I come into the North, I shall certainly call upon you, and am, with great respect,
Sir,
Your most Obliged Humble Servt.
Jam. Cook.
To Capt. Jno. Walker at Whitby.
The second Letter, written about a month after, not only continues the narrative, but recurs to his favourite theme, Otaheite, and the other South Sea Islands.
Mile-end, London, 13th Sept. 1771.
Sir,
In my last I gave you some account of my Voyage, as far as the South Sea Islands; the remainder shall be the subject of this letter. What I mean by the South Sea Islands are those that lie within and about the Tropics. They are in general small: George's Island, which is only about 33 leagues in circuit, is one of the largest. The inhabitants of this island gave us an account, and the names, of 130 islands lying in these seas. They are of two kinds, very low, or very mountainous. The low islands are such as are called Keys in the West Indies; that is, mostly shoals, ledges of rocks, &c. The chief produce of the firm land is cocoa nuts. These and fish, with which all these islands abound, are the chief support of the inhabitants. The mountainous parts of the high islands are in general dry and barren, and as it were burnt up with the sun; but all these islands are skirted round with a border of low land, which is fertile and pleasant to a very high degree, being well clothed with fruit trees, which nature hath planted here for the use of the happy natives. These people