and moon, by which our longitude was 70° 22' east, by the
watch 70° 07' east, and by account 67° 37' east.

On the 14th, the weather being very clear, we had another set
of distances, which gave our longitude 73° 06' east, by the
watch 73° 09' east, and by account 70° 34' east. Again,
on the 15th, I observed with two different instruments, one by
Ramsden, and the other by Dolland, and the results agreed within
ten miles of longitude; the mean was 75° 18' east, by the
watch 75° 16' east, and by account 72° 49' east. Mr.
Bradley's mean was also 75° 18' east; so that, as I have
already observed, the ship seemed gaining on the account; but
there was no reason to believe, that in the middle of this very
extensive ocean we were ever subject to much current: I therefore
attribute this set to the eastward, to the large following sea,
which constantly attended us, since we had taken a more southerly
parallel. The variation of the compass continued to increase
pretty fast, until we were as far to the eastward as 39° 00'
east, where we found it 31° 00' west; from that longitude to
54° 30' east, it increased very slowly to 32° 00' west,
which was the highest we had; during all that time we were in the
parallels of 40° 00' and 41° 00' south.

We saw many whales, of a very large size, during this part of
our passage, but very few birds. On the 16th, we saw a quantity
of sea weed, which I suppose might have come from the island of
Saint Paul, as we were now near its meridian, and not more than
60 leagues from it. We had at present every prospect of an
excellent passage to Van Diemen's Land: for although the wind
sometimes shifted to the north-east, it seldom continued more