the pieces were recovered except for the wooden tripod stand:
Mr Green began to overlook the instrument to see if any part or parts were wanting ... The
stand was not there but that, we were informed, had been left behind by the thief and we
should have it on our return.
The third of June 1769 dawned, the day the transit of Venus was predicted, and
the weather was perfect. Cook, Green and Solander made their measurements of the
transit as, for over an hour, a small dark object moved across the sun’s face. However,
the telescopes showed a blurred edge around the planet which meant the observers
could not agree on the exact time Venus entered and left the sun’s disc, and as Cook
writes:
We very distinctly saw an Atmosphere or dusky shade round the body of the Planet which
very much disturbed the times of the Contacts particularly the two internal ones. Dr Solander
observed as well as Mr Green and myself, and we differed from one another in observing the
times of the Contacts much more than could be expected.While these other activities took place, Banks and Solander managed to make an
extensive survey of the plant life of the island, collecting, preserving and cataloguing
an increasing number of specimens in the three months they were in Tahiti. Regretfully
Alexander Buchan, the landscape artist, died of an epileptic fit while on the island.
While this was a great loss for the expedition, Sydney Parkinson rose to the challenge
and his landscape sketches are full of detail and interest.
During their stay in Tahiti the crew of the Endeavour regularly dined on breadfruit
which grew everywhere and was the staple food of the island. It is a good food source,
rich in carbohydrates, vitamin C as well as thiamine and potassium. According to
Daniel Solander:
The Breadfruit of the South Sea Islands within the Tropics, which was by us during several
months, daily eaten as a substitute for Bread, was universally esteemed as palatable and
nourishing as Bread itself; no one of the whole ship company complained when served
with Breadfruit in lieu of Biscuit; and from the health and strength of whole nations whose
principle food it is, I do not scruple to call it one of the most useful vegetables in the world
... As it undoubtedly must be of the utmost consequence to bring so valuable a Fruit to
countries where the climate is favourable to encourage everybody who goes to any part of
the world where it is to be met with, bring it over either by young plants properly rooted or
by seeds collected in the Proper season, and sown during the passage. I am sure no expense
ought to be spared in an undertaking so interesting to the public.Joseph Banks – The Voyage of the Endeavour 29