon was
to be procured from abroad; and after all these various and unavoidable
difficulties were surmounted, much time was necessarily required for
executing a numerous impression of the long list of plates, with so much
care as might do justice both to Mr. Webber and to his several
engravers. When all these circumstances are taken into consideration, we
trust that we shall hear no more of the delay; and only be grateful to
that munificent Patron of Science, who not only directed the history of
the voyage to be published, but to be published with such a splendid
train of ornaments, at the public expense, as will still add to the
merit of having ordered the voyage itself to be undertaken.
And here it seems to be incumbent upon us to add, as another instance of
munificent attention, that care has been taken to mark, in the most
significant manner, the just sense entertained of the humane and liberal
relief afforded to our ships in Kamtschatka. Colonel Behm, the
commandant of that province, has not been rewarded merely by the
pleasure which a benevolent mind feels in reflecting upon the blessings
it confers; but has been thanked in a manner equally consistent with the
dignity of his own sovereign and of ours, to whose subjects he extended
protection. A magnificent piece of plate was presented to him with an
inscription, worthy of a place in the same book where the history of his
humanity to our countrymen is recorded, and which, while it does honour
to our national gratitude, deserves also to be preserved as a monument
of our national taste for elegant composition. It is as follows:
VIRO EGREGIO MAGNO DE BEHM; qui, Imperatricis Augustissimæ Catherinæ
auspiciis, summâque animi benignitate, sæva, quibus præerat, Kamtschatkæ
littora, navibus nautisque Britannicis, hospita præbuit; eosque, in
terminis, si qui essent Imperio Russico, frustrà explorandis, mala multa
perpessos, iteratâ vice excepit, refecit, recreavit, & commeatû omni
cumulatè auctos dimisit; REI NAVALIS BRITANNICÆ SEPTEMVIRI in aliquam
benevolentiæ tam insignis memoriam, amicissimo, gratissimoque animo,
suo, patriæque nomine, D.D.D.
MDCCLXXXI.
This public testimony of gratitude reminds the editor, that there are
similar calls upon himself. He owes much to Captain King for his advice
and direction, in a variety of instances, where Captain Cook’s Journal
required explanation; for filling up several blanks with the proper
longitude and latitude; of and for supplying deficiencies in the tables
of astronomical observations.
Lieutenant Roberts was also frequently consulted, and was always found
to be a ready and effectual assistant, when any nautical difficulties
were to be cleared up.
But particular obligations are due to Mr. Wales, who besides the
valuable communications which have been adopted in this Introduction,
seconded most liberally the editor’s views of serving Mrs. Cook, by
cheerfully taking upon himself the whole trouble of digesting, from the
log-books, the tables of the route of the ships, which add so greatly to
the intrinsic merit of this publication.
Mr. Wegg, besides sharing in the thanks so justly due to the committee
of the Hudson’s Bay Company, for their unreserved communications, was
particularly obliging to the editor, by giving him repeated
opportunities of conversing with Governor Hearne, and Captain
Christopher.
The honourable Mr. Daines Barrington had the goodness to interest
himself, with his usual zeal for every work of public utility, in
procuring some necessary information, and suggesting some valuable hints
which were adopted.
It would be great injustice not to express our acknowledgments to Mr.
Pennant, who, besides enriching the third volume with references to his
_Arctic Zoology_, the publication of which will be an important
accession to Natural History, also communicated some very authentic and
satisfactory manuscript accounts of the Russian discoveries.
The vocabularies of the Friendly and Sandwich Islands, and of the
natives of Nootka, had been furnished to Captain Cook, by his most
useful associate in the voyage, Mr. Anderson; and a fourth, in which the
language of the Esquimaux is compared with that of the Americans on the
opposite side of the continent, had been prepared by the Captain
himself. But the comparative Table of Numerals, which is marked No. 2 in
the Appendix, was very obligingly drawn up, at the request of the
editor, by Mr. Bryant, who, in his study, has followed Captain Cook,
and, indeed, every traveller and historian, of every age, into every
part of the globe. The public will consider this table as a very
striking illustration of the wonderful migrations of a nation, about
whom so much additional information has been gained by our voyages, and
be ready to acknowledge it as a very useful communication.
