Narrative of the Voyages Round the World, Performed by Captain James Cook | Page 7

Hornsby,
on the same eclipse, and thence computed the difference of longitude
respecting the places of observation, making due allowance for the
effect of parallax, and the prolate spheroidal figure of the earth. It
appears from the Transactions that our navigator had already obtained
the character of being an able mathematician.

CHAPTER II.
Narrative of Captain Cook's first voyage round the world.
There is scarcely any thing from which the natural curiosity of man
receives a higher gratification, than from the accounts of distant
countries and nations. Nor is it curiosity only that is gratified by such
accounts; for the sphere of human knowledge is hereby enlarged, and
various objects are brought into view, an acquaintance with which
greatly contributes to the improvement of life and the benefit of the
world. With regard to information of this kind, the moderns have
eminently the advantage over the ancients. The ancients could neither
pursue their enquiries with the same accuracy, nor carry them on to the
same extent. Travelling by land was much more inconvenient and
dangerous than it hath been in later times; and, as navigation was
principally confined to coasting, it must necessarily have been
circumscribed within very narrow limits.
The invention of the compass, seconded by the ardent and enterprising
spirit of several able men, was followed by wonderful discoveries.
Vasco di Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope; and a new way being
thus found out to the East Indies, the countries to that part of the earth
became more accurately and extensively known. Another world was
discovered by Columbus; and, at length, Magalhaens accomplished the
arduous and hitherto unattempted task of sailing round the globe. At
different periods he was succeeded by other circumnavigators, of

whom it is no part of the present narrative to give an account.
The spirit of discovery, which was so vigorous during the latter end of
the fifteenth and through the whole of the sixteenth century, began,
soon after the commencement of the seventeenth century, to decline.
Great navigations were only occasionally undertaken, and more from
the immediate views of avarice or war, than from any noble and
generous principles. But of late years they have been revived, with the
enlarged and benevolent design of promoting the happiness of the
human species.
A beginning of this kind was made in the reign of George the Second,
during which two voyages were performed; the first under the
command of Captain Middleton, and the next under the direction of
Captains Smith and More, in order to discover a northwest passage
through Hudson's Bay. It was reserved, however, for the glory of the
present reign to carry the spirit of discovery to its height, and to
conduct it on the noblest principles; not for the purposes of
covetuousness or ambition; not to plunder or destroy the inhabitants of
newly-explored countries; but to improve their condition, to instruct
them in the arts of life, and to extend the boundaries of science.
No sooner was peace restored, in 1763, than these laudable designs
engaged his majesty's patronage; and two voyages round the world had
been undertaken before Mr. Cook set out on his first command. The
conductors of these voyages were the Captains Byron, Wallis, and
Carteret,[4] by whom several discoveries were made, which
contributed, in no small degree, to increase the knowledge of
geography and navigation. Nevertheless, as the purpose for which they
were sent out appears to have had a principal reference to a particular
object in the South Atlantic, the direct track they were obliged to hold,
on their way homeward by the East Indies, prevented them from doing
so much as might otherwise have been expected towards giving the
world a complete view of that immense expanse of ocean, which the
South Pacific comprehends.
[Footnote 4: The Captains Wallis and Carteret went out together upon
the same expedition; but the vessels they commanded having

accidentally parted company, they proceeded and returned by a
different route. Hence their voyages are distinctly related by Dr.
Hawkesworth.]
Before Captain Wallis and Captain Carteret had returned to Great
Britain, another voyage was resolved upon, for which the improvement
of astronomical science afforded the immediate occasion. It having
been calculated by astronomers, that a transit of Venus over the Sun's
disk would happen in 1769, it was judged that the best place for
observing it would be in some part of the South Sea, either at the
Marquesas, or at one of those islands which Tasman had called
Amsterdam; Rotterdam, and Middleburg, and which are now better
known under the appellation of the Friendly Islands. This being a
matter of eminent consequence in astronomy, and which excited the
attention of foreign nations as well as of our own, the affair was taken
up by the Royal Society, with the