S E C T. IV. Second Voyage from New Zealand to Otaheiie, and from thence back again.. ' 773- the 25th of November in the year 17735 we fail- ^ ed from New Zealand, in order once more, and during another fummer, to explore the cold fouthern latitudes.' From the 13th to the 21ft of December we pahed for the firft, and in all probability for the laft time, that part o f the globe, which is the direct antipodes to Sweden', fo that I was now on the fpot the moft diftant from my nati ve country of any on the whole globe, as the neareft way home, fuppofing one could go through the center of the earth, or the length of the whole earth’s diameter, was.ahout fix thoufand eight hundred and twenty- one miles. This aftonilhing diftance, however, did not prevent my rapid thoughts from frequently vifiting my beloved countrymen and’ relations during this period, while my feet were in direct tippofition to their’s. I After this we advanced ftill farther, infomuch that on the 20th of December we pafled the antar¿tic circle a fecond time, and did not repafs it till the 25 th, fo that we kept our Chrift- mas-eve (though, it mult be owned, a very meagre one) in the frigid zone. On the 26th of the following month we we pafled the fouthern polar circle, for the third time. We now penetrated into the fouthern regions as far as we O-y-O could go; as before we had got to 71 deg. 14 min. we were prevented by the ice from putting in execution thè fcheme we had fondly formed of hoifting the Britifh flag in a fixth part of the world, or even in the fouthern pole itfelf. We now therefore turned about to the north, in order to take in refrelhments in a warmer climate, as winter or the cold feafon was expected foon to return. On the 14th of March we anchored off Eajier-ijland, which is fituated in 27 deg. S. lat. and 199 deg. 46 min. W. long. Here we found no good water, and few refrefh- ments o f any fort. The lava and other volcanic productions that we faw here, together with fome huge images o f itone raifed to fome height from the ground, plainly evinced, that fome violent revolution o f the earth had defaced a country which had been formerly in a more flourilhing condition, and thereby 1 reduced a once powerful nation to the wretched fiate in which we how found it. 0-5 On the ió th of March we failed from hence, and on the 7 th o f April anchored off .one of the Marquefas iilands. Thefe are fituated in about xo deg. of lat. The greater part of them were difcovered by the- Spaniards a hundred years’ ago. The inhabitants gavé us feveral proofs of their difpofition to hoftilities as well as thieving, fo that we were obliged to leave them fome bloody marks of the efficacy of our fire-arms. Having ftaid here a few days we fet fail, and after a quick paffage, landed at tfeokea, in lat. 14'. We met with fome hoftilities from the people here, but contented ourfelves with infpjring them with terror, by firing our cannons over their
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