Cook was now taken seriously ill and was confined to his bed for several days by what he calls the bilious cholic, during which time “Mr. Patten, the surgeon, was to me, not only a skilful physician, but an affectionate nurse.”  He recovered very slowly, and the want of fresh food told against him when it came to the question of gathering strength.  The only fresh meat on board was a dog belonging to Mr. Forster, which was duly sacrificed and made into soup:  “Thus I received nourishment and strength from food which would have made most people in Europe sick.”  Marra’s Journal says, under 23rd February: 

“This day the Captain was taken ill, to the grief of all the ship’s company.” 28th February:  “The Captain this day much better, which each might read in the countenance of the other, from the highest officer to the meanest boy on board the ship.” 4th March:  “The Captain perfectly recovered from his illness, to the great joy of the ship’s company.”

Easter island.

At 8 A.M., on 11th March, Easter Island was sighted from the masthead, and shortly after noon some of the gigantic statues mentioned in Roggewin’s Voyages were clearly distinguished through the glasses.  The position of the ship at noon had been fixed as 27 degrees 3 minutes South, 109 degrees 46 minutes West.  Standing on and off till next morning, fair anchorage was found in thirty-six fathoms, but it proved too near the edge of a bank, and they were driven off it in the night.  One or two canoes came out to meet them as they were working back, from which plantains were purchased, and Cook proceeded ashore, where he was immediately surrounded by natives; indeed, some even swam out to meet him.  Many of them possessed European hats, jackets, handkerchiefs, etc., which they were said to have obtained from the Spaniards in 1770.  Their language was very similar to that of Otaheite, and Odidie was able to understand them fairly well.  There were no trees exceeding ten feet in height, and the land is described as extremely parched and dreary, though a few plantations were seen.  Some remarkable pieces of stonework were noticed, enclosing small areas of ground, in some of which were the statues already mentioned.  These were not looked upon by the natives as objects of worship, although they did not like the pavements by which they were surrounded being walked over, or the statues being closely examined.  Mr. Forster regarded the enclosures as burial grounds, and the statues (portions of some of them are at the British Museum) as monuments to chiefs.

The water supply being found very bad, though Gonzales is said to have found good springs, and the fresh food for sale but scanty, the stay was cut short, and on 16th March sail was made for the Marquesas, discovered by Mendana in 1595.  The next day, according to Marra, the fresh provisions obtained were served out to the crew at the Captain’s expense: 

“namely, two pounds of potatoes a man, and a bunch of bananas to each mess; and this without reducing their ordinary allowance; an act of generosity which produced its effect; it preserved the crew in health, and encouraged them to undergo cheerfully the hardships that must unavoidably happen in the course of so long a voyage.”