1779-
Q&ober.
W ed n e f. 20».
fame effeCts. It is thus that the Jefoiari lands, which appear,
both from the accounts o f the Japahefe, and the
earlieft Ruffian traditions, to be no other than the Southern
Kurile iilands, have been fuppofed diftinft from the latter.
T h e land o f De Gama is next on re co rd ; and was origin
ally placed nearly in the fame fituation with thofe juft
mentioned ; but was removed, as has been already fuggeft-
ed, to make room for Staten Ifland, and the Company’s
L an d ; and as Jefo, and the Southernmoft o f the Kuriles, had
alfo pofieffion o f this fpace, that nothing might be loft, they
were provided for, the former a little to the Weftward, and
the latter to the Eaftward.
As the iilands o f Zellany and Kunaihir, according to the
Ruffian charts, were ftill to the Southward, we were not
without hopes o f being able to make them', and therefore
kept our head as much to the Weftward as the wind would
permit. On the zoth, at noon, we were in latitude 43° 47',
and longitude 150° 30';. and, fleering Weft by South, with a
moderate breeze from South Eaft, and probably not more
than twenty-four leagues to the Eaftward o f Zellany, when
our good fortune again deferred u s . For, at three o’clock
in the afternoon, the wind veering round to the North
Weft, began- to blow fo ftrong, that we were brought under
©ur forefail and mizen ftay-fail. We had very heavy
l'qualls, and hard fain during the next twenty-four hours
after which, the horizon clearing a little, and the weather
growin g moderate, we were enabled to let the fopfa ils;
but the wind, ftill continuing to blow from the North Weft,
baffled all our endeavours to make the land, and obliged us,
at laft, to give up all further thoughts o f difcovery to the
North o f Japan. We fubmitted to this difappointment with
the greater reluctance, as the accounts that are given o f the
inhabitants;
inhabitants ;o f thefe iilands, mentioned at the end o f the
laft Chapter, had excited in us the greater curiofity to vifit c— ^---- -
them.
In the afternoon, the leach-rope o f the Refolution’s fqre-
top-fail gave way, and fplit th e fail. As .this accident had
often happened to us in Captain Cqok’s life-time, he had
ordered the foot and leach-ropes o f the topl’ails to be taken
out, and larger fixed in their fte ad ; and as thefe alfo
proved unequal to the ftrain that was on them, it is evident,
that the proper proportion o f ftrength between thofe ropes
and the fail is exceedingly mifcalculated jn our fervice.
This day a land-bird perched on the rig g in g , and w as taken;
it was larger than a fparrow, but, in other refpeCts, very lik e
one,;
The gale now abated g r ad u a lly ; fo that, in the morning
o f the 22d, we let out the reefs o f the .topfails, and made Friday 22.
more fail. At noon, w e were in latitude 40° 58', and longitude
148° 17 '; the variation 3° Eaft. In the afternoon, another
little wanderer from the land pitched on the ihip,
and was fo worn out with fatigu e, that it fuffered itfe lf to
be taken immediately, and died a few hours afterward.
It was not b igg er than a wren, had a tuft o f yellow fe a thers
on its head, and the reft o f its plumage lik e that o f
the linnet. The fparrow, being ftronger, lived a long timé.
Thefe birds plainly indicating, that we- could not be at any
great diftance from the land, and the wind, after va ryin g a
little, fixing in the evening at North, our hopes o f making
the land again revived, and we hauled up to the Weft North
Weft, in w hich direction, the Southernmoft iilands, feen by
Spanberg, and faid to be inhabited by hairy men, la y at the
diftance o f about fifty leagues. But the wind not keeping
3 E 3 pace