the eastward, and soon after spoke with
Captain Furneaux. He told me that he thought the land was to the N.W. of
us,; as he had, at one time, observed the sea to be smooth when the wind
blew in that direction. Athough this was not conformable to the remarks
_we_ had made on the sea, I resolved to clear up the point, if the wind
would admit of my getting to the west in any reasonable time.

At eight o'clock in the morning of the 3d, being in the latitude of 48 deg. 56'
S. longitude 60 deg. 47' E., and upwards of 8 deg. to the east of the meridian of
the Mauritius, I began to despair of finding land to the east; and as the
wind had now veered to the north, resolved to search for it to the west. I
accordingly tacked and stood to the west with a fresh gale. This increased
in such a manner, that, before night, we were reduced to our two courses;
and, at last, obliged to lie-to under the fore-sails, having a prodigious
high sea from W.N.W., notwithstanding the height of the gale was from N. by
W. At three o'clock the next morning, the gale abating, we made sail, and
continued to ply to the west till ten o'clock in the morning of the 6th.

At this time, being in the latitude of 48 deg. 6' S., longitude 58 deg. 22' E., the
wind seemingly fixed at W.N.W., and seeing no signs of meeting with land, I
gave over plying, and bore away east a little southerly: Being satisfied,
that if there is any land hereabout, it can only be an isle of no great
extent. And it was just as probable I might have found it to the E. as to
the W.

While we were plying about here we took every opportunity to observe the
variation of the compass, and found it to be from 27 deg. 50' to 30 deg. 26' W.
Probably the mean of the two extremes, viz. 29 deg. 4', is the nearest the
truth, as it nearly agrees with the variation observed on board the
Adventure. In making these observations, we found that, when the sun was on
the larboard side of the ship, the variation was the least; and when on the
starboard side, the greatest. This was not the first time we had made this
observation, without being able to account for it. At four o'clock in the
morning of the 7th, I made the Adventure's signal to keep at the distance
of four miles on my starboard beam; and continued to steer E.S.E. This
being a fine day, I had all our men's bedding and clothes spread on deck to
air; and the ship cleaned and smoked betwixt decks. At noon I steered a
point more to the south, being th