(for such the gifts with which he was loaded appeared to him to be,) scarcely equalled his regret at quitting shores where he experienced so much kindness and attention, and where the multiplicity of strange objects presented to his view awakened him as it were to a new existence.

On the 12th of July, 1776, captain Cook sailed from Piymouth Sound on his third voyage of discovery. In Table Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope, he was joined by captain Clerke, whose departure had been unavoidably retarded. Here both the ships increased their freight of live stock, consisting of cows, horses, sheep, and goats, which were destined for the supply of the islands in the South Seas. On the 30th of November our navigators left the Cape of Good Hope; and, on the 12th of the following month, two small islands were descried: they had been previously discovered by Marion and Crozet; but not having received any name from them, captain Cook called them. Prince Edward's Islands. They appeared to be bleak and desolate, with bold rocky shores, and mountains in the rear, the sides and summits of which were covered with snow. Though it was now summer in the southern hemisphere, the weather was as severe as it usually is in England in the depth of winter.

On the 24th high land was again seen, which proved to be that discovered not long before by the French navigator, Kerguelen. A bottle was found on shore containing a piece of parchment, with an inscription written by him, intimating that he had visited this country in 1772 and 1773. Cook wrote the names of his ships and the date of his voyage on the other side of the parchment, which he then replaced in the bottle. This country appeared, as far as the eye could reach, to be little better than a huge assemblage of bare rocks; it had a little herbage, but not a single shrub or tree. Some verdure, which from the sea had an enticing appearance, was found, on nearer approach, to be occasioned by a small plant resembling saxi-" frage, which, with a few species of mosses and lichens, constituted the whole vegetable productions of this inhospitable shore. Fresh water, however, was abundant, and the rocks were covered with penguins and with seals: the latter so unused to be disturbed, that they evinced no timidity; and as many as were wanted for their oil or skins were killed without difficulty. Cook found that Kerguelen's Land, instead of being a continent, as its first discoverer had supposed, was only an island, extending in breadth from north to south not more than 100 miles. He did not wish to change the name which it had received from its first discoverer, but that which he suggested as extremely applicable to it-The Island of Desolation,-has since been generally adopted in English maps. Soon after leaving this desolate coast, our navigators fell in with winds

from the north, which brought on so dense a fog that the ships ran above 300 leagues in the dark: they could rarely descry each other, and it was necessary to fire guns continually to prevent the inconvenience of a separation. At length, on the 26th of January, 1777, the ships anchored in Adventure Bay, on the southern coast of Van Diemen's Land. Here their first care was to collect grass for the cattle, which had suffered much from the severity of the weather and the distresses of a long sea passage. Two young bulls, one heifer, two rams, and several of the goats, had died while the ships were employed in the survey of Kerguelen's Land.

While the English remained here they were agreeably surprised by a visit from some of the natives, who in their abject misery, rooted indolence, and stupidity, appeared to be on an equality with the wretched inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego. Their most comfortable dwellings were the trunks of large trees hollowed out by the fire. They appeared to be ignorant of the art of fishing; not a single canoe was seen on their whole coast. Their chief subsistence was derived from small birds and shell-fish, which they collected along the shore.

A sufficient supply of fodder being procured for the cattle, captain Cook left Van Diemen's Land, of which relying on the erroneous conclusions of captain Furneaux, he observes, "It is well known to be the southern part of New Holland."

The ships anchored on the 12th of February in their old station in Queen Charlotte's Sound. On their arrival in New Zealand there were but two invalids in both the crews. Captain Cook was not a little surprised at the shyness and mistrust of the natives, most of whom were known to him, and had experienced his kindness on his former voyages; but he soon discovered the cause of their timidity. Omai was on board the Adventure with captain Furneaux on the former voyage, when ten of the crew of that vessel, as above related, fell victims to the ferocity of the natives. Seeing Omai now on board the Resolution, they judged that captain Cook could not be ignorant of the affair, and dreaded his vengeance in consequence; but as soon as he understood the cause of their mistrust he laboured to convince them of his friendly intentions, assuring them that he had no design of retaliating on them for the consequences of an affray to which he was a stranger; and that so long as they conducted themselves peaceably they might consider him as their friend. A chief named Kahoora frankly avowed that he had acted a principal part in cutting off captain Furneaux's people, and that he had himself killed Mr. Rowe their commander. The attack was not, it appears, premeditated, but had its origin in a theft committed by one party and resented with hasty violence by the other; but when captain Cook declared his

willingness to forgive, he soon regained the confidence of the natives. To one chief he gave two goats, a male and a female, with a kid; and to another, two pigs. It was his intention at first to have left here some sheep also, along with a bull and two heifers; but fearing that the chiefs whom he found on this part of the coast were not powerful enough to protect the cattle from those who might ignorantly aim at destroying them, he changed his plan. He learned from the natives that the poultry which on former occasions he had left on the island had increased, the garden vegetables, though neglected, yet multiplied naturally, and some of them, as the potato, were greatly im ́proved by the richness of the soil. At the request of Omai he consented to take with him two youths from New Zealand, who seemed at first delighted with the change; but when they completely lost sight of their native country, they were overwhelmed with violent grief, which continued for many days.

