The _Cook's Log_ presented by Sir Joseph Banks to the British Museum, and catalogued therein as 8959, is the most important of what Logs I, as an archivist, would regard the genuine Cook's, as it was sanctioned by the authority of a fellow voyager. The quotation from this Log, on the taking possession of the territory, runs thus:-- "Mod. and clear wea^r. saw a number of smoaks along shore at 1 Lay too for the yawl, Pinnace and Longboat, Sounding ½ p^t. 2 made sail and steer'd for a passage, Between some Islands and the Main at 3 fired a gun and made the Signell for the Boats to sound the next Passage, to the N.ward of the above Mention'd ¾ p^t. 3 was in the Passage Dist^ce. from Each shore ¾ of a mile--saw several Indians who follow'd us shouting. At 4 fir'd a gun and made the Signell for the Boats. Came too with the B^t. Bower in 6¾ fa^m. good ground Veer'd to ½ a Cable. Ext^e. of the Land on the East side No. 56 E^t. an Island to S.W. the Main on the W^t. side from N.S.E. to S. 73 W^t. 8 miles Dist^ce. from the Eastern shore One mile. The Pinnace and yawl with the Capt^n. and Gentlemen went on shore to Examin the Country and view the Coast from one of the Hills. Soon after saw some Turtle it was high water. When we came too, the Tide of Ebb set from the S.W. 3k. 2m. p^r. Hour, at 6 possession was taken of this Country in his majesty's name and under his Coulours Fired several volleys of small arms on the occasion and Cheer'd 3 times, which was answer'd from the ship." There is, therefore, in the most orthodox Logs of H.M.S. _Endeavour_, not any authority for the names of _Botany Bay_ and _New South Wales_. END. In a capital sketch of Captain Cook, appearing in the Sydney _Town and Country Journal_ on February 22, 1879, when the noble New South Wales statue to Captain Cook was unveiled, the writer observed, "what the legendary Æneas was to Rome, Captain James Cook is to Eastern Australia." Though the remark only referred to the remarkable wanderings by both men over various seas, the word _legendary_ may, in a way, be applied to the two. The voyage of the _Trojan_ has been regarded by the learned men of Europe as mythical, or, at least, explanatory of shifting reckonings of time, or to such groupings of constellations as should elucidate human fancies, and the inventions of quasi-historians. Æneas was but a poetical creation, and Cook was a living hero of the ocean. Yet, around the narratives of Cook's first southern voyage, when he was said to have discovered Eastern Australia, have gathered so many mysteries, as almost to give them the colour of myths.