176-, July. Thurfd. 16. Monday 20. Wednef. 22. and that we got them again at seven o'clock the next day. When we loft them we were in latitude 21o 7 S. longitude 147° 4′ W. and when we got them again we were in latitude 21° 43′ S. longitude 149° 48′ W. fo that I imagine there was then fome land to the fouthward, not far diftant. From this time, to the 16th, the winds were variable from N. E. round by the N. the N. W. and S. W. and blew very hard, with violent gusts, one of which was very near being fatal to us, with thick weather and hard rain, We were then in latitude 220 S, and 700 30' W. of our departure, where we found the variation 6° 30' E. and the tempeftuous gales were fucceeded by a dead calm. After fome time, however, the wind fprung up again at weft, and at length settled in the W. S. W. which foon drove us again to the northward, so that on the 20th we were in latitude 19. S. longitude 75° 30′ W. of our departure: the variation was here 6o E. On the 22d, we were got into latitude 180 S. longitude 1610 W. which was about one thousand eight hundred leagues to the weftward of the continent of America, and in all this track we had no indication of a continent. The men now began to be very fickly, the fcurvy having made great progrefs among them, and as I found that all my endeavours to keep in a high fouthern latitude at this time, were ineffectual, and that the badness of the weather, the variablenefs of the winds, and above all the defects of the ship, rendered our progrefs flow, I thought it abfolutely neceffary to fix upon that courfe which was moft likely to preserve the veffel and the crew; inftead therefore of attempting to return back by the fouth east, in which, confidering our condition, and the advanced feafon of the year, it was scarcely poffible that we should fucceed, I bore away to the northward, that I might get into the trade-wind, keeping still in fuch a track as, if the charts were to be trufted, was most likely to bring me to fome ifland, where the refreshmenrs of which we ftood fo much in need might be procured; intending then, if the ship could be put into a proper condition, to have pursued the voyage to the fouthward, when the fit season should return, to have attempted farther discoveries difcoveries in this track; and, if I should difcover a continent, and procure a fufficient supply of provisions there, to keep along the coaft to the fouthward till the fun had croffed the equinoctial, and then, getting into a high southern latitude, either have gone west about to the Cape of Good Hope, or returned to the eastward, and having touched at Falkland's Islands if neceffary, make the best of my way from thence back to Europe. 1767. July. When I got into latitude 16° S. and not before, I found the true trade-wind; and as we proceeded to the north-west, and the northward, we found the variation increase very faft; for when we had advanced to latitude 18o 15' S. and were in longitude 80° W. of our departure, it was 7° 30′ E. We had bad weather, with hard gales, and a great sea from the eastward till the 25th, when being in latitude 12° 15′ S. Saturday 25. we saw many birds flying in flocks, and supposed ourfelves to be near some land, particularly feveral islands that are laid down in the charts, and one which was feen by Commodore Byron in 1765, and called the ifland of Danger; none of thefe iflands however could we fee. At this time it blew fo hard that, although we went before the wind, we were obliged to reef our top-fails, and the weather was ftill very thick and rainy. The next morning, being in latitude 10° S. Sunday 26. longitude 1670 W. we kept nearly in the fame parallel, in hopes to have fallen in with fome of the islands called Solomon's Ilands, this being the latitude in which the fouthermost of them is laid down. We had here the trade wind ftrong, with violent fqualls and much rain, and continuing our courfe till Monday the 3d of Auguft, we were then in latitude 10° 18' S. Auguft longitude by account 1770 F. our distance west from Monday 3. the continent of America about twenty-one hundred leagues, and we were five degrees to the weftward of the fituation of those islands in the charts. It was not our good fortune however to fall in with any land; probably we might pass near some, which the thick weather prevented our feeing; for in this run great numbers of fea-birds were often about the ship: however, as Commodore Byron in his laft voyage failed over the northern limits of that part of the ocean in which the islands of Solomon are faid to lie, and as I I failed 1767. failed over the southern limits without feeing them, Auguft. there is great reafon to conclude that, if there are any fuch islands, their situation in all our charts is erroneously laid down. From the latitude 14° S. longitude 163° 46′ W. we had a strong gale from the S. E. which made a great fea after us, and from that time I did not observe the long billows from the fouthward till we got into latitude 10° 18' S. longitude 177° 30' E. and then it returned from the S. W. and S. S. W. and we found a current setting to the fouthward, although a current in the contrary direction had attended us almost all the way from the Streight of Magellan; I conjectured therefore that here the paffage opened between New Zealand and New Holland. The variation here was Wednef. 