On the 25th of February the ships sailed from Queen Charlotte's Sound, and nothing remarkable occurred till the 29th of the following month, when land was discovered, which proved to be an inhabited island, called by the natives Mangeea. It was found impossible to land upon it, for the surf. The natives spoke a language differing but little from that of the Society Islands, and were a handsome vigorous people, resembling Spaniards in complexion. They wore white turbans on their heads, mide of cloth like that of Otaheite; they also wore sandals, woven apparently with a strong grassy substance. One of them who ventured on board the ship happened to stumble over one of the goats, and immediately asked Omai what bird it was. This apparent blunder of the simple islander will appear less surprising when we reflect, that the name of a bird was perhaps the only general term for animals in his language; and therefore the only one applicable to a creature like the goat, not belonging to any of the species with which he was already acquainted.

Some leagues to the north of Mangeea another island was discovered, which the natives called Wateeo. Here our navigators went on shore, and were conducted by crowds of admiring natives to the chief, who hospitably entertained them. Some plan, however, seemed to be concerted to separate the English, and to cut them off from their retreat to the ships; and perhaps the Indians were chiefly deterred from the execution of this plot by the exaggerations of Omai, who, relating the wonders he had seen in England, described guns or instruments of war so large, that many men could sit within them, and which at one discharge could sink the island in the ocean. When questioned respecting the guns on board the ship, he said that they were capable of destroying immediately all the people on the island,

though the ships were at that time a considerable distance from the shore. His story was not at first implicitly believed; but as he took delight in exciting the wonder of those who were simpler than himself, he heaped together a few cartridges, which he carried in his pocket, and then throwing on them some redhot embers, the conflagration and report that ensued appeared to the natives so astonishing as sufficiently to confirm all that he had related. They were consequently more cautious of giving offence to the English, who on the approach of evening were allowed to return to the ships.

On this island Omai met with three of his countrymen, whose surprising adventure most happily illustrates the manner in which the scattered islands of the great ocean might have been originally peopled. About twenty persons of both sexes had embarked in a canoe at Otaheite, to cross over to the neighbouring island of Ulietea. For this short passage they had taken but a moderate stock of provisions. A violent tempest arose, which drove them they knew not whither for many days. They had nothing to eat or drink, and their numbers daily diminished, worn out by hunger and fatigue. At length the canoe overset, when four only remained alive, and the destruction of this small remnant seemed now inevitable. They clung, however, to the sides of their vessel for some days, and providentially drifted towards this island, when the natives immediately sent out canoes and brought them ashore. Of the four who were thus saved one had since died; the remaining three were so well satisfied with the kind treatment they had received, that they rejected the offer made to them at Omai's request of a passage to their native island. As the inhabitants of the archipelagoes in the great ocean are frequently at sea, crossing from one island to another with their wives and families, accidents like this, which transported four individuals a distance of 200 leagues, are likely to be of frequent occurrence. At all the islands which our navigators had discovered since their departure from New Zealand, they had been disappointed from the want of good anchorage and other circumstances, in their hope of finding water and provisions. The season was now far advanced, and large supplies of provisions would be necessary before proceeding into high northern latitudes. The prosecution of discoveries, therefore, in that direction was unavoidably postponed till the following year, as it was now much too late to venture into unknown seas with the prospect of achieving any thing important. Captain Cook determined to employ the intervening time in examining more minutely the seas between the tropics. He accordingly directed his course to the Friendly Islands, and on the 1st of May arrived at Anamooka. Here he experienced the kindest treatment from a chief named Fenou, by

whose persuasions he was induced to go to Hepaee, a large island, or rather a cluster of islands, connected together by reefs passable at low water, and situated towards the north of this archipelago. The abundance of provisions which he found at Hepaee justified the representations of his friend Fenou. Here also he met with Poulaho, the king of the Friendly Islands, who treated our navigators with a lavish generosity worthy of a sovereign. Tongataboo, or Amsterdam Island, is the centre of his insular dominions, which extends, according to the natives, over 150 islands. Several of these, indeed, are low rocky islets, without any inhabitants. About thirty-five of them are said to be larger, and must consequently be of much greater extent than Anamooka, which is ranked among the smaller isles. It is probable that the Prince William's Islands of Tasman, and the Keppel's and Boscawen's Islands of captain Wallis, are comprehended in this list of islands subject to Tongataboo.

When Poulaho was asked in what manner the inhabitants of this latter island had acquired the knowledge of iron, he replied that they had at first received it from a neighbouring island called Neeootabootaboo. A ship had touched at that island a few years before, and had purchased a club from one of the natives for five nails, which were afterwards sent to Tongataboo. This was the first iron known among them, and there can be little doubt that the ship from which it was procured was the Dolphin. If Poulaho's description of this island be compared with captain Wallis's narrative, it will appear evident that Neeootabootaboo is the same as Keppel's Island.

But the most considerable islands within the knowledge of these people are Hamoa, Vavaoo, and Feejee. The two former are the largest islands under the dominion of Tongataboo; and from the information which captain Cook received, it would appear that the inhabitants of Hamoa had outstripped the other islanders in arts and refinement. Feejee was hostile to Tongataboo, and its inhabitants were regarded with dread by the natives of the Friendly Islands for their fierceness in battle, and their savage practice of devouring their enemies. The men of Feejee, while they retain this barbarous custom, are not inferior to their neighbours in art and ingenuity. Before captain Cook left the Friendly Islands he repaid the kindness of Poulaho by a gift of inestimable value, consisting of live stock, horses, cows, sheep, and goats. The islanders seemed gratified with the gift, and promised not to kill any of the animals until they had multiplied to a considerable number. On touching at Eooa our navigators were supplied with turnips, the produce of some seed scattered by them here on a former voyage.

After remaining at the Friendly Islands between two and three months, during which time he became minutely acquaint