LETTERS TO MR. WALKER.
111
great and the learned, Captain Cook did not forget or neglect his old friends in the north. His Whitby friend, Mr. Walker, having written him soon after his arrival, with kind inquiries concerning his health and success, was favoured with a brief account of his voyage, in two letters, before the publication of his journal. The insertion of these letters will not be deemed a needless repetition: the reader will rather regard them as valuable documents, giving a summary of the events and results of his first voyage, in his own words.—
The first Letter is as follows:
Mile-end, London, 17th Aug.—71.
Dear Sir,
Your very obliging letter came safe to hand, for which and your kind inquiries after my health, I return you my most sincere thanks. I should have wrote much sooner, but have been in expectation, for several days past, of an order to make my Voyage public, after which I could have wrote with freedom. As this point is not yet determined upon, I lie under some restraint. I may, however, venture to inform you, that the voyage has fully answered the expectation of my superiors. I had the honour of an hour's conference with the King the other day, who was pleased to express his approbation of my conduct, in terms that were extremely pleasing to me. I, however, have made no very great discoveries, yet I have explored more of the Great South Sea than all that have gone before me; in so much that little remains now to be done, to have a thorough knowledge of that part of the globe.
I sailed from England, as well provided for such
