Yes,  the  world  was  beginning  to  jog  along  faster.
It  is  now  that  we  first  particularly  hear  of  the  prince
42


CAPTAIN  COOK

who  was  to  awaken  the  sleeping  palace.  This  prince's
name  was  James  Cook.  Not  a  very  royal-sounding
one  in  those  days,  but  immortal  in  our  ears  now.
Cook  took  the  soundings  that  allowed  the  British
ships  to  navigate  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  so  helped
Wolfe  to  win  his  great  victory.  He  had  been  once
a  draper's  apprentice  in  Yorkshire,  until,  driven  by
his  own  nature,  he  took  to  the  sea.  Cook  gained
much  notice  by  his  skill  and  bravery,  and  in  1768
was  appointed  to  command  an  expedition  to  the
South  Seas  in  order  to  observe  the  Transit  of  Venus.
This  being  successfully  done,  he  continued  his  voyage
in  his  ship  Endeavour,  a  barque  of  320  tons  burden
that  had  once  been  a  collier,  in  order  to  circum-
navigate the  globe.  He  beat  about  in  the  South
Seas  looking  for  the  Great  South  Land  of  the  Dutch,
and  fell  upon  New  Zealand,  which  had  been  discovered
by  Tasman,  as  we  have  seen,  a  hundred  and  twenty
years  before.  He  thoroughly  surveyed  the  coasts
there,  and  sailed  again  west  early  in  April  1770.
Of  all  months  in  the  year  April  is  the  most
pleasant  in  our  Australian  climate.  The  autumn  rains
have  fallen,  and  have  awakened  all  Nature  from  her
long  summer  sleep.  You  can  almost  see  the  herbage
grow  then,  and  the  warm  summer  days  are  followed
by  cool  starry  nights  which  have  not  yet  grown
bitterly  cold.  It  must  have  been  a  happy  time,  for
they  were  a  goodly  company  on  board  the  barque.
