times, attended
with rain; with which we stood to the N.E. On the 1st of August, at noon,
we were in the latitude of 25 deg. 1', longitude 134 deg. 6' W., and had a great
hollow swell from N.W. The situation we were now in, was nearly the same
that Captain Carteret assigns for Pitcairn's Island, discovered by him in
1767. We therefore looked well out for it, but saw nothing. According to
the longitude in which he has placed it, we must have passed about fifteen
leagues to the west of it. But as this was uncertain, I did not think it
prudent, considering the situation of the Adventure's people, to lose any
time in looking for it. A sight of it would, however, have been of use in
verifying, or correcting, not only the longitude of this isle, but of the
others that Captain Carteret discovered in this neighbourhood; his
longitude not being confirmed, I think, by astronomical observations, and
therefore liable to errors, which he could have no method to correct.

As we had now got to the northward of Captain Carteret's tracks, all hopes
of discovering a continent vanished. Islands were all we were to expect to
find, until we returned again to the south. I had now, that is on this and
my former voyage, crossed this ocean in the latitude of 40 deg. and upwards,
without meeting any thing that in the least induced me to think I should
find what I was in search after. On the contrary, every thing conspired to
make me believe there is no southern continent, between the meridian of
America and New Zealand; at least, this passage did not produce any
indubitable signs of any, as will appear by the following remarks. After
leaving the coasts of New Zealand, we daily saw floating on the sea rock-
weed, for the space of 18 deg. of longitude. In my passage to New Zealand in
1769, we also saw this weed, for the space of 12 or 14 deg. of longitude before
we made the land. The weed is undoubtedly the produce of New Zealand;
because the nearer the coast, the greater quantity you see. At the greatest
distance from the coast, we saw it only in small pieces, generally more
rotten, and covered with barnacles, an indubitable sign that it had been
long at sea. Were it not for this, one might be led to conjecture that some
other large land lay in the neighbourhood; for it cannot be a small extent
of coast to produce such a quantity of weed, as to cover so large a space
of sea. It hath been already mentioned, that we were no sooner clear of the
strai