§&& COOK'S VOYAGE TO JULY, 



The weather still continuing to thicken, we lost 

 all sight of land till the 5th, when it appeared both 

 to the north-east and north-west. Our latitude, by 

 account, was at this time 65° 24', longitude 189° 14/. 

 As the islands of Saint Diomede, which lie between 

 the two continents in Beering's Strait, were deter- 

 mined by us last year to be in latitude 65° 48', we 

 could not reconcile the land to the north-east with 

 the situation of those islands. We therefore stood 

 toward the land till three in the afternoon, when we 

 were within four miles of it, and finding it to be two 

 islands, were pretty well satisfied of their being the 

 same ; but the weather still continuing hazy, to make 

 sure of our situation, we stood over to the coast of 

 Asia till seven in the evening, at which time we were 

 within two or three leagues of the east cape of that 

 continent. 



This cape is a high round head of land, extending 

 four or live miles from north to south, forming a pe- 

 ninsula, and connected with the continent by a nar- 

 row neck of low land. Its shore is bold, and off its 

 north part are three high detached spiral rocks. At 

 this time it was covered with snow, and the beach 

 surrounded with ice. We were now convinced that 

 we had been under the influence of a strong current 

 setting to the north, that had caused an error in our 

 latitude at noon of twenty miles. In passing this 

 strait the last year, we had experienced the same 

 effect. 



Being at length sure of our position, we held on 

 to the north by east. At ten at night the weather 

 becoming clear, we had an opportunity of seeing at 

 the same moment the remarkable peaked hill near 

 Cape Prince of Wales, on the coast of America, and 

 the east Cape of Asia, with the two connecting 

 islands of Saint Diomede between them. 



At noon on the 6th, the latitude, by account, was 

 67° N., and the longitude 191° 6' E. Having already 

 passed a considerable number of large masses of ice, 