One more communication remains to be not only acknowledged, but to be
inserted at the close of this Introduction. The _testimonies_ of learned
contemporaries, in commendation of a deceased author, are frequently
displayed in the front of his book. It is with the greatest propriety,
therefore, that we prefix to this posthumous work of Captain Cook the
_testimony_ of one of his own profession, not more distinguished by the
elevation of rank, than by the dignity of private virtues. As he wishes
to remain concealed, perhaps this allusion, for which we intreat his
indulgence, may have given too exact direction to the eyes of the public
where to look for such a character. Let us, however, rest satisfied with
the intrinsic merit of a composition, conveyed under the injunction of
secrecy; and conclude our long preliminary dissertation with expressing
a wish, or rather a well-grounded hope, that this volume may not be the
only place where posterity can meet with a monumental inscription,
commemorative of a man, in recounting and applauding whose services, the
whole of enlightened Europe will equally concur with Great Britain.
TO
THE MEMORY
OF
CAPTAIN JAMES COOK,
THE ABLEST AND MOST RENOWNED NAVIGATOR THIS OR ANY COUNTRY HATH
PRODUCED.
He raised himself, solely by his merit, from a very obscure birth, to
the rank of Post-Captain in the royal navy, and was unfortunately killed
by the savages of the island Owhyhee on the 14th of February, 1779;
which island he had not long before discovered, when prosecuting his
third voyage round the globe.
He possessed, in an eminent degree, all the qualifications requisite for
his profession and great undertakings; together with the amiable and
worthy qualities of the best men.
Cool and deliberate in judging: sagacious in determining: active in
executing: steady and persevering in enterprising from vigilance and
unremitting caution: unsubdued by labour, difficulties, and
disappointments: fertile in expedients: never wanting presence of mind:
always possessing himself, and the full use of a sound understanding.
Mild, just, but exact in discipline, he was a father to his people, who
were attached to him from affection, and obedient from confidence.
His knowledge, his experience, his sagacity, rendered him so intirely
master of his subject, that the greatest obstacles were surmounted, and
the most dangerous navigations became easy, and almost safe, under his
direction.
He explored the Southern hemisphere to a much higher latitude than had
ever been reached, and with fewer accidents than frequently befall those
who navigate the coasts of this island.
By his benevolent and unabating attention to the welfare of his ship’s
company, he discovered and introduced a system for the preservation of
the health of seamen in long voyages, which has proved wonderfully
efficacious: for in his second voyage round the world, which continued
upwards of three years, he lost only one man by distemper, of one
hundred and eighteen, of which his company consisted.
The death of this eminent and valuable man was a loss to mankind in
general; and particularly to be deplored by every nation that respects
useful accomplishments, that honours science, and loves the benevolent
and amiable affections of the heart. It is still more to be deplored by
this country, which may justly boast of having produced a man hitherto
unequalled for nautical talents; and that sorrow is farther aggravated
by the reflection, that his country was deprived of this ornament by the
enmity of a people, from whom, indeed, it might have been dreaded, but
from whom it was not deserved. For, actuated always by the most
attentive care and tender compassion for the savages in general, this
excellent man was ever assiduously endeavouring, by kind treatment, to
dissipate their fears and court their friendship; overlooking their
thefts and treacheries, and frequently interposing, at the hazard of his
life, to protect them from the sudden resentment of his own injured
people.
The object of his last mission was to discover and ascertain the
boundaries of Asia and America, and to penetrate into the Northern Ocean
by the North East Cape of Asia.
Traveller! contemplate, admire, revere, and emulate this great master in
his profession; whose skill and labours have enlarged natural
philosophy; have extended nautical science; and have disclosed the
long-concealed and admirable arrangements of the Almighty in the
formation of this globe, and, at the same time, the arrogance of
mortals, in presuming to account, by their speculations, for the laws by
which he was pleased to create it. It is now discovered, beyond all
doubt, that the same Great Being who created the universe by his _fiat_,
by the same ordained our earth to keep a just poise, without a
corresponding Southern continent—and it does so! “He stretches out the
North over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” JOB,
xxvi. 7.
If the arduous but exact researches of this extraordinary man have not
discovered a new world, they have discovered seas unnavigated and
unknown before. They have made us acquainted with islands, people, and
productions, of which we had no conception. And if he has not been so
fortunate as Americus to give his name to a continent, his pretensions
to such a distinction remain unrivalled; and he will be revered, while
there remains a page of his own modest account of his voyages, and as
long as mariners and geographers shall be instructed, by his new map of
the Southern hemisphere, to trace the various courses and discoveries he
has made.
If public services merit public acknowledgments; if the man who adorned
and raised the fame of his country is deserving of honours, then Captain
COOK deserves to have a monument raised to his memory, by a generous and
grateful nation.
_Virtutis uberrimum alimentum est honos._
VAL. MAXIMUS, lib. ii. cap. 6.
A
VOYAGE
TO
THE PACIFIC OCEAN.