179?- noon reached foundings at the depth of gg fathoms, foft brown fandy
I__v — ' bottom. The land was now difcovered bearing by compafs e . n . e . to
e . by s. at the diftance of about 2 leagues, on which the furf broke with
great violence. We flood in for the fhore under our topfails for about
an hour, and perceived the coaft to extend from north to s. E. The
neareft fhore was about 2 miles diflant. - The rain and fog with which
the atmofphere was now loaded, precluded our feeing much of this part
of the coaft of New Albion. The fhore appeared ftrait and unbroken, of a
moderate height, with mountainous land behind, covered with ftately
foreft trees; excepting in fome fpots, which had the appearance of having
been cleared by manual labour -, and exhibited a verdant, agreeable
afpeft. During the night we plied under an eafy fail, in order to bè near
Wednef. 18. the land in the morning; when, in confequence of a thick haze, it remained
obfcured until alight breeze from the eaftward about ten o’clock
gave us a view o f the fhore to the north eaftward, for which we imme7
diately fleered. The northern extremity of the land bore by compafs at
noon N. N .w . , the neareft fhore eaft about 6 leagues, the land I con-
fidered we were off the preceding night s. 72 e . about 8 leagues ; and
the fouthernmoft land in fight s. 60 E. about 10 leagues diflant. The
obferved latitude was at this time 39° 27'; longitude 2350 41' 45"; by
the chronometer 235°. The former was deduced from the mean refult
o f eighty-five fets o f lunar diftances, taken by the feveral perfons as under,
and reduced at noon by the chronometer fince the 27th of march,
according to its Otaheitean rate, (viz.)
Nine fets taken by Mr. Puget gave - - . 2350 .36' o"
Eighteen fets by Mr. Whidbey - ' - • - - 235 49
Nineteen by Mr. Orchard - - - , 235 35
Ten by Mr. John Stewart . - - - 235 44
Seventeen by Mr. Ballard - - - 235 '46
Twelve by myfelf - - • , 235 39
The mean refult of the above eighty-five fets - 235 41 30
This made the chronometer 41' 30" to the weft of that which I fup-
pöfed to be neareft the true longitude ; and from the general refult of
thefe obfervations it evidently appeared, that the chronometer had materially
terially altered in its rate fince.we had reached thefe northern regions;
The longitude of the refpeftive points, headlands-, Sec. as hereafter fta-
ted, will therefore be correfled and affixed, by fubfequent obfervations,
agreeably to the explanation contained in the following chapter; whence,
by allowing a different rate to the chronometer, the true longitude this
day. at noon was afeertained to be 236“ 25'. i
The gentle breeze o f wind that now prevailed appearing to be fettled
in the fouthern quarter, favored my wifh to purfue a northern courfe;
for which purpofe, we bore away along the coaft at the diftance of 3
or 4 leagues. The weather was delightfully pleafant; and as we drew
nearer the land, the fhore feemed to be perfectly compafi, formed, generally
fpeaking, by cliffs o f a moderate height and nearly perpendicular.
The inland country, which rifes in a pleafing diverfity of hills and
dales, was completely clothed with foreft trees of confiderable magnitude;
and thofe fpots which, on our firft view, had the appearance of
having been cleared of their wood by art, were now feen to extend, generally,
along the fea-fide -, and their being deftitute of wood, was evidently
to be aferibed to fome natural caufe. They were beautifully
green, with a luxuriant herbage, interrupted by ftreaks of red earth.
At fun-fet, the fouthernmoft land in fight bore by compafs, s. 45 E. ;
a fmall white rock, not unlike a veffel under fail, clofe to the fhore, eaft ;
the neareft fhore e .n .e . 4 leagues; and the northernmoft land in fight,
which I confidered to be cape Mendocino N .3 6W . about 10 leagues
diflant. In this fituation, the variation by the furveying compafs was
obferved to be, 160 eaftwardly.
The night was-fpent in making fhort trips. The next morning brought
with it a return of calm or light baffling winds, a. very heavy fwell from
the s.w. and fo thick a haze over the land that the fhores were fiercely
perceptible. Immenfe numbers of whales were playing about us
during the morning. Moft of them were of that tribe which, in Greenland,
are called finners. Towards noon, we had again from the fouth-
ward, a moderate breeze; but the weather flill remained extremely
gloomy. ■
In direfling our courfe along the coaft to the northward, we obferved
Thurfday 19»