150 cook's SECOND VOYAGE AUG. 



hood ; his longitude not being confirmed, I think, by 

 astronomical observations, and therefore liable to 

 errors, which he could have no method to correct. 



As we had now got to the northward of Captain 

 Cartaret's tracks, all hopes of discovering a continent 

 vanished. Islands were all we were to expect to find, 

 until we returned again to the south. I had now, 

 that is on this and my former voyage, crossed this 

 ocean in the latitude of 40 and upwards, without 

 meeting any thing that did, in the least, induce me 

 to think I should find what I was in search after. On 

 the contrary, every thing conspired to make me be- 

 lieve there is no southern continent, between the 

 meridian of America and New Zealand ; at least, this 

 passage did not produce any indubitable signs of any, 

 as will appear by the following remarks. After leav- 

 ing the coasts of New Zealand, we daily saw, floating 

 in the sea, rock-weed, for the space of 18 of longitude. 

 In my passage to New Zealand in 1769, we also saw 

 of this weed, for the space of 12 or 14 of longitude, 

 before we made the land. The weed is, undoubtedly, 

 the produce of New Zealand ; because, the nearer 

 the coast, the greater quantity you see. At the 

 greatest distance from the coast, we saw it only in 

 small pieces, generally more rotten, and covered with 

 barnacles ; an indubitable sign that it had been long 

 at sea. Were it not for this, one might be led to 

 conjecture that some other large land lay in the 

 neighbourhood ; for it cannot be a small extent of 

 coast to produce such a quantity of weed, as to cover 

 so large a space of sea. It hath been already men- 

 tioned, that we were no sooner clear of the Straits, 

 than we met with a large hollow swell from the S. E. 

 which continued till we arrived in the longitude of 

 177 west, and latitude 46. There we had large 

 billows from the north and N. E. for five days suc- 

 cessively, and until we got 6 of longitude more to 

 the east, although the wind, great part of the time, 

 blew from different directions. This was a strong 



