1779. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 359 



where we know, from the best authorities, that the 

 aversion of the inhabitants to any intercourse with 

 strangers has led them to commit the most atrocious 

 barbarities ; that our ships were in a leaky condition ; 

 that our sails were worn out, and unable to withstand 

 a gale of wind ; and that the rigging was so rotten 

 as to require constant and perpetual repairs. 



As the strong currents which set along the eastern 

 coast of Japan, may be of dangerous consequence to 

 the navigator, who is not aware of their extraordinary 

 rapidity, I shall take leave of this island, with a sum- 

 mary account of their force and direction, as observed 

 by us from the 1st to the 8th of November. On the 

 1st, at which time we were about eighteen leagues to 

 the eastward of White Point, the current set north- 

 east and by north, at the rate of three miles an hour; 

 on the 2d, as we approached the shore, we found it 

 continuing in the same direction, but increased in 

 its rapidity to five miles an hour ; as we left the shore, 

 it again became more moderate and inclined to the 

 eastward ; on the 3d, at the distance of sixty leagues, 

 it set to the east north-east, three miles an hour ; on 

 the 4th and 5th, it turned to the southward, and at 

 one hundred and twenty leagues from the land, its 

 direction was south-east, and its rate not more than a 

 mile and a half an hour : on the 6th and 7th> it again 

 shifted round to the north-east, its force gradually 

 diminishing till the 8th; when we could no longer 

 perceive any at all. 



During the 4th and 5th, we continued our course 

 to the south-east, having very unsettled weather, 

 attended with much lightning and rain. On both 

 days we passed great quantities of pumice-stone, 

 several pieces of which we took up, and found to 

 weigh from one ounce to three pounds. We con- 

 jectured that these stones had been thrown into the 

 sea, by eruptions of various dates, as many of them 

 were covered with barnacles, and others quite bare. 

 At the same time, we saw two wild ducks, and several 



VOL. VII. b B 



