find it had
miscarried. I next intended to get within the tropic, and then proceed to
the west, touching at, and settling the situations of such islands as we
might meet with till we arrived at Otaheite, where it was necessary I
should stop to look for the Adventure. I had also thoughts of running as
far west as the Tierra Austral del Espiritu Santo, discovered by Quiros,
and which M. de Bougainville calls the Great Cyclades. Quiros speaks of
this land as being large, or lying in the neighbourhood of large lands; and
as this was a point which M. de Bougainville had neither confirmed nor
refuted, I thought it was worth clearing up. From this land my design was
to steer to the south, and so back to the east, between the latitudes of
50 deg. and 60 deg.; intending, if possible, to be the length of Cape Horn in
November next, when we should have the best part of the summer before us to
explore the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Great as this design
appeared to be, I however thought it possible to be executed; and when I
came to communicate it to the officers, I had the satisfaction to find,
that they all heartily concurred in it. I should not do these gentlemen
justice, if I did not take some opportunity to declare, that they always
shewed the utmost readiness to carry into execution, in the most effectual
manner, every measure I thought proper to take. Under such circumstances,
it is hardly necessary to say, that the seamen were always obedient and
alert; and, on this occasion, they were so far from wishing the voyage at
an end, that they, rejoiced at the prospect of its being prolonged another
year, and of soon enjoying the benefits of a milder climate.

I now steered north, inclining to the east, and in the evening we were
overtaken with a furious storm at W.S.W., attended with snow and sleet. It
came so suddenly upon us, that before we could take in our sails, two old
top-sails, which we had bent to the yards, were blown to pieces, and the
other sails much damaged. The gale lasted, without the least intermission,
till the next morning, when it began to abate; it continued, however, to
blow very fresh till noon on the 12th, when it ended in a calm.

At this time we were in the latitude of 50 deg. 14' S., longitude 95 deg. 18' W.
Some birds being about the ship, we took the advantage of the calm to put a
boat in the water, and shot several birds, on which we feasted the next
day. One of these birds was of that sort w