1773.
April.
about Dusky Bay consists entirely of steep rocky mountains, with craggy precipices, clad with thick forests, and either barren or covered with snow on their summits. No meadows and lawns are to be met with, and the only flat land we found, was situated at the head of deep coves, where a brook fell into the sea, which probably by depositing the earth and stones it brought from the hills, had formed this low and level ground. But even there the whole was over-run with woods and briars, and we could not find a single spot of ground which might have afforded pasture, the grass which grew on some beaches being very hard and coarse. However, after we had taken pains to furnish our sheep with the freshest sprouts which we could meet with, we were surprised that they would not touch any of them: but upon examination we found that their teeth were loose, and that many of them had every symptom of an inveterate sea scurvy. Of four ewes and two rams which captain Cook brought from the Cape of Good Hope, with an intent to put them on shore in New Zeeland, we had only been able to preserve one of each sex, and these were in so wretched a condition, that their further preservation was very doubtful. If future navigators mean to make such valuable presents, as cattle of any sort to the inhabitants of the South Sea, the only probable method of bringing them safely thither, would be to take the shortest route possible from the Cape to NewZeeland,
