THEPACIFICOCEAN. 343 



At .noon, the latitude, by obfervation, was 50* 1' ; Ion- J77S. 



^ April. 



gitude 229° 26'*'-. I now fleered North Weft by North, with ' ' 



a frefli gale at South South Eaft, and fair weather. But 

 at nine in the evening, it began again to blow hard, and 

 in fqualls with rain. With fuch weather, and the wind be- 

 tween South South Eaft and South Weft, I continued the 

 fame courfe till the 30th, at four in the morning, when I Thurfdayso. 

 fleered North by V/eft, in order to make the land. I re- 

 gretted very much indeed that I could not do it fooner, for 

 this obvious reafon, that we were now pafling the place 

 where geographers f have placed the pretended ftrait of Ad- 

 miral dc Fonte. For my own part, I give no credit to fuch 

 vague and improbable ftories, that carry their own con- 

 futation along with them. Neverthclefs, I was very defirous 

 of keeping the American coaft aboard, in order to clear 

 up this point beyond difpute. But it would have been high- 

 ly imprudent in me, to hav.; engaged with the land in wea- 

 ther fo exceedingly tempeftuous, or to have loft the advan- 

 tage of a fair v/ind, by waiting for better weather. This 

 fame day at noon we were in the latitude of sf 22', and in 

 the longitude of 225° 14'. 



The next morning, being the ift of May, feeing nothing of May. 

 the land, I fleered North Eafteily, with a frefh breeze at South ^'"^^^ '*" 

 South Eaft and South, with fqualls and lliowers of rain 

 and hail. Our latitude at noon was 54° 43', and our lon- 

 gitude 224° 44'. At feven in the evening, being in the la- 

 titude of 5^" 20', we got fight of the land, extending from 



* As in the remaining part of this Volume, the Latitude and Longitude are very 

 frequently fet down ; the former being invariably North, and the latter Eaft, the con- 

 flant repetition of the two words. North and Et;J{, has been omitted, to avoid unne-- 

 ceiTary precifion. 



t See De Lifle's Carte Gcnerak des Detoumrtes de r Am'rral de Fonic, &c. Paris. 

 1-7525 and many other Maps. 



North 



