| Prince William's Sound. |
After a stay at Prince William's Sound, where the leak of the Resolution was repaired, Cook resumed his voyage, reconnoitred and named Elizabeth and Saint Hermogene Capes, Bank's Point, Capes Douglas and Bede, Saint Augustine's Mount, the River Cook, Kodiak Island, Trinity Island, and the islands called Schumagin by Behring. Afterwards he passed Bristol Bay, Round Island, Calm Point, Newenham Cape, where Lieutenant Williamson landed, and Anderson Island, so called in honour of the naturalist, who died there of disease of the chest; later, King Island, and Prince of Wales's Cape, the most western extremity of America. Cook then passed the Asiatic coast and entered into communication with the Tchouktchis, entered Behring Strait on the 11th of April, and next week came in contact with ice.
He tried in vain to survey in various directions. The iceberg presented an insuperable barrier. On the 17th of April, 1778, the expedition was in latitude 70° 41'. During an entire month he coasted the iceberg, in the hope of finding an opening which might enable him to proceed to the north, but in vain. It was remarked that "the ice was clear and transparent except in the upper part, which was slightly porous."
"I supposed," says Cook, "that it was frozen snow, and it appeared to me that it must have been formed in the open sea, both because it is improbable, or rather impossible, that such enormous masses could float down rivers which contain too little water for a boat, and also because we perceived no produce of the earth, which we must have done if it was so formed."
Up to this date the passage through Behring's Strait had been the least used to reach the northern latitudes. Cook's observation is valuable, as it proves that beyond this aperture a vast extent of sea without land must exist. It may possibly be (this was the view held by the lamented Gustave Lambert) that this sea is open. No greater distance north has ever been attained since Cook's time, except on the Siberian coast—where Plover and Long Islands were discovered, and where at this moment, as we write, Professor Nordenskjold is exploring.1
1 [On the 5th September, 1879, a telegram from Stockholm announced that the Swedish Arctic Expedition under Professor Nordenskjold had made the North-East Passage from Europe to Japan, and that the Swedish exploring vessel, the Vega, had arrived at Yokohama by way of Behring's Straits.]—Translator.
After most careful exploration and repeated efforts to reach higher latitudes, Cook, seeing that the season was advanced, and encountering more icebergs daily, had no choice but to seek winter quarters in a more clement country, before continuing his expedition the following summer. He therefore retraced his route as far as Ounalaska Island, and on the 26th of October steered towards the Sandwich Islands, hoping to complete his survey of them during his wintering there.
An island was discovered on the 26th of November. The natives sold a quantity of fruits, roots, bread-fruits, potatoes, "taro" and "eddy" roots, which they exchanged for nails and iron implements. It was Mowee Island, which forms part of the Sandwich Archipelago. Shortly afterwards Owhyhee or Hawai was sighted, the summits of which were covered with snow.
The captain says:—
"We never met savages so liberal as these in their views. They usually sent the different articles they wished to sell to the ships. They then came on board themselves, and finished their 'trade' on the quarter-deck. The Tahitans, in spite of our constant stays there, have not the same confidence in us. I conclude from this that the inhabitants of Owhyhee are more accurate and true in their reciprocal trade than those of Tahiti, for the latter have no honour among themselves, and are thus not inclined to believe in the honour of others."