The Journals of Captain Cook
1.
Batavia is certainly a place
that Europeans need not covet
to go to, but if necessity obliges
them they will soon feel the effects
of the unwholsome air of Batavia
which I firmly believe is the death
of more Europeans than any other place
upon the Globe of the same extent,
such at least is my opinion of it
which is founded on facts.
2.Sunday 11th April. Rain continued
all this PM but the morning was clear
and serene. Mr. Forster and his party
profited by the day in botanizing.
About ten o'clock the natives paid us
a visit. I caused the bagpipes and fife
to be played and the drum to be beat,
this last they admired most. They
entered into conversation with such
of the officers & Seamen as went
to them and paid a much greater regard
to some more than others, and these
we had reason to believe they took to be
Women, to one man in particular the girl
showed an extraordinary fondness until
she discovered his sex and then
she would not suffer him to come near her,
whether it was because she before really
took him for a woman or that the man
had taken some liberties with her which
she thus resented I know not.
3.We have a breeding sow on board
which yesterday morning farrowed
nine pigs, every one of which were
killed by the cold before four o'clock
in the afternoon notwithstanding all
the care we could take of them, from
the same cause people on board have
their feet and hands chillblained,
from the circumstances a judgement
may be formed of the summer weather
we enjoy here.
4.According at 4 o'Clock in the AM
we Tacked and Stood to the North,
stormy Weather still continuing
which together with a great
Sea from the East, made great
destruction among the Islands of Ice.
Great as these dangers are
they are now become so familiar
that the apprehensions they
cause are never of long duration
and are in some measure compensated
by the very curious and romantick
views many of these Islands exhibit
and which are greatly heightened
by the foaming and dashing of
the waves against them and into
the several holes and caverns
which are formed in the most of
them, in short the Whole exhibits
a view which can only be described
by the pencil of an able painter
and at once fills the mind with
admiration and horror.
5.Lands doomed by Nature
to everlasting frigidness
and never once to feel
the warmth of the sun's rays,
whose horrible and savage
aspect I have no words
to describe: such are the lands
we have discovered.
6.During the night and all the next day
the Volcano made a terrible noise
throwing up prodigious Columns of Smoak
and fire at every irruption, at one time
great stones were seen high in the air.
7.Upon my return to the Ship
in the evening I found the water
&c. all on board and the Ship
ready for sea and being now
resolved to quit this country
altogether and to bend my
thoughts towards returning
home by such a route as might
conduce most to the advantage
of the service I am upon,
I consulted with the officers
upon the most eligible way
of putting this in execution.
8.Saturday 18th February. At Noon
we were in the Latitude of 54° 25',
Longitude 8° 46' East. I thought
this was a good latitude to keep in
to look for Cape Circumcision.
9.Such are the consequences of a commerce with Europeans,
we debauch their morals and introduce among them wants
and perhaps diseases which they never before knew
and which serve only to disturb that happy tranquillity
they and their forefathers enjoyed. If anyone denies the truth
of this assertion let him tell me what the Natives of the whole
extent of America have gained by the commerce they have had
with Europeans.
10.For many to whome we gave Cloth &c. to
left it carelessly upon the Sea beach
and in the woods as a thing
they had no manner of use for.
In short they seem'd to set no Value
upon any thing we gave them.
11.Besides the Animal which I have before
mentioned called by the Natives
KANGOOROO, here are Wolves, Possums,
an Animal like a ratt, and snakes both
of the Venomous and other sorts.
12.Sunday 26th April. Everything
being ready, we cast off our moorings
and stood to the West. Fine pleasant
weather and gentle breezes of Wind