there, and on the 3rd of June 1769 the main object
of the expedition was fulfilled by a successful observation. But
he then proceeded farther, and arrived soon at a land which he
saw reason to identify with the Staaten Land of Tasman; but on
coasting along this, Cook found that, so far from belonging to a
great southern continent, it was composed of two islands, between
which he sailed, giving his name to the strait separating them.
Leaving New Zealand on the 31st of March 1770, on the 20th of the
next month he came across another land to the westward, hitherto
unknown to mariners. Entering an inlet, he explored the neighbourhood
with the aid of Mr. Joseph Banks, the naturalist of the expedition.
He found so many plants new to him, that the bay was termed Botany
Bay.

He then coasted northward, and nearly lost his ship upon the great
reef running down the eastern coast; but by keeping within it he
managed to reach the extreme end of the land in this direction,
and proved that it was distinct from New Guinea. In other words,
he had reached the southern point of the strait named after Torres.
To this immense line of coast Cook gave the name of New South Wales,
from some resemblance that he saw to the coast about Swansea. By this
first voyage Cook had proved that neither New Holland nor Staaten
Land belonged to the great Antarctic continent, which remained
the sole myth bequeathed by the ancients which had not yet been
definitely removed from the maps. In his second voyage, starting
in 1772, he was directed to settle finally this problem. He went
at once to the Cape of Good Hope, and from there started out on
a zigzag journey round the Southern Pole, poking the nose of his
vessel in all directions as far south as he could reach, only pulling
up when he touched ice. In whatever direction he advanced he failed
to find any trace of extensive land corresponding to the supposed
Antarctic continent, which he thus definitely proved to be non-existent.
He spent the remainder of this voyage in rediscovering various
sets of archipelagos which preceding Spanish, Dutch, and English
navigators had touched, but had never accurately surveyed. Later
on Cook made a run across the Pacific from New Zealand to Cape
Horn without discovering any extensive land, thus clinching the
matter after three years' careful inquiry. It is worthy of remark
that during that long time he lost but four out of 118 men, and
only one of them by sickness.

O