>77°- In the morning of the nth, the variation was i s 9 4.8', April. . 0 . , , O t 1
>-— ---1 which is two degrees and an half more than the day before,
" " though I expedted to have found it lefs.
Friday 13. In the eourfc’of the 13th, being in latitude 39° 23' S., lor#
gitude 204° 2' W. I found the variation to be 12° 27' E. and
Saturday 14. jn t]yc morning of the 14th, it was 11° 30'; this day we alfo
Sunday 15. faw fome flying filh. On the 15th, we law an egg bird and a
gannet, and' as thfefe 'are-bird’s thatnevers go for from the
land, we continued to found all night, but had no ground
Monday 16. with 130 fathom. At noon on the 16th, we were in latitude
39° 45' S., longitude- 208° W. At about two o’clock the wind
came about to the W. S.W. upon which we tacked and flood
to the N. W .; foon after a fmall land bird perched upon the
rigging, but we had no ground with 120 fathom. At eight
we wore and flood to the fouthward till twelve at night, and
Tnefday 17. then wore and flood to the'NIW. tillTSur In the morningj
when tve again flood to the fouthward, havfng'a freflr gkle
at W.S. W. with fqualls and dark; weather till nine, when
the weather became clear, and there being little wind, we
had an opportunity to take feveral obfervations of the fun
and moon, the mean refult of which gave 207° f&.W. longitude
: our latitude at noon was 39° 36' S. We had now a
hard gale from the fouthward, and a great fea from the fame
quarter, which obliged us to run under our, fore-fail and
mi-zen all night, during which we founded every two hours,
but had no ground with 120 fathom.
Wednef. 18 ln the uiorning of the we faw two Port Egmqnt
hens, and a pintado bird, which are certain figns of approaching
land,’ and indeed by our reckoning we-eould not
be far from it, for our longitude was now one degree to the
weftward of the eaft fide of Van BiemenWland, according to
the
the- longitude laid: down by Tafman, whom wt could not UTofuppofe
to have erred much in fo ihort a run as from this
land to New Zealand, and by our latitude we could not be
above fifty or fifty-five leagues .from the place whence he
took his departure. All this day we had frequent fqualls
and a great fwell. At one in the morning we brought to and Thurfday 19.
founded, but had no ground with 130 fathom; at fix we faw
land extending from N. E. to W. at the diftance o f five or fix
leagues, having eighty fathom water with a fine Tandy
bottom.
We continued Handing weflward, with the wind at S.S.W,
till eight, when we made all the fail we could, and bore
away along the fliore N.E. for the -eaftermoft land in fight,
being at this time in latitude 37° 58' S. and lbngitude 210°
39' W. The fouthermoft point of land in fight, which bore
from us W. 4 S. I judged to lie in latitude 38°, longitude 2 J i°
7', and gave it the name of PoiN-T!Hieks, becaufe Mr. Hicks,
the Firft Lieutenant, was the firft who difeovered it. To the
fouthward of this Point no land was to be feen, though it
was very clear in that quarter, and by our longitude, compared
with that of Tafman, not as it is laid down in the
printed charts, but in the extracts from Tafman’s journal,
publifhed by Rembrantfe, the body of Van Diemen's land
ought to have borne due fouth; and indeed, from the fudden
falling of the fea after the wind abated, I had reafon to
think it did; yet as I did not fee it, and as I found this coaft
trend N.E. and S.W. or rather more to the eaftward, I cannot
determine whether it joins to Van Diemen’s land or
not.
At noon, we were in latitude 370® 5', longitude 210° 29' W.
The extreamsef the land extended from N.W. to E.N. E. and
a remarkable point bore N.20 E. at the diftance of about four
leagues.