1779. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 359 



to be taken immediately, and died a few hours 

 afterward. It was not bigger than a wren, had a 

 tuft of yellow feathers on its head, and the rest of 

 its plumage like that of the linnet. The sparrow, 

 being stronger, lived a long time. These birds 

 plainly indicating, that we could not be at any great 

 distance from the land, and the wind, after varying a 

 little, fixing in the evening at north, our hopes of 

 making the land, again revived, and we hauled up 

 to the west north-west, in which direction, the 

 southernmost islands seen by Spanberg, and said to 

 be inhabited by hairy men, lay at the distance of 

 about fifty leagues. But the wind not keeping pace 

 with our wishes, blew in such light airs, that we 

 made little way, till eight the next morning, when 

 we had a fresh breeze from the south south-west, 

 with which we continued to steer west north-west 

 till the evening. At noon, we were in latitude 40° 

 35\ longitude 146° 45'; the latter deduced from 

 several lunar observations taken during the night. 

 The variation of the needle we found to be 17' E. 

 In the evening, we had strong squally gales attended 

 with rain, and having passed in the course of the 

 day, several patches of green grass, and seen a shag, 

 many small land birds, and flocks of gulls, it was not 

 thought prudent, with all these signs of the vicinity 

 of land, to stand on during the whole night. We 

 therefore tacked at midnight, and steered a few 

 hours to the south-east, and at four in the morning 

 of the 24th, again directed our course to the west 

 north-west, and carried a press of sail till seven in 

 the evening, when the wind shifted from south 

 south-west to north, and blew a fresh gale. At this 

 time we were in the latitude of 40° 57', and the 

 longitude of 145° 20'. 



This second disappointment, in our endeavours 

 to get to the north-west, together with the boist- 

 erous weather we had met with, and the little 

 likelihood, at this time of the year, of its becoming 



a A 4 



