■ 77;. was now become very hazy, which foon turning to a thick
■ Febr_uari'L fog, put a flop to difcovery, and made it unfafe to ftand for
Thurfday 2. tlle . f Q that after having run the fame dfftance in, as we
had run off, we tacked and flood to N- W., for the land we had
feen in the morning, Which Was yet at a confiderable diftance.
Thus we were obliged to leave the other, under the fuppo-
fitiön of its being an filand, which 1 named launders, after
my honourable friend Sir Charles. It is fituated in the latitude
of 57° 49' South; longitude 36“ 44' Weft; and North,
diftant thirteen leagues, from Cape Montagu.
At fix o’clock in the evening, the wind drifting to the Weft,
we tacked, and flood to the North; and at eight the fog
clearing away, gave us a fight of Saunders’s file, extending
from S. E. by S. to E. S. E. We were ftill in doubt if it were an
ifland ; for, at this time, land was fëën bearing E. by S , which
might, or might not be, connected with i t ; it might alfo be the
fame that we had feen the preceding evening, But, be this
as it may, it was now neceflary to take a view of the land
to the North before we proceeded any farther to thé Eaft.
With this intention, we flood to the North, having a light
breeze at W. by S., which, at two o’clock in the morning of
Friday3. the 3d, was fucceeded by a calm that continued till eight,
when We got the wind at E. by S. attended by hazy weather.
At this time we faw the land we were looking for,
and which proved to be two files. The day On which they
were difcovered, was the occafion of calling them Candlemas
Ifles ; latitude 57° 11' S , longitude 27° 6' W. They were
of no great extent, but of confiderable height, and were
covered with fnow. A fmall rock was feen between them,
, and perhaps there may be more; for the weather was fo
'hazy that we foon loft fight of the iflands, and did not fee
9 them
them again till noon, at which time they bore Weft, diftant
three or four leagues.
As the wind kept veering to the South we were obliged to
Hand to the N; E., in which route we met with feveral
large ice iflands, loofe ice, and many penguins; and, at
midnight, came at once into water uncommonly white,
which alarmed the officer of the watch fo much that he
tacked the ffiip inftantly. Some thought,iti was a float of
ice; others that it was ffiallow water; but,- as it proved
neither, pr.dba.bly it was a ffioal of fiffi.
We flood to the South till two o’clock next morning, when Saturday 4,
we refumed our courfe to the Eaft with a faint breeze at
S. S. E., which having ended in a calm, at fix, I took the opportunity
of putting a boat in the water to try if there were
any current; and the trial proved there was none. \ Some
whales were playing about us, and abundance of penguins ;
a few of the latter were ffiot, and they proved to be of the
fame fort that we had feen among the ice before, and different
both from thofe on Staten Land, and from 'thofe at the
Ifle of Georgia. It is remarkable, that we had not feen a feal
fince we left that coaft. At noon we were in the latitude of
5,6° 44' S„ longitude 25° -33' W. At this time we got a breeze
at Eaft, with which we flood to the South, with a view of
gaining,the coaft we had le ft ; but at eight o’clock, the wind:
fhifted to the South, and made it neceflary to tack and ftand
to the Eaft ; in which courfe we met with federal ice iflands
and fome loofe ice ; the weather continuing hazy with fnow
and rain.
No penguins were feen on the 5th, which made me con- Sunday,;,
je&ure that we were leaving the land behind us, and that