26 o 
A VOYAGE TO 
1778. 
March. 
^Illl ^ ^1 ■ 
North by Eaft, half Eaft, to South, half Eaft; each extreme 
about feven leagues diftant. Seeing no figns of a harbour, 
and the weather being ftill unfettled, I tacked and ftretched 
off South Weft, having then fifty-five fathoms water over 
a muddy bottom. 
That part of the land, which we were fo near when we 
tacked, is of a moderate height, though, in fome places, it 
rifes higher within. It was diverfified with a great many 
rifing grounds and fmall hills; many of which were entire¬ 
ly covered with tall, ftraight trees ; and others, which w'ere 
lower, and grew in fpots like coppices; but the interfpaces, 
and tides of many of the rifing grounds, were clear. The 
whole, though it might make an agreeable fummer pro- 
fpedt, had now an uncomfortable appearance; as the bare 
grounds toward the coaft were all covered with fnow, which 
feemed to be of a confiderable depth between the little hills 
and rifing grounds; and, in feveral places toward the lea, 
might eafily have been miftaken, at a diftance, for white 
cliffs. The fnow on the rifing grounds was thinner fpread; 
and farther inland, there was no appearance of any ; from 
whence we might, perhaps, conclude, that what we faw 
toward the fea, had fallen during the night; which was 
colder than any we had experienced fince our arrival on the 
coaft; and we had fometimes a kind of fleet. The coaft 
feemed every where almoft ftraight, without any opening 
or inlet; and it appeared to terminate in a kind of white 
fandy beach; though fome on board thought that appear¬ 
ance was owing to the fnow. Each extreme of the land 
that was now before us, feemed to fhoot out into a point. 
The Northern one was the fame which we had firft feen 
on the 7th; and, on that account, I called it Cape Perpetua. 
It lies in the latitude of 44 0 6 ' North, and in the longitude 
of 
