CAPTAIN COOK'S LOST JOURNAL

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 80, 28 December 1907, Page 6

CAPTAIN COOK'S LOST JOURNAL

—» —.'.. ' .. . ' DISCOVERY- OF „-A. PAGE; Mr. A. H. .Turnbull, who'has a very-good coilcction- of old documents, maps, rare volumes, and newspapers conncctod with tuo early history of New Zealand, has secuicd .another treasure' in the form of ono of three facsimile copies of tlio only page of Captain Cook's original Journal that', is- known to -exist'.'- - The original- Journal.' is losti.'excopt., this ono page, which has.. recently, been^discovered in London. Three copies of the Journal were made, of which'. Cook, gave one to King Georgo JII, and tho other -two-ono an original, copy, and ithe". other . a the Admiralty. The duplicate was , lost, and it how. belongs to, a Mr. Corner, m.-England.; .Tlio' newly-discovered- of; whicn Mr. Turnbull possesses a facsimile, 1 is valuable for tho light it sheds on the bestowal of -the name Botany. Bay. In Cook's log this is only called Stingray "Bay, but tho Journal as edited by Wharton gives- • the - present name, without;however, any explanation of the. change. The evidenco'ol* "tho now-leaf shows,..that this v;as mado by Cook himself.-The leaf is evidently part of a .first draft.: of tho Journal, as its. statements are less elaborate than those of the edited: editions, from which it differi also in other points. The reference to tho naming 1 of tho Bay in tho now leaf is as' follow:— - • ■ ."Saturday, sth. In the evening the yawl which had been sent in tho morning a-fislung returned, having caught upwards'of four "hundred pounds weight of sting rays-one-single one. weighed 240 pounds exclusive of the tail and entrails. In tho morning, as tho wind still continued northerly, I R"nt her: a-fishing, arid went myself with, a party., of. men a little v.-ay into the country, , but met with nothing extraordinary. ■ "Sunday, 6th. In - tho evening the, yawl returned with two sting-rays; one of them wbisrhd and tho other- exclusive of tho tails, and entrails." ;' ' ' . ■V sentence ' following .is crossed. out,, but. is still quite legible." The; deleted words ■ aro as follow:—"The groat number of s'ting-rays our people found in this placo occasioned, my ilaming- it. Stingray bay."> - . „. In plapb of this Cook lias. written: " The great.number of herb plants, our-.. gentle? men' botanists have collccted . in this place, occ'asioried my giving it tho name of Botanist to, Botany Bay. was, no doubt v an easy transition. ' ' - ;