Page:Captain Cook's Journal during His First Voyage Round the World.djvu/56

l of his greatness, their confidence in his leadership and in his justice, led them to love him. He had no sympathy with the ordinary foibles and weaknesses of his men. The charms of Tahiti, the paradise of the sailor, were no charms for him; he hardly notices the attractive ladies of that island; the attractions of the place to him were the abundance of provisions, as a means of fitting his expedition for further exploration and hardship. The strongest proof of his capacity as a commander is the devotion of his officers. Those who know the Navy know how difficult it is for any man who rises from the ranks to be successful in command. But Cook was a gentleman born; he had the intuition of great minds for fitting themselves to every position to which they may rise, and there is never a whisper of disinclination to submit to the rule of the once collier boy, the son of a labourer.

His intelligence is remarkably shown in his greatest triumph, the suppression of scurvy. That it should be left to a man of little education to discern the combination of means by which this enemy of long voyages could be conquered, is the most remarkable thing about this remarkable man. He himself notices the disinclination of the sailor to any new article of food, especially when not particularly palatable; but he soon found the means to induce them to understand that their lives greatly depended upon these rather nasty messes. Sour krout; the unsavoury portable soups of that day; the strange greens that Cook insisted on hunting up at every land he visited, and boiling with their ordinary food; the constant washing between decks; the drying below with stoves, even in the hottest weather; the personal baths; the change of wet clothing; the airing of bedding, were all foreign and repugnant to the notions of the seamen of the day, and it required constant supervision and wise management to enforce the adoption of these odd foods and customs.

It is evident that it is to Cook's personal action the success was due. Wallis and Byron had anti-scorbutics, but they suffered from scurvy; Furneaux, sailing with Cook in the second voyage, under precisely similar circumstances, suffered from scurvy. It was only in Cook's ships, and in the Discovery, commanded and officered by men who had sailed with Cook, and seen his methods, that exemption occurred.

Cook did more, incomparably more, than any other navigator to discover new lands. This was only accomplished by dint of hard work; and yet his men suffered less than in any ships, British or foreign, on similar expeditions. Though his tracks were in new and unknown waters, we never hear of starvation; he always manages to have an abundant supply of water.