ntitled _The Voyages of Captain
Cook round the World_, which contains his own most interesting journals.

Passing over the years which intervene between the period of which we
have been writing and the last voyage he ever made to the islands of the
South Seas, we leap at once, in the next chapter, to the sad closing
scenes of the great navigator's career.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THE LAST VOYAGE AND SAD END OF THE GREAT DISCOVERER.

In the spring of 1776 Captain Cook set sail on his last voyage, in
command of the _Resolution_, accompanied by the _Discovery_ under
Captain Clerke, an able officer, who had been Cook's second lieutenant
on board the _Resolution_ in his second voyage round the world.

The expedition was well supplied with everything that might conduce to
its success, or to the comfort of those engaged in it, and many useful
articles were put on board to be given to the South-Sea islanders, with
a view to improve their condition--among other things, some live-stock,
which, it was hoped, would multiply on the islands--such as a bull, and
two cows with their calves, and some sheep; besides a quantity of such
European garden seeds as were likely to thrive in those regions.

It says much for the perseverance and energy of Captain Cook that,
although his education had been so defective that he only began to study
Euclid and Astronomy at the age of thirty-one, he was nevertheless
competent to conduct, without the aid of a scientific man, the
astronomical department of this voyage.

The vessels touched at the Cape of Good Hope in passing, and sailed
thence on their voyage of discovery, which extended over three years,
during which period they visited Van Diemen's land, on the south of
Australia, New Zealand, the Society Islands, Sandwich Islands, and other
groups of the Pacific; also the western and northern coasts of North
America, and saw new and beautiful regions, as well as strange and
wonderful--in some cases terrible--sights, the mere enumeration of
which, without going into detail, would fill many pages. We hasten,
therefore, to that point in the narrative which describes the visit of
the expedition to the island of Owhyhee, where its heroic commander
terminated his brilliant career.

On January 1779 the _Resolution_ and the _Discovery_ put into a large
bay named Karakakooa on the west of the island, for the purpose of
refitting the ships and laying in an additional supply of water and
provisions. The