terns, shags, divers, the new white bird, and a small bird like those of
the Cape of Good Hope, called yellow birds; which, having shot two, we
found most delicious food.

All the land birds we saw consisted of a few small larks, nor did we
meet with any quadrupeds. Mr Forster indeed observed some dung, which he
judged to come from a fox, or some such animal. The lands, or rather
rocks, bordering on the sea-coast, were not covered with snow like the
inland parts; but all the vegetation we could see on the clear places
was the grass above-mentioned. The rocks seemed to contain iron. Having
made the above observations, we set out for the ship, and got on board a
little after twelve o'clock, with a quantity of seals and penguins, an
acceptable present to the crew.

It must not, however, be understood that we were in want of provisions:
we had yet plenty of every kind; and since we had been on this coast, I
had ordered, in addition to the common allowance, wheat to be boiled
every morning for breakfast; but any kind of fresh meat was preferred by
most on board to salt. For my own part, I was now, for the first time,
heartily tired of salt meat of every kind; and though the flesh of the
penguins could scarcely vie with bullock's liver, its being fresh was
sufficient to make it go down. I called the bay we had been in,
Possession Bay. It is situated in the latitude of 54° 5' S., longitude
37° 18' W., and eleven leagues to the east of Cape North. A few miles to
the west of Possession Bay, between it and Cape Buller, lies the Bay of
Isles, so named on account of several small isles lying in and before
it.

As soon as the boat was hoisted in, we made sail along the coast to the
east, with a fine breeze at W.S.W. From Cape Buller the direction of the