177^. ROUND THE WORLD. <2J3 



finding this land, then to go in search of Easter 

 Island or Davis's Land, whose situation was known 

 with so little certainty that the attempts lately made 

 to find it had miscarried. I next intended to get 

 within the tropic, and then proceed to the west, 

 touching at, and settling the situations of such islands 

 as we might meet with till we arrived at Otaheite, 

 where it was necessary I should stop to look for the 

 Adventure. I had also thoughts of running as far 

 west as the Tierra Austral del Espiritu Santo, 

 discovered by Quiros, and which M. de Bougainville 

 calls the Great Cyclades. Quiros speaks of this land 

 as being large, or lying in the neighbourhood of large 

 lands; and as this was a point which Bougainville had 

 neither confirmed nor refuted, I thought it was 

 worth clearing up. From this land my design was 

 to steer to the south, and so back to the east, between 

 the latitudes of 50 and 6CT ; intending if possible to 

 be the length of Cape Horn in November next, when 

 we should have the best part of the summer before 

 us to explore the southern part of the Atlantic 

 Ocean. Great as this design appeared to be, I, 

 however, thought it possible to be executed ; and 

 when I came to communicate it to the officers, I had 

 the satisfaction to find, that they all heartily con- 

 curred in it. I should not do these gentlemen justice 

 if I did not take some opportunity to declare, that 

 they always showed the utmost readiness to carry 

 into execution, in the most effectual manner, every 

 measure I thought proper to take. Under such cir- 

 cumstances, it is hardly necessary to say that the 

 seamen were always obedient and alert ; and, on this 

 occasion, they were so far from wishing the voyage 

 at an end, that they rejoiced at the prospect of its 

 being prolonged another year, and of soon enjoying 

 the benefits of a milder climate. 



I now steered north inclining to the east, and in 

 the evening we were overtaken by a furious storm 

 at west south-west, attended with snow and sleet. It 



VOL. III. t 



