We came to few places, where either the art of man, or the bounty of nature, had not provided some sort of refreshment or other, either in the animal or vegetable way. It was my first care to procure whatever of any kind could be met with, by every means in my power; and to oblige our people to make use thereof, both by my example and authority; but the benefits arising from refreshments of any kind soon became so obvious, that I had little occasion, to recommend the one, or to exert the other.
It doth not become me to say how far the principal objects of our voyage have been obtained. Though it hath not abounded with remarkable events, nor been diversified by sudden transitions of fortune; though my relation of it has been more employed in tracing our course by sea, than in recording our operations on shore; this, perhaps, is a circumstance from which the curious reader may infer, that the purposes for which we were sent into the Southern Hemisphere, were diligently and effectually pursued. Had we found out a continent there, we might have been better enabled to gratify curiosity; but we hope our not having found it, after all our persevering researches, will leave less room for future speculation about unknown worlds remaining to be explored.
But, whatever may be the public judgment about other matters, it is with real satisfaction, and without claiming any merit but that of attention to my duty, that I can conclude this account with an observation, which facts enable me to make; that our having discovered the possibility of preserving health amongst a numerous ship’s company, for such a length of time, in such varieties of climate, and amidst such continued hardships and fatigues, will make this voyage remarkable in the opinion of every benevolent person, when the disputes about a Southern Continent shall have ceased to engage the attention, and to divide the judgment of philosophers.
(Tables of the route of the Resolution and the Adventure, the variation of the compass and meteorological observations during the voyage.)
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A VOCABULARY OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE SOCIETY ISLES.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE VOCABULARY.
As all nations who are acquainted with the method of communicating their ideas by characters, (which represent the sound that conveys the idea,) have some particular method of managing, or pronouncing, the sounds represented by such characters, this forms a very essential article in the constitution of the language of any particular nation, and must, therefore, be understood before we can make any progress in learning, or be able to converse in it. But as this is very complex and tedious to a beginner, by reason of the great variety of powers the characters, or letters, are endued with under different circumstances, it would seem necessary, at least in languages which have never before appeared in writing, to lessen the