6 deg. W. Thus we quitted a dreary and inhospitable region, where we
were in almost perpetual danger of shipwreck for near four months,
having entered the streight on the 17th of December 1766, and quitted it
on the 11th of April 1767; a region where, in the midst of summer, the
weather was cold, gloomy, and tempestuous, where the prospects had more
the appearance of a chaos than of nature, and where, for the most part,
the vallies were without herbage, and the hills without wood.

[Footnote 48: How very vexatious this was to the Swallow's crew, the
reader has to learn from the account of Carteret's voyage.--E.]

SECTION III.

_A particular Account of the Places in which we anchored during our
Passage through the Streight, and of the Shoals and Rocks that lie near
them._

Having cleared the streight, we steered a western course. But before I
continue the narrative of our voyage, I shall give a more particular
account of the several places where we anchored, plans of which are
deposited in the Admiralty-office for the use of future navigators, with
the shoals and rocks that lie near them, the latitude, longitude, tides,
and variation of the compass.

I. CAPE VIRGIN MARY. The bay under this cape is a good harbour, when the
wind is westerly. There is a shoal lying off the cape, but that may
easily be known by the rock-weed that grows upon it: The cape is a steep
white cliff, not unlike the South Foreland. Its latitude, by
observation, is 52 deg. 24' S. and its longitude, by account, 68 deg. 22' W. The
variation of the needle, by the medium of five azimuths and one
amplitude, was 24 deg. 30' E. In this place we saw no appearance either of
wood or water. We anchored in ten fathom, with coarse sandy ground,
about a mile from the shore, Cape Virgin Mary bearing N. by. W. 1/2 W.
distant about two miles, and Dungeness Point S.S.W. distant four miles.
We anchored here on the 17th of December, and sailed the next day. There
is good landing, on a fine sandy beach, all along the shore.

II. POSSESSION BAY. In sailing into this bay, it is necessary to give
the point a good birth, because there is a reef that runs right off it
about a short mile. The soundings are very irregular all over the bay,
but the ground is every where a fine soft mud and clay, so that the
cables can come to no damage. The point lies in latitude 52 deg. 23' S.
longitude, by account, 68 deg. 57' W.: The variation is two points easterly.
In the bay th