68 cook's FIRST VOYAGE APRIL) 



o'clock the wind came about to the W. S. W., upon 

 which we tacked and stood to the N. W. ; soon 

 after, a small land-bird perched upon the rigging, but 

 we had no ground with 120 fathom. At eight we 

 wore and stood to the southward till twelve at night, 

 and then wore and stood to the N. W. till four in the 

 morning, when we again stood to the southward, hav- 

 ing a fresh gale at W. S. W., with squalls and dark 

 weather till nine, when the weather became clear, 

 and there being little wind, we had an opportunity 

 to take several observations of the sun and moon, the 

 mean result of which gave 207 56' W. longitude : 

 our latitude at noon was 39 36' S. We had now a 

 hard gale from the southward, and a great sea from 

 the same quarter, which obliged us to run under our 

 fore-sail and mizen all night, during which we 

 sounded every two hours, but had no ground with 

 120 fathom. 



In the morning of the 18th, we saw two Port Eg- 

 mont hens, and a pintado bird, which are certain 

 signs of approaching land, and, indeed, by our reck- 

 oning, we could not be far from it, for our longitude 

 was now one degree to the westward of the east side 

 of Van Diemen's land, according to the longitude 

 laid down by Tasman, whom we could not suppose 

 to have erred much in so short a run as from this 

 land to New Zealand; and by our latitude we could 

 not be above fifty or fifty-five leagues from the 

 place whence he took his departure. All this day 

 we had frequent squalls and a great swell. At one 

 in the morning we brought to and sounded, but 

 had no ground with 130 fathom ; at six we saw land 

 extending from N. E. to W., at the distance of five 

 or six leagues, having eighty fathom water, with a fine 

 sandy bottom. 



We continued standing westward, with the wind 

 at S. S. W., till eight, when we made all the sail we 

 could, and bore away along the shore N. E. for the 

 easternmost land in sight, being at this time in lati- 



