Of Longitude More To The East, Although
The Wind, Great Part Of The Time, Blew From Different Directions.
This was
a strong indication that there was no land between us and my track to the
west in 1769.
After this, we had, as is usual in all great oceans, large
billows from every direction in which the wind blew a fresh gale, but more
especially from the S.W. These billows never ceased with the cause that
first put them in motion; a sure indication that we were not near any large
land, and that there is no continent to the south, unless in a very high
latitude. But this was too important a point to be left to opinions and
conjectures. Facts were to determine it, and these could only be obtained
by visiting the southern parts; which was to be the work of the ensuing
summer, agreeable to the plan I had laid down. As the winds continued to
blow from the N.W. and W., we had no other choice but to stand to the
north, inclining more or less every day to the east. In the latitude of 21 deg.
we saw flying-fish, gannets, and egg-birds. On the sixth, I hoisted a boat
out, and sent for Captain Furneaux to dinner, from whom I learnt that his
people were much better, the flux having left them, and the scurvy was at a
stand. Some cyder which he happened to have, and which he gave to the
scorbutic people, contributed not a little to this happy change.
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