392 cook's voyage to july, 



having now a breeze from the east, and the weather 

 being clear, we found ourselves six leagues from the 

 land, which extended from south by west to east by 

 south. The hummock, seen the preceding evening, 

 bore south-west by south, ten leagues distant. Our 

 latitude was now 55 50', and our longitude 197 #' 

 A great hollow swell from west-south-west assured 

 us that there was no main land near, in that direc- 

 tion. I stood to the north till six in the afternoon, 

 when the wind having veered to the south-east en- 

 abled us to steer east-north-east. The coast lay in 

 this direction, and at noon the next day was about 

 four leagues distant. 



On the 6th and 7th, the wind being northerly, we 

 made but little progress. At eight in the evening of 

 the latter, we were in nineteen fathoms water, and 

 about three or four leagues from the coast, which on 

 the 8th extended from south-south-west to east by 

 north, and was all low land, with a ridge of moun- 

 tains behind it, covered with snow. It is probable, 

 that this low coast extends some distance to the 

 south-west ; and that such places as we sometimes 

 took for inlets or bays are only vallies between the 

 mountains. 



On the morning of the 9th, with a breeze at north- 

 west, we steered east by north, to get nearer the 

 coast. At noon, we were in the latitude of 57 49", 

 and in the longitude of 201 33', and about two 

 leagues from the land, which extended from south by 

 east to east-north-east ; being all a low coast, with 

 points shooting out in some places, which, from the 

 deck, appeared like islands ; but from the mast-head, 

 low land was seen to connect them. In this situation, 

 the depth of water was fifteen fathoms, the bottom a 

 fine black sand. 



As we had advanced to the north-east, we had found 

 the depth of water gradually decreasing, and the coast 

 trending more and more northerly. But the ridge 

 of mountains behind it continued to lie in the same 



