Celebrated Travels and Travellers Vol 2 First part chapter III - Captain Cook’s first voyage part 1b

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Section 12 of Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org. Recording by Marianne. Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Volume 2 Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century, by Jules Verne. First Part, Chapter 3, Part 1 CAPTAIN COOK'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1B.

On the 7th of July preparations for departure began. In a short time the doors and palings were removed, and the walls demolished. At this moment one of the natives, who had received the English with cordiality, came on board with a young lad of about thirteen years of age, who acted as his servant. His name was Topia. Formerly first minister to Queen Oberia, he was afterwards one of the principal priests of Tahiti. He asked to be allowed to go to England. Many reasons combined to decide Cook upon permitting this. Thoroughly acquainted, as a necessary consequence of his high functions, with all the particulars concerning Tahiti, this native would be able to give the most circumstantial details of his compatriots, and at the same time to initiate them into the civilized customs of the Europeans. Finally, he had visited the neighboring islands and perfectly understood the navigation of those latitudes. On the 13th of July there was a crowd on board the Endeavour. The natives came to bid farewell to their English friends, and to their countrymen, to Pia. Some overcome with silent sorrow, shed tears. Others, on the contrary, uttered piercing cries, with less of true grief than of affection in their demonstrations.

In the immediate neighborhood of Tahiti were to be found, according to Tupia, four islands, Huahiani, Ula'ita, Otaha, and Bola Bola. He asserted that wild pigs, fowls, and other needful provisions could easily be obtained there. These commodities had become scarce in the latter part of this day, at Multivai. Cook, however, preferred visiting a small island called Tethuora, about eight miles north of Tahiti, but the natives had no regular settlement, and he therefore considered it useless to wait there.

When they came inside of Huahiani, several pierogies approached the endeavor, and it was only after they recognized Tupia that the natives consented to come on board. King Oria, who was among the passengers, was greatly surprised at all the vessel contained. Soon reassured by the welcome of the English, he became so familiar as to wish to exchange names with Cook. During the entire stay in port he always called himself Cookee, and gave his own name to the captain. Anchor was cast in a conventional harbor, and the officers of this vessel on landing found the manners, the language, and the productions of this island identical with those of Tahiti.

Seven or eight leagues southwest lay Ulaithia. Cook landed there also, and solemnly took possession of this and the three neighboring islands. He also profited by his stay to make hydrographical surveys of the shores, whilst a leak which had been found in the gun room of the endeavor was attended to. After reconnoitering various other small islands, Cook gave the entire group the name of Society Isles. Cook sailed on the 7th of August. Six days later he reconnoitered the island of Oteroa. The hostile demonstrations of the natives prevented the endeavor from remaining. She set sail for the south. On the 25th of August, the anniversary of their departure from England was celebrated by the crew. On the 1st of September, in 40 degrees 22 minutes south latitude, 174 degrees 29 minutes east longitude, the sea, agitated by a west wind, became very rough. The endeavor was obliged to put her head to the north and to run before the storm. Up to the third the weather continued the same. Then it abated and it was possible to resume the westward route. In a few days, sundry indications of an island or a continent appeared, such as floating weeds, land birds, etc.

On the fifth of October the color of the sea changed, and on the morning of the sixth a coast running west by northwest was perceived. Nearer approach showed it to be of great extent. Unanimous opinion decided that the famous continent, so long looked for, so necessary for the equipoise of the world, known to cosmographers as the Unknown Land of the South, was at last discovered. This land was the eastern shore of the most northerly of the two islands which have received the name of New Zealand. Smoke was perceived at different points, and the details of the shore were soon mastered. The hills were covered with verdure, and large trees were distinguishable in the valleys. Then houses were perceived, then pierogies. Then the natives assembled on the strand. And lastly, a palisade, high and regularly built, surrounded the summit of the hill. Opinions varied as to the nature of this object, some declaring it to be a deer park, others a cattle enclosure, not to speak of many equally ingenious surmises, which were all proved false, when later it turned out to be a paw.