1770.
Aug uft.
Tuefday 28.
ward. At this time we made fail and flood to the north, is
order to make the land of New Guinea: from the time of
our making fail till noon, the depth of water gradually de-
creafed from feventeen to twelve fathom, with a ftoney and
fhelly bottom. Our latitude by obfervation was now 8° 52'S.
which is in the fame parallel as that in which the fouthern
.parts of New Guinea are laid down in the charts ; but there
are only two points fo far to A e fouth, and I reckoned that
•we were a degree to the weftward of them both, and there-
’fore did not fee the land, which trends more to the northward.
We found the fea here to be in many parts covered
with a brown fcum, fuch as failors generally call fpawn.
'When I firft faw it, I was alarmed, fearing that we were
-among fhoals j but upon founding, we found the fame
•depth of water as in other places. This fcum was examined
both by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, but they could not determine
what it was: it was formed of innumerable fmall
-particles, not more than half a line in length, each o f which
in the microfcope appeared to confift o f thirty or forty tubes;
and each tube was divided through its whole length by
fmall partitions into many cells, like the tubes of the conferva:
they were fuppofed to belong to the vegetable kingdom,
becaufe upon burning them they produced no fmell
like that of an animal fubftance. The fame appearance had
been obferved upon the coaft of Brazil and New Holland,
but never at any confiderable diftance from the fhore. In
the evening a fmall bird hovered about the £hip, and at
night, fettling among the rigging, was taken. It proved to
be exatftly the fame bird which Dampier has defcribed, and
of which he has given a rude figure, by the name of a Noddy
from New Holland. [See his Voyages, vol. iii. p. 98. Tab. of
Birds, Fig. 5.]
We continued Handing to the northward with a frelh gale »77°.
at E. by E. and S. £. till fix in the evening, having very ir- -j
regular foundings, the depth changing at once from twenty- T<t,sfdil!r 28‘
four fathom to feven. At four, we had feen the land from
the mall-head, bearing N..Wi by N.j it appeared to be very
low, and to ftretch from W.N.W, to N.N.E. diftant four or
five leagues. We now hauled clofe upon a wind till feven,
then tacked and flood to the fouthward till twelve, at which
time We wore and flood to the northward till four in the
morning, then laid the head of the veflel off till day-light, 29.
when we again faw the land, and flood in N. N. W. direftly
for it, with a frelh gale at E. by S. Our foundings during
the night were very irregular from feven to five fathom,
fuddenly changing from deep to Ihallow, and from lhallow
to deep, without in the leaft correfponding with our diftance
from the land. At half an hour after fix in the morning a
fmall low illand, which lay at the diftance of about a league
from the main, bore N. by W. diftant five miles | this illand
lies in latitude 8° 13' S., longitude 2210 25' W.; and I find it
laid down in the charts by the names of Bartholomew and
Whermoyfen. We now fleered N.W. byW. W.N.W. W. by N.
W. by S. and S. W. by W. as we found the land lie, with
from five to nine fathom; and though we reckoned we were
not more than four leagues from it, yet it was fo low and
level that we could but juft fee it from the deck. It appeared
however to be well covered with wood, and among other
trees, we thought we could diftinguilh the cocoa-nut. We
faw fmoke in feveral places, and therefore knew there were
inhabitants. At noon we were about three leagues from
the land; the weftermoft part of which that was in fight
bore S. 79” W. Our latitude by obfervation was 8° 19' S. and
longitude 2210 44' W. The illand of St. Bartholomew bore
N. 74E. diftant 20 miles.
Vor. Ill, 1 i After