5, 11° 14' E. On the 5th being in latitude 100 S. longitude 175° 44′ E. the variation was 11° 15' E. and on the 8th, in latitude 11°. S. longitude 171° 14' E. it was 11° E. Satur: 8. About this time we found our stock of log-lines nearly expended, though we had already converted all our fishing lines to the fame ufe. I was fome time in great perplexity how to fupply this defect, but upon a very diligent inquiry found that we had, by chance a few fathoms of thick untarred rope. This, which in our fituation was an inestimable treafure, I ordered to be untwisted; but as the yarns were found to be too thick for our purpose, it became neceffary to pick them into oakum : and when this was done, the most difficult part of the work remained; for this oakum could not be fpun into yarn, till, by combing, it was brought into hemp, its original ftate. This was not feamens work, and if it had, we should have been at a lofs how to perform it for want of combs; one difficulty therefore rose upon another, and it was necessary to make combs, before we could try our skill in making hemp. Upon this trying occafion we were again fenfible of the danger to which we were expofed by the want of a forge: neceffity, however, the fruitful mother of invention, fuggefted an expedient. The armourer was set to work to file nails down to a smooth point, with which we produced a tolerable fuccedaneum for a comb; and one of the Quartermasters was found fufficiently fufficiently skilled in the use of this inftrument to render the oakum so smooth and even that we contrived to fpin it into yarn, as fine as our coarse implements would admit; and thus we made tolerable log-lines, although we found it much more difficult than to make cordage of our old cables, after they had been converted into junk, which was an expedient that we had been obliged to practife long before. We had also long before used all our fewing fail twine, and if, knowing that the quantity with which I had been fupplied was altogether inadequate to the wants of fuch a voyage, I had not taken the whole quantity that had been put on board to repair the feine into my own cuftody, this deficiency might have been fatal to us all. CHA P. IV. An Account of the Discovery of Queen Charlotte's Islands, with a Defcription of them and their Inhabitants, and of what happened at Egmont Island. TH 1767. Auguft. HE fcurvy ftill continued to make great progress among us, and thofe hands that were not rendered useless by disease, were wore down by exceffive labour; our veffel, which at best was a dull failer, had been long in fo bad a condition that she would not work; and on the 10th, to render our condition ftill more Monday ra. distressful and alarming, the fprung a leak in the bows, which being under water it was impoffible to get at while we were at fea. Such was our fituation, when on the 12th, at break of day, we difcovered land: the Wednef. 12. fudden transport of hope and joy which this inspired, can perhaps be equalled only by that which a criminal feels, who hears the cry of a reprieve at the place of execution. The land proved to be a cluster of islands, of which I counted feven, and believe there were many more. We kept on for two of them, which were right a-head when land was first discovered, and feemed to lie close together; in the evening we anchored on the north-eaft fide of one of them, which was the largest and the highest of the two, in about thirty fathoms, with a good bottom, and at the distance of about three cables length from the shore. We soon after saw two of 1767. Auguft. Thurf. 12. of the natives, who were black, with woolly heads, and stark naked; I immediately fent the Mafter out with the boat to fix upon a watering-place, and speak to them, but they disappeared before fhe could reach the fhore. The boat foon after returned with an account that there was a fine run of fresh water a-breast of the fhip and close to the beach, but that the whole country in that part being an almost impenetrable forest quite to the water's edge, the watering would be very difficult, and even dangerous, if the natives fhould come down to prevent it: that there were no esculent vegetables for the refreshment of the fick, nor any habitations as far as the country had been examined, which was wild, forlorn, and mountainous. Having confidered this account, and finding that a fwell, which came round the eastern part of the bay, would render watering troublesome and inconvenient, exclufive of the danger that might be apprehended from the natives, if they fhould attack us from ambushes in the wood, I determined to try whether a better situation cauld not be found, The next morning, therefore, as foon as it was light, I dispatched the Master with fifteen men in the cutter, well armed and provided, to examine the coaft to the weftward, our prefent fituation being on the lee of the island, for a place where we might more conveniently be supplied with wood and water, and at the fame time procure fome refreshments for the fick, and lay the ship by the stern to examine and stop the leak. I gave him fome beads, ribbons, and other trifles, which by chance I happened to have on board, to conciliate the good-will of the natives, if he should happen to meet with any of them; but at the fame time enjoined him to run no risk, and gave him particular orders immediately to return to the fhip if any number of canoes fhould approach him which might bring on hoftilities; and if he should meet the Indians in small parties, either at fea or upon fhore, to treat them with all poffible kindness, so as to establish a friendly intercourse with them; charging him, on no account to leave the boat himself, nor to fuffer more than two men to go on fhore at a time, while the reft ftood ready for their defence; recommending to him, in the strongest terms, an |