The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. IV. Being the Second of the Second Voyage.Cook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. IV. Being the Second of the Second Voyage.
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
The mountain on Paoom was seen over the east end of
Apee, bearing N. N. W. at eight o’clock. A breeze at S. E. relieved us
from the anxiety the calm had occasioned; and we spent the night making
short boards.
The night before we came out of Port Sandwich, two reddish fish, about
the size of large bream, and not unlike them, were caught with hook and
line. On these fish most of the officers, and some of the petty
officers, dined the next day. The night following, every one who had
eaten of them was seized with violent pains in the head and bones,
attended with a scorching heat all over the skin, and numbness in the
joints. There remained no doubt that this was occasioned by the fish
being of a poisonous nature, and having communicated its bad effects to
all who partook of them; even to the hogs and dogs. One of the former
died about sixteen hours after; it was not long before one of the latter
shared the same fate; and it was a week or ten days, before all the
gentlemen recovered. These must have been the same sort of fish
mentioned by Quiros[4], under the name of Pargos, which poisoned the
crews of his ships, so that it was some time before they recovered; and
we should, doubtless, have been in the same situation, had more of them
been eaten.
At day-break on the 25th, we made a short stretch to the east of
Shepherd’s Isles till after sun-rise, when, seeing no more land in that
direction, we tacked and stood for the island we had seen in the south,
having a gentle breeze at S. E. We passed to the east of Threehills, and
likewise of a low isle, which lies on the S. E. side of it, between a
remarkable peaked rock which obtained the name of Monument, and a small
island named Twohills, on account of two peaked hills upon it, disjoined
by a low and narrow isthmus. The channel between this island and the
Monument is near a mile broad, and twenty-four fathoms deep. Except this
rock, which is only accessible to birds, we did not find an island on
which people were not seen. At noon, we observed, in latitude 17° 18ʹ
30ʺ longitude, made from Port Sandwich, 45ʹ East. In this situation the
Monument bore N. 16° East, distant two miles; Twohills bore N. 25° West,
distant two miles, and in a line with the S. W. part of Threehills; and
the islands to the South extended from S. 16° 30ʹ E. to S. 42° West.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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