e reader of this Journal will have
observed how useful an assistant I had found him in the course of the
voyage; and had it pleased God to have spared his life, the public,
I make no doubt, might have received from him such communications, on
various parts of the natural history of the several places we visited,
as would have abundantly shewn that he was not unworthy of this
commendation.[5] Soon after he had breathed his last, land was seen to
the westward, twelve leagues distant. It was supposed to be an island;
and, to perpetuate the memory of the deceased, for whom I had a very
great regard, I named it _Anderson's Island_. The next day, I removed
Mr Law, the surgeon of the Discovery, into the Resolution, and
appointed Mr Samuel, the surgeon's first mate of the Resolution, to be
surgeon of the Discovery.

[Footnote 5: Mr Anderson's Journal seems to have been discontinued for
about two months before his death; the last date in his MSS. being of
the 3d of June.--D.

The Biographia Britannica informs us, that Mr Anderson left his papers
to Sir Joseph Banks; but that the Admiralty took possession of the
larger part of them, and, for what reason is not mentioned, retained
them. Such parts, however, it is said, as related solely to natural
history, were delivered by Captain King to the Baronet, who bears
testimony "to the excellence of Mr A.'s character, the utility of his
observations, and to the great probability, that, if he had survived,
he would have given to the world something which would have done him
credit." Much of this commendatory opinion might be inferred from
what has been published of Mr A.'s labours, which constitute no
inconsiderable portion, either in bulk or value, of Captain Cook's
communications.--E.]

On the 4th, at three in the afternoon, land was seen, extending from
N.N.E. to N.W. We stood on toward it till four o'clock, when, being
four or five miles from it, we tacked; and, soon after, the wind
falling, we anchored in thirteen fathoms water, over a sandy bottom;
being about two leagues from the land, and, by our reckoning, in the
latitude of 64 deg. 27', and in the longitude of 194 deg. 18'. At intervals,
we could see the coast extending from E. to N.W., and a pretty high
island, bearing W. by N. three leagues distant.

The land before us, which we supposed to be the continent of America,
appeared low next the sea; but, inland, it swelled into hills, which
rise, one behind another, to a con