to steer east, inclining a little to the south, till four o'clock in the
afternoon of the next day, when we were in latitude 54° 24' S.,
longitude 19° 18' east.

We had now run down thirteen degrees of longitude in the very latitude
assigned for Bouvet's Land. I was therefore well assured that what he
had seen could be nothing but an island of ice; for, if it had been
land, it is hardly possible we could have missed it, though it were ever
so small. Besides, from the time of leaving the southern lands, we had
not met with the least signs of any other. But even suppose we had, it
would have been no proof of the existence of Cape Circumcision; for I am
well assured that neither seals nor penguins, nor any of the oceanic
birds, are indubitable signs of the vicinity of land. I will allow that
they are found on the coasts of all these southern lands; but are they
not also to be found in all parts of the southern ocean? There are,
however, some oceanic or aquatic birds which point out the vicinity of
land; especially shags, which seldom go out of sight of it; and gannets,
boobies, and men-of-war birds, I believe, seldom go very far out to sea.

As we were now no more than two degrees of longitude front our route to
the south, when we left the Cape of Good Hope, it was to no purpose to
proceed any farther to the east under this parallel, knowing that no
land could be there. But an opportunity now offering of clearing up some
doubts of our having seen land farther to the south, I steered S.E. to
get into the situation in which it was supposed to lie.

We continued this course till four o'clock the next morning, and then
S.E. by E. and E.S.E., till eight in the evening, at which time we were
in the latitude of 55° 25' S., longitude 23° 22' east, both deduced from
observations made the same day; for, in the morning, the sky was clear