366 cook's voyage to nov. 



see the low land, in which it probably terminates, to 

 the eastward. 



In the afternoon, the wind veering round to the 

 north-east, we stood to the southward, at the dis- 

 tance of about eighteen leagues from the shore, 

 trying for soundings, as we went along, but finding 

 none with one hundred and fifteen fathoms of line. 

 At two the next morning it shifted to west, attended 

 with rain and lightning, and blowing in heavy squalls. 

 During the course of the day, we had several small 

 birds of a brown plumage, resembling linnets, flying 

 about us, which had been forced off the land by the 

 strong westerly gales; but toward the evening, the 

 wind coming to the north-west, we shaped our 

 course, along with them, to west south-west, in 

 order to regain the coast. In the morning of the 

 1st of November, the wind again shifted to south- 

 east, and bringing with it fair weather, we got forty- 

 two sets of distances of the moon from the sun and 

 stars, with four different quadrants, each set con- 

 sisting of six observations. These agreeing pretty 

 nearly with each other, fix our situation at noon the 

 same day, with great accuracy, in longitude 141° 32', 

 the latitude, by observation, was 35° 17'. We found 

 an error of latitude in our reckonings of the pre- 

 ceding day, of eight miles, and in this day's of 

 seventeen, from whence, and from our being much 

 more to the eastward than we expected, we con- 

 cluded that there had been a strong current from 

 the south-west. 



At two in the afternoon, we again made the land 

 to the westward, at the distant of about twelve 

 leagues ; the southernmost land in sight, which we 

 supposed to be White Point *, bore west south-west half 

 west ; a hummock to the northward, which had the 

 appearance of being an island, bore north north-west 

 half west, within which we saw from the mast-head low 



* Witic Hoeck, placed by Janson in latitude 35° 24'. 



