id not remember having seen any of
them at his previous visit, and thought none of them recognised him. They
had their cooking utensils with them, and he concluded they intended to
settle down, at any rate for a time.

Gardens had been started by Furneaux on his arrival, and Cook tried to
interest the Maoris in them; he showed them the potatoes, carrots, and
parsnips, which they seemed to understand and appreciate, and they
promised to look after them. He remarks that the intercourse between the
Maoris and the whites did not tend to improve the morals of the former,
whom he had hitherto looked upon as superior in that respect to the other
South Sea Islanders he had come across.

THE WATCH MACHINE.

On 7th June the two ships put to sea, and on the 8th some accident
happened to Arnold's timepiece on board the Resolution, and they were
unable to wind it up. So far it had been working very well, but not quite
so accurately as Kendal's. On the return of the ship to England, Arnold
was informed that either by carelessness or wilfully Mr. Wales had caused
this difficulty. Wales attributed this rumour to the Forsters, to whom he
wrote on the subject, and it is very evident from their replies that
though they did not admit having circulated the report, they were not
ignorant that Arnold had been so informed. There does not appear to be
any ground for the accusation, but it does appear very probable it
originated with the Forsters.

Throughout the rest of June they experienced very rough weather, and it
was not till 18th July that they reached 133 degrees West, having seen no
signs of land on their way. Cook therefore turned northwards so as to
cross the space between his track north and return south in 1769. This
course would practically settle one view about the supposed Southern
Continent, for it had been laid down by some of the theorists that it
must be in the middle latitudes of the South Pacific. New Zealand had
been said to be the western side of this continent (already disproved by
Cook in his previous voyage), and what Forster calls "the pretended
discoveries near America," the eastern side. The proposed course would
take the ships through the centre of the part of the ocean in dispute.

On 29th July, Cook sent a boat to the Adventure, as he had heard her crew
were very sickly, and found that about twenty of her men were down with
scurvy, and the cook had died of the disease. Orders were given that the
utmost preca