Tuefday 



THE PACIFIC OCEAN. _ 469 



with fnow, except a few fpots upon the fea-coaft, which ftill 1778- 

 continued low, but lefs fo than farther Weftward. For the >_.. . "f- . l/ 

 two preceding days, the mean height of the mercury in the 

 thermometer had been very little above the freezing point, 

 and often below it ; fo that the water, in the vcfTels -upon 

 the deck, was frequently covered with a flieet of ice. 



I continued to fteer South South Eaft, nearly in the direc- 

 tion of the coaft, till five in the afternoon, when land was 

 feen bearing South, ^'o" Eaft, which we prefently found to 

 be a continuation of the coaft, and hauled up for it. Being 

 abreaft of the Eaftern land, at ten at night, and in doubts 

 of weathering it, we tacked, and made a board to the Weft- September. 

 ward, till paft one the next morning, when we ftood again 

 to the Eaft, and found that it was as much as we could do 

 to keep our diftancc from the coafl:, the wind being exceed- 

 ingly unfettled, varying continually from North to North 

 Eaft. At half an hour paft eight, the Eaftern extreme above 

 mentioned bore South by Eaft, fix or feven miles diftant. At 

 the fame time, a head-land appeared in fight, bearing Eaft 

 by South, half South ; and, foon after, we could .trace the 

 whole coaft: lying between them, and a fmall ifland at fome 

 diftance from it. 



The coaft feemed to form feveral rocky points, conneifled 

 by a low fliore, without the leaft appearance of a harbour. 

 At fome diftance from the fea, the low land appeared to 

 fwell into a number of hills. The higheft of thefe were co- 

 vered with fnow ; and, in other refpedls, the whole country 

 feemed naked. At feven in the evening, two points of 

 land, at fome diftance beyond the Eaftern head, opened off 

 it in the direction of South, 37° Eaft. I was now v^^ell af- 

 fured, of what I had believed before, that this was the 



country 



