THE PACIFIC OCEAN, 
399 
coming down on us before the wind. Objects of any kind, 
belonging to a country fo famous, and yet fo little known, 
it will be ealily conceived, mull have excited a general cu- 
riolity, and accordingly every foul on board was upon deck 
in an inftant, to gaze at them. As the veffel to windward 
approached us, fhe hauled farther off Ihore ; upon which, 
fearing that we fhould alarm them by the appearance of a 
purfuit, we brought the fhips to, and fhe paffed ahead of 
us, at the diftance of about half a mile. It would have 
been eafy for us to have fpoken with them; but perceiving, 
by their manoeuvres, that they were much frightened, Cap¬ 
tain Gore was not willing to augment their terrors; and, 
thinking that we Ihould have many better opportunities of 
communication with this people, fuffered them to go off 
without interruption. Our diftance did not permit us to re¬ 
mark any particulars regarding the men on board, who 
Teemed to be about fix in number, efpecially as the hazinefs 
of the weather precluded the ufe of our glaffes. According 
to the beft conjectures we were able to form, the veflfel was 
about forty tons burthen. She had but one malt, on which 
was hoifted a fquare fail, extended by a yard aloft, the 
braces of which worked forward. Half-way down the fail, 
came three pieces of black cloth, at equal diftances from, 
each other. The veffel was higher at each end than in the 
midlhip ; and we imagined, from her appearance and form, 
that it was impoftible for her to fail any otherwife than 
large. 
At noon the wind frefhened, and brought with it a good 
deal of rain; by three, it had increafed fo much, that we 
were reduced to our courfes; at the fame time, the fea ran 
as high as any one on board ever remembered to have feen 
it. If the Japanefe veffels are, as Koempfer defcribes them, 
open 
1779. 
October. 
