THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



oyj 



inhabitants of thefe iflands, mentioned at the end of the '779- 



Ottober. 



laft Chapter, had excited in us the greater curiofity to vifit ^— v— . 

 them. 



In the afternoon, the leach-rope of the Refolution's fore- 

 top-fail gave way, and fplit the fail. As this accident had 

 often happened to us in Captain Cook's life-time, he had 

 ordered the foot and leach-ropes of the topfails to be taken 

 out, and larger fixed in their ftead ; and as thefe alfo 

 proved unequal to the ftrain that was on them, it is evident, 

 that the proper proportion of flrcngth between thofe ropes 

 and the fail is exceedingly mifcalculatcd in our fervice. 

 This day a land-bird perched on the rigging, and was taken; 

 it was larger than a fparrow, but, in other refpeets, very like 

 one. 



The gale now abated gradually ; fo that, in the morning 

 of the 22d, we let out the reefs of the topfails, and made Friday 22. 

 more fail. At noon, we were in latitude 40 58', and lon- 

 gitude 148 17' ; the variation 3 Eaft. In the afternoon, an- 

 other little wanderer from the land pitched on the fhip, 

 and was Co worn out with fatigue, that it fuflcred itfelf to 

 be taken immediately, and died a few hours afterward. 

 It was not bigger than a wren, had a tuft of yellow fea- 

 thers on its head, and the reft of its plumage like that of 

 the linnet. The fparrow, being ftronger, lived a long time. 

 Thefe birds plainly indicating, that we could not be at any 

 great diftance 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 Weft North 

 Weft, in which direction, the Southernmoft iflands, feen by 

 Spanberg, and faid to be inhabited by hairy men, lay at the 

 diftance of about fifty leagues. But the wind not keeping 



3 E 2 pace 



