Note 1. It should be mentioned that Lieutenant Pickersgill was sent out, in 1776, with directions to explore the coast of Baffin’s Bay, and that in the next year Lieutenant Young was commissioned not only to examine the western parts of that bay, but to endeavour to find a passage on that side from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Both officers returned without effecting anything. The first was severely censured for his conduct; but we who know the difficulties he would have had to encounter may readily excuse him.
Note 2. Amongst the presents left by Cook at Mangaia was an axe, roughly fashioned, on the ship’s arrival, out of a piece of iron. It is still treasured in the Island as a relic of his visit.
Note 3. A promotion of officers necessarily followed the death of Captain Cook. Captain Clerke, having succeeded to the command of the expedition, removed to the Resolution. By him Mr Gore was appointed Captain of the Discovery, and the rest of the lieutenants obtained an addition of rank in their proper order.
Chapter Five.
Subsequent History of Polynesia.
In the concluding pages of this work it is proposed to give a brief sketch of the progress of Christianity and civilisation in the islands of the Pacific visited by Captain Cook. (Note 1.)
The accounts brought home by the discoverers of the degraded moral condition of the islanders, stirred up the hearts of Christians in England, and when, in 1795, the London Missionary Society was formed, one of its first proceedings was to send to those distant lands the Gospel of Christ’s salvation.