CAPTAIN COOK LETTERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 12 January 1915, Page 3

CAPTAIN COOK LETTERS

FIRST AND SECOND VOYAGES TO SOUTH SEAS. Mr j". Marsden, of Stoke, has rticei'v-; ed particulars of a series of four Original autograph letters Iwritten by Captairi C«oR. tllti fa'rtiGus dl'Ciiifhtlayigaioi', k> Mr John Walker, A partner in trig nf'iil of Whitby > tcrwhom - Cook was bound J apprentice,? arid? iii services h.B has his first experience of a i eAiiof's life. Coiicefniiig tnfe fifst voyage to the South Seas it is rfefitfrded "What I mean by the South Sea Islands, are those that He -within and about the tropics. They are iri general small, arid txeofgg's Island, -vvhicih is only about 33 leagues ill circuit, ds Ottfe ef the largest. Ihe inhabitants of this island gave us -an account and the flames of 130 islands lying in these seas. . "These people may be said to be exempted from the curse of our forefathers. Scarce can it be said that they earn their bread by the sweat of their brows. Benevolent nature hath not only provided them with necessaries, but many of the luxuries of life. Loaves of bread, or at least what serves as a most excellent substitute, grow here in a manner spontaneously upon trees; besides a great many other fruits and roots, and the sea coasts are well stored with a vast variety of excellent fish. They have only three spieces of tame animals, hogs, dogs and fowls; all of which they eat. Dogs we learnt from them also to eat, and there were but .few among us, who did not think that a South Sea dog ate as well as an English lamb. . . . "In the beginning"of August, 1769, we quitted the tropical region, and steered to the southward, in the midst of the

South Sea to the height of 40deg. without meeting with any land . ._ . until we fell, in with the coast of New Zealand, a very small part of the west coast of which was first discovered by Tasman an 1642, but he never once set foot upon it. This country was thought to be a 'part of the Southern Continent, but I ! have found it to be two islands, both of which I circumnavigated in the space of six months. They extend from the latitude of 34 deg. south to, 474 deg. south, and are together nearly as bier as Great Britain. It i#a hilly mountainous country, but rich and fertile ; especially the northern part, where it' is also "well inhabited. The inhabitants of this country are a strong, well-made, active people, rather above the common size. They are cf a very dark brown colour with long black hair. They are also a brave, warlike people, with sentiments void of treachery. Their arms are spears, clubs, halberts, battleaxes, darts, and stones. They live in strongholds or fortified towns, built in well chosen situations and according to art.. ... "The men very- often go naked, ,}v:th only a narrow belt about their waists-; the women, on the contrary, never appear naked. Their government, religion, notions of the creation of the world, mankind, etc., are much the same as those of the natives of the South Sea Islands." Describing his second voyage to the South' Seas, it is written:— "We anchored; for a third , time in Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand, ■where we remained three weeks. The inhabitant* of this place gave us some account of some strangers having been tilled by them, but we did not understand' they were part of our Consort's crew till we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope. TTiat the New Zealanders are cannibals will no longer be disputed, not onlv from the melancholy fate of the 'Adventure's' people and Captain Morton i and his fellow sufferers, but from what I ! and my whole crew have seen with our eyes. Nevertheless I think them a good sort of people." A verv interesting' passage in the letter relating to these cruises in the Pacific Ocean is that which describes Easter Island : "At this isle are stone statues of a vast size, erected along the sea coast, we saw some 27 feet high, of ■proportional thickness and all of one piece. . We judged them to'be places dedicated to the dead, their shape was a rude resemßTance of a man, and crowned with a great stone in the shape of a drum, but vastly larger."