ascending a mountain to search for plants. In this expedition they
were all of them exposed to the utmost extremity of danger and of
cold; Dr. Solander was seized with a torpor which had nearly proved
fatal to his life; and two black servants actually died. When the
gentlemen had, at length, on the second day of their adventure, gotten
back to the ship, they congratulated each other on their safety, with
a joy that can only be felt by those who have experienced equal
perils; and Mr. Cook was relieved from a very painful anxiety. It was
a dreadful testimony of the severity of the climate, that this event
took place when it was the midst of summer in that part of the world,
and at the close of a day, the beginning of which was as mild and
warm, as the month of May usually is in England.

In the passage through the Strait of Le Maire, Lieutenant Cook and his
ingenious associates had an opportunity of gaining a considerable
degree of acquaintance with the inhabitants of the adjoining country.
Here it was that they saw human nature to its lowest form. The natives
appeared to be the most destitute and forlorn, as well as the most
stupid, of the children of men. Their lives are spent in wandering
about the dreary wastes that surround them; and their dwellings are no
other than wretched hovels of sticks and grass, which not only admit
the wind, but the snow and the rain. They are almost naked, and so
devoid are they of every convenience which is furnished by the rudest
art, that they have not so much as an implement to dress their food.
Nevertheless, they seemed to have no wish for acquiring more than they
possessed; nor did any thing that was offered them by the English
appear acceptable but beads, as an ornamental superfluity of life. A
conclusion is hence drawn by Dr. Hawkesworth, that these people may be
upon a level with ourselves, in respect to the happiness they enjoy.
This, however, is a position which ought not hastily to be admitted.