n in the
east, and, gradually rising, formed a brilliant arch across the heavens,
with a light sufficiently strong to cast shadows on the deck, and at one
time to allow a book to be read. A description of the incidents met
with during this part of the voyage would not prove generally
interesting. One, however, must not be omitted.

The Resolution being off a large ice island, round which there was a
quantity of loose ice, Captain Cook sent two boats to take some on
board. The island was not less than half a mile in circumference, and
its summit three or four hundred feet above the surface of the sea.
While the boats were thus engaged in its neighbourhood, it was seen to
bend over till it turned nearly bottom up, though it seemed by the
change not to have lost either in height or size. The boats escaped
without damage from their dangerous position.

During all the time, up to the separation of the two ships, the crews
had enjoyed generally excellent health. A few slight symptoms of scurvy
had appeared, but they were quickly subdued by a liberal use of the
remedies which had been supplied. The fresh wort made from malt seems
to have been very efficacious in arresting the malady. Occasionally,
too, when the weather allowed, the men's bedding and clothes were spread
on deck to air, and the ship was smoked and cleaned between decks. This
prevented the crews from contracting those diseases which have proved so
fatal on board ships where they have been neglected.

At length, by the middle of March, the antarctic summer being nearly
over, and his crew requiring rest and his ship refitting, Captain Cook
shaped a course which would soon bring her into a more genial clime. He
had purposed visiting Van Diemen's Land, but as the wind would not allow
him to shape a course for that country, he steered for New Zealand,
which was sighted on March 25. A heavy gale compelled him to keep at
sea, but the following day he entered Dusky Bay, at the south-west end
of Tavai Poenammoo, or the Middle Island, as it is now called. This was
on Friday, March 26, after having been one hundred and seventeen days at
sea, and sailed over three thousand six hundred and sixty leagues, or
nearly ten thousand miles, without having once sighted land. Only one
man, and he of a naturally bad habit of body, had been seriously ill;
and Cook attributed the excellent health of his crew, partly to the
frequent airing and sweetening of the ship by fires