1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 173 



above water. The sea appeared most open to the 

 north-east of the turtle reef, and I came to a reso- 

 lution to stretch out that way close upon a wind, 

 because if we should find no passage, we could al- 

 ways return the way we went. In the evening the 

 boats brought in a turtle, a sting-ray, and as many 

 large cockles as came to about a pound and a half a 

 man, for in each of them there was not less than two 

 pounds of meat : in the night also we caught several 

 sharks, which, though not a dainty, were an accept- 

 able increase of our fresh provision. 



In the morning I waited till half ebb before I 

 weighed, because at that time the shoals begin to 

 appear, but the wind then blew so hard that I was 

 obliged to remain at anchor : in the afternoon, how- 

 ever, the gale becoming more moderate, we got 

 under sail, and stood out upon a wind N. E. by E., 

 leaving the turtle reef to windward, and having the 

 pinnace sounding a-head. We had not kept this 

 course long, before we discovered shoals before us, and 

 upon both the bows ; and at half an hour after four, 

 having run about eight miles, the pinnace made the 

 signal for shoal water, where we little expected it : 

 upon this we tacked, and stood on and off, while the 

 pinnace stretched farther to the eastward, and night 

 approaching, I came to an anchor in twenty fathom 

 water, with a muddy bottom. Endeavour River 

 then bore S. 52 W.; Cape Bedford W. by N. i N., 

 distant five leagues ; the northernmost land in sight, 

 which had the appearance of an island N. ; and a 

 shoal, a small sandy part of which appeared above 

 water, bore N. E., distant between two and three 

 miles : in standing off from turtle reef to this place, 

 we had from fourteen to twenty fathom water, but 

 when the pinnace was about a mile farther to the 

 E. N. E. there was no more than four or five feet 

 water, with rocky ground ; and yet this did not 

 appear to us in the ship. In the morning of the 

 6th we had a strong gale, so that instead of weigh- 



