1773- ROUND THE WORLD. 119 



told that the firing of a gun will dissipate them, and 

 I am very sorry I did not try the experiment, as we 

 were near enough, and had a gun ready for the pur- 

 pose ; but, as soon as the danger was past, I thought 

 no more about it, being too attentive in viewing 

 these extraordinary meteors. At the time this hap- 

 pened the barometer stood at 29, 75, and the ther- 

 mometer at 56. 



In coming from Cape Farewell to Cape Stephens, 

 I had a better view of the coast than I had when 

 I passed in my former voyage, and observed that, 

 about six leagues to the east of the first-mentioned 

 cape, is a spacious bay, which is covered from the 

 sea by a low point of land. This is, I believe, the 

 same that Captain Tasman anchored in on the 18th 

 of December 1642, and by him called Murderer's 

 Bay, by reason of some of his men being killed by 

 the natives. Blind Bay, so named by me in my for- 

 mer voyage, lies to the S. E. of this, and seems to 

 run a long way in-land to the south ; the sight in 

 this direction, not being bounded by any land. The 

 w T ind having returned to the west, as already men- 

 tioned, we resumed our course to the east ; and at 

 day-light the next morning, (being the 18th) we 

 appeared off Queen Charlotte's Sound, where we 

 discovered our consort the Adventure, by the signals 

 which she made to us ; an event which every one 

 felt with an agreeable satisfaction. The fresh west- 

 erly wind now died away, and was succeeded by 

 light airs from the south and S. W. so that we had 

 to work in, with our boats a-head towing. In the 

 doing of this, we discovered a rock, which we did 

 not see in my former voyage. It lies in the direction 

 of S. by E. i E. distant four miles from the outermost 

 of the Two Brothers, and in a line with the White 

 Rocks, on with the middle of Long Island. It is 

 just even with the surface of the sea, and hath deep 

 water all round it. At noon, Lieutenant Kempe of 

 the Adventure came on board j from whom 1 learnt 



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