appeared
to be 180 deg. 55' W., and by the medium of this, and subsequent
observations, there appeared to be an error in the ship's account of her
longitude during her run from Otaheite of 3 deg. 16', she being so much to
the westward of the longitude resulting from the log. At midnight I
brought to and sounded, but had no ground with one hundred and seventy
fathom.

On the 7th it fell calm, we therefore approached the land slowly, and in
the afternoon, when a breeze sprang up, we were still distant seven or
eight leagues. It appeared still larger as it was more distinctly seen,
with four or five ranges of hills, rising one over the other, and a
chain of mountains above all, which appeared to be of an enormous
height. This land became the subject of much eager conversation; but the
general opinion seemed to be that we had found the _terra australis
incognita_. About five o'clock we saw the opening of a bay, which seemed
to run pretty far inland, upon which we hauled our wind and stood in for
it; we also saw smoke ascending from different places on shore. When
night came on, however, we kept plying off and on till day-light, when
we found ourselves to the leeward of the bay, the wind being at north:
We could now perceive that the hills were clothed with wood, and that
some of the trees in the valleys were very large. By noon we fetched in
with the south-west point; but not being able to weather it, tacked and
stood off: At this time we saw several canoes standing cross the bay,
which in a little time made to shore, without seeming to take the least
notice of the ship; we also saw some houses, which appeared to be small,
but neat; and near one of them a considerable number of the people
collected together, who were sitting upon the beach, and who, we
thought, were the same that we had seen in the canoes. Upon a small
peninsula, at the north-east head, we could plainly perceive a pretty
high and regular paling, which inclosed the whole top of a hill; this
was also the subject of much speculation, some supposing it to be a park
of deer, others an inclosure for oxen and sheep. About four o'clock in
the afternoon we anchored on the north-west side of the bay, before the
entrance of a small river, in ten fathom water, with a fine sandy
bottom, and at about half a league from the shore. The sides of the bay
are white cliffs of a great height; the middle is low land, with hills
gradually rising behind, one towering above another