The Life of Captain James Cook, the CircumnavigatorKitson, Arthur
History
The Life of Captain James Cook, the Circumnavigator
Kitson, Arthur
Cook, James, 1728-1779; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Geographers -- Great Britain -- Biography
On 25th August they entered the bay which Cook believed to be that
discovered by De Quiros, and named by him the Bay of St. Philip and St.
Iago in the Tierra Austral del Espiritu Santo, now known as the New
Hebrides. In this conclusion Cook has the support of Dalrymple and modern
geographers, but Forster, for some reason which is not quite clear, felt
compelled to differ. Cardinal Moran, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney,
also believes Cook to have been mistaken, for in his History of the
Catholic Church in Australia, he places De Quiros's discovery in Port
Curtis, Queensland, where he claims that the first Catholic service ever
celebrated in Australia was held. He puts aside the fact that the
latitude of Port Curtis, 24 degrees South, does not agree with that given
by De Quiros, 15 degrees 20 minutes South, by saying that the positions
of newly discovered places were, in those days, "often purposely
concealed lest other navigators might appropriate to themselves and their
respective countries, the results of the discovery." He quotes details
given in De Quiros's petitions to the King of Spain, and says: "All these
details fit in admirably with Port Curtis on the Queensland coast." Now
De Quiros says the country he discovered was thickly inhabited by a
people who were armed with bows and arrows, possessed vessels of
earthenware, lived in houses of wood, roofed with palm leaves, were amply
supplied with oranges, limes, pears, almonds larger than those of Spain,
hogs, fowls, goats, capons, etc. That in the bay where he anchored there
was no sandy barren ground, no mangroves, no ants, no mosquitoes, and
that his anchorage lay between two considerable rivers. How these details
fit in with Port Curtis may be evident to his Eminence, but is not
apparent to less distinguished mortals. The district of Port Curtis when
discovered was very thinly populated, and shows no signs of ever having
been otherwise. Bows and arrows and earthenware vessels were absolutely
unknown throughout Australia; houses did not exist, except in the form of
temporary shelters of branches, leaves, and bark; the fruits and animals
mentioned were unknown; and sandy barren country with mangroves, ants,
and mosquitoes does exist in considerable quantity. The anchorage, had De
Quiros ever been there, might have been between two rivers, the Boyne and
Calliope (both of small size), but Cardinal Moran, to make this detail
"fit in admirably", has recourse to the bold measure of moving the mouth
of the Burnett River from Wide Bay to Port Curtis--some 2 1/2 degrees to
the north of its real position.
On the other hand, Cook's description of the New Hebrides fits in with
much greater accuracy. The latitude was found to be 15 degrees 5 minutes
South, and Mr. Cooper, who went ashore with the boats, reported that he
landed near a fine stream of fresh water, "probably one of those
mentioned by De Quiros; and if we were not deceived, we saw the other."
The country was described by Cook thus:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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