rendered his situation betwixt two shores, which it
required the greatest caution and continual activity to avoid, one of
the most critical and unpleasant he experienced during the voyage. The
dawn of the following day, gave them sight of the land, which for some
hours they had been groping against in the utmost fear of collision;
and about noon, they descried Cape Pillar, the termination of this
perilous strait, beyond which, there beamed on their joyful eyes an
immense horizon and an unspotted sea.

Fifty-two days were elapsed since they left Cape Virgin, the half of
which had been spent in inactive but painful suffering at Port Gallant.
Bougainville reckons the length of the strait at about one-hundred and
fourteen leagues, viz. from Cape Virgin Mary to Cape Pillar; and in his
opinion, notwithstanding the difficulties of the passage, it is to be
preferred to doubling Cape Horn, especially in the period from September
to the end of March. His reasons for this opinion, and the concurrent
and contrary sentiments of other navigators, have been either already
stated, or will require to be so hereafter, and need not now interrupt
our prosecution of the remainder of his voyage.

A few days after entering the Western Sea, the wind got S. and S.S.W.
This was sooner than Bougainville expected, as it was thought the west
winds generally lasted to about 30 deg., and obliged him to lay aside his
intention of going to the isle of Juan Fernandez, as the doing so would
necessarily prolong his voyage. He stood, therefore, as much as possible
to the west, in order to keep the wind, and to get off the coast; and
with a view to discover a greater space of the ocean, he directed the
commander of the Etoile to go every morning southward as far from him as
the weather would permit, keeping in sight, and to join, him in the
evening, and follow in his wake at about half a league's distance. This
it was hoped would both facilitate examination, and secure mutual
assistance, and was the order of sailing preserved throughout the
voyage.

He now directed his course in search of the land seen by Davis in 1686,
between 27 deg. and 28 deg. south latitude, and sought for in vain by Roggewein.
This search, however, was equally fruitless, though Bougainville crossed
the position laid down for it in M. de Bellin's chart. His conclusion,
in consequence, is, that the land spoken of by Davis was no other than
the isles of St Ambrose and St Felix, which