In the prosecution of these instructions, I sailed from Deptford the 30th
July, 1768; from Plymouth the 26th of August, touched at Madeira, Rio de
Janeiro, and Straits Le Maire, and entered the South Pacific Ocean by Cape
Horn in January the following year.

I endeavoured to make a direct course to Otaheite, and in part succeeded;
but I made no discovery till I got within the tropic, where I fell in with
Lagoon Island, Two Groups, Bird Island, Chain Island; and on the 13th of
April arrived at Otaheite, where I remained three months, during which time
the observations on the transit were made.

I then left it; discovered and visited the Society Isles and Oheteroa;
thence proceeded to the south till I arrived in the latitude of 40 deg. 22',
longitude 147 deg. 29' W.; and, on the 6th of October, fell in with the east
side of New Zealand.

I continued exploring the coast of this country till the 31st of March,
1770, when I quitted it, and proceeded to New Holland; and having surveyed
the eastern coast of that vast country, which part had not before been
visited, I passed between its northern extremity and New Guinea, landed on
the latter, touched at the island of Savu, Batavia, the Cape of Good Hope,
and St Helena,* and arrived in England on the 12th of July, 1771.

[* In the account given of St Helena in the narrative of my former voyage,
I find two mistakes. Its inhabitants are far from exercising a wanton
cruelty over their slaves, and they have had wheel-carriages and
porters' knots for many years.]

In this voyage I was accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander; the first a
gentleman of ample fortune; the other an accomplished disciple of Linnaeus,
and one of the librarians of the British Museum; both of them distinguished
in the learned world, for their extensive and accurate knowledge of natural
history. These gentlemen, animated by the love of science, and by a desire
to pursue their enquiries in the remote regions I was preparing to visit,
desired permission to make a voyage with me. The Admiralty readily complied
with a request that promised such advantage to the republic of letters.
They accordingly embarked with me, and participated in all the dangers and
sufferings of our tedious and fatiguing navigation.

The voyages of Messrs de Surville, Kerguelen, and Marion, of which some
account is given in the following work, did not come to my knowledge time
enough to afford me any advantage; and as they have not be