66 cook's second voyage fee, 



high sea from the N. N. W., which gave us but lit- 

 tle hopes of finding the land we were in search of. 

 At noon, we were in the latitude of 50 50' S. 

 longitude 56 48' east, and presently after we saw 

 two islands of ice. One of these we passed very 

 near, and found that it was breaking or falling to 

 pieces, by the cracking noise it made ; which was 

 equal to the report of a four-pounder. There was a 

 good deal of loose ice about it ; and had the weather 

 been favourable, I should have brought to, and 

 taken some up. After passing this, we saw no more, 

 till we returned again to the south. 



Hazy, gloomy weather continued, and the wind 

 remained invariably fixed at N. W., so that we could 

 make our course no better than N. E. by N., and this 

 course we held till four o'clock in the afternoon of 

 the 1st of February. Being then in the latitude of 

 48 30', and longitude 58 7' east, nearly in the me- 

 ridian of the island of Mauritius, and where we 

 were to expect to find the land said to be discovered 

 by the French, of which at this time we saw not the 

 least signs, we bore away east. 



I now made the signal to the Adventure to keep 

 at the distance of four miles on my starboard beam. 

 At half an hour past six Captain Furneaux made 

 the signal to speak with me ; and upon his coming 

 under my stern, he informed me that he had just 

 seen a large float of sea or rock-weed, and about it 

 several birds (divers). These were certainly signs 

 of the vicinity of land ; but whether it lay to the 

 east or west was not possible for us to know. My in- 

 tention was to have got into this latitude four or 

 five degrees of longitude to the west of the meridian 

 we were now in, and then to have carried on my 

 researches to the east. But the W. and N. W. 

 winds, we had had the five preceding days pre- 

 vented me from putting this in execution. 



The continual high sea we had lately had from the 

 N. E. N. N. W, and w 7 est, left me no reason to 



