21st January 1769. Sailed this morning, the wind foul; but our keeping-boxes being full of new plants, we little regarded any wind, provided it was but moderate enough to let the draughtsmen work, who, to do them justice, are now so used to the sea that it must blow a gale of wind before they leave off.

25th. Wind to-day north-west; stood in with some large islands, but we could not tell for certain whether we saw any part of the mainland. At some distance the land formed a bluff head, within which another appeared, though but faintly, farther to the southward. Possibly that might be Cape Horn, but a fog which overcast it almost immediately after we saw it, hindered our making any material observations upon it; so that all we can say is, that it was the southernmost land we saw, and does not answer badly to the description of Cape Horn given by the French, who place it upon an island, and say that it is two bluff headlands (vide Histoire des Navigat. aux terres australes, tom. i. p. 356).

1st February. Killed Diomedea antarctica, Procellaria lugens and turtur. The first, or black-billed albatross, is much like the common one, but differs in being scarcely half as large, and having a bill entirely black. Procellaria lugens, the southern shearwater, differs from the common kind in being smaller and of a darker colour on the back, but is easily distinguished by the flight, which is heavy, and by two fasciæ or streaks of white, which are very conspicuous when it flies, under its wings.

26th. Two large canoes came from a distance; the people in them were numerous and appeared rich; the canoes were well carved and ornamented, and they had with them many patoo-patoos of stone and whale-bone which they value very much. They had also ribs of whales, of which we had often seen imitations in wood carved and ornamented with tufts of dog's hair. The people themselves were browner than those to the southward, as indeed they have been ever since we came to Opoorage, as this part is called, and they had a much larger quantity of amoca or black stains upon their bodies and faces. They had almost universally a broad spiral on each buttock, and many had their thighs almost entirely black, small lines only being left untouched, so that they looked like striped breeches. In this particular, I mean the use of amoca, almost every tribe seems to have a different custom; we have on some days seen canoes where every man was almost covered with it, and at the same time others where scarcely a man had a spot, except on his lips, which seems to be always essential.

These people would not part with any of their arms, etc., for any price we could offer. At last, however, one produced an axe of talc and offered it for cloth; it was given, and the canoe immediately put off with it; a musket ball was fired over their heads, on which they immediately came back and returned the cloth, but soon after put off and went ashore.

June 20th. Observed that in many parts of the inlet, a good way above the high-water mark, were large quantities of pumice-stones probably carried there by freshes or extra-ordinarily high tides, as they certainly came from the sea. Before night the ship was lightened, and we observed with great pleasure that the springs, which were now beginning to lift, rose as high as we could wish.

21st. Fine clear weather; began to-day to lay plants in sand. By night the ship was quite clear, and in the night's tide (which we had constantly observed to be much higher than the day's) we hauled her ashore.

22nd. In the morning I saw her leak, which was very large: in the middle was a hole large enough to have sunk a ship with twice our pumps, but here Providence had most visibly worked in our favour, for it was in a great measure plugged up by a stone as big as a man's fist. Round the edges of this stone had all the water come in, nearly overcome us, and here we found the wool and oakum, or fothering, which had relieved us in so unexpected a manner.

The effect of this coral rock upon her bottom is difficult to describe, but more to believe; it had cut through her plank and deep into one of her timbers, smoothing the gashes still before it, so that the whole might easily be imagined to have been cut with an axe.

Having now, I believe, fairly passed through between New Holland and New Guinea, and having an open sea to the westward, so that to-morrow we intend to steer more to the northwards in order to make the south coast of New Guinea, it seems high time to take leave of New Holland, which I shall do by summing up the few observations I have been able to make on the country and people. I much wished, indeed, to have had better opportunities of seeing and observing the people, as they differ so much from the account that Dampier (the only man I know of who has seen them besides us) has given of them: he indeed saw them on a part of the coast very distant from where we were, and consequently the people might be different; but I should rather conclude them to be the same, chiefly from having observed an universal conformity in such of their customs as came under my observation in the several places we landed upon during the run along the coast. Dampier in general seems to be a faithful relater; but in the voyage in which he touched on the coast of New Holland he was in a ship of pirates; possibly himself not a little tainted by their idle examples, he might have kept no written journal of anything more than the navigation of the ship, and when upon coming home he was solicited to publish an account of his voyage, may have referred to his memory for many particulars relating to the people, etc.

21st. Notwithstanding that our friend Mr. Lange invited us very kindly last night to come ashore again in the morning, and that we saw divers jars of syrup, a sheep, etc., waiting for us upon the beach, a sure sign that the Radja's prohibition was not intended to prejudice trade in the least, we, who had now got plenty of all the refreshments which the isle afforded, thought it most prudent to weigh and sail directly for Batavia; all our fears of westerly winds being dissipated by Mr. Lange assuring us that the easterly monsoon would prevail for two months longer. Accordingly we did so, and soon passed by the small island lying to the west about a league from Savu; its name I have unluckily forgotten (Pulo Samiri, or something like it, may be). One of the buffaloes which was killed weighed only 166 lbs., which was a great drawback on our expectations, as we had thought that even that, though much the smallest of our stock, would not weigh less than 300 lbs.

1st October. About midnight land was seen, which in the morning proved to be Java Head and Prince's Island. At night we had passed Cracatoa.

2nd. We espied two large ships lying at anchor behind Anger Point; we came to an anchor, and sent a boat on board the ships for news. They were Dutch East Indiamen; one bound for Cochin and the coast of Coromandel; the other for Ceylon.

27th August. Lay to all night; in the morning a fresh trade and fine clear weather made us hope that our difficulties were drawing to an end. It was now resolved to haul up to the northward in order to make the coast of New Guinea, so as to assure ourselves that we had really got clear of the South Sea, which was accordingly done. At dinnertime we were alarmed afresh by the usual report of a shoal just ahead; it proved, however, to be no more than a band or regular layer of a brownish colour, extending upon the sea, having very much the appearance of a shoal while at a distance. It was formed by innumerable small atoms, each scarcely half a line in length, yet, when looked at under a microscope, consisting of thirty or forty tubes, each hollow and divided throughout the whole length into many cells by small partitions, like the tubes of Confervœ. To which of the three kingdoms of nature they belong I am totally ignorant. I only guess that they are of a vegetable nature, because on burning them I could perceive no animal smell. We have before this during this voyage seen them several times on the coast of Brazil and of New Holland, but never that I recollect at any considerable distance from the land.

25th October 1768, about five miles south of the line. My machine was made by Ramsden, and worked by a flat plate 8 inches in diameter. The phial used was 6½ inches in height and 5½ in diameter without the neck; the distance between the stopper and the coating, 3 inches, the stopper made of wood and fastened to the glass on the inside by a red cement (probably sealing-wax), The electrometer was divided into thirty parts of 1½ inch as nearly as possible. About nine in the morning the machine was set up, the day being rather cloudy, and the ship going between three and four knots.

When the plate was first turned round the cushions appeared to be damp, adhering to the glass so much that it was with difficulty made to move very slowly, although the cushions were screwed on as tightly as possible. After wiping them very well the plate was made to go round, and in about ten minutes electricity was excited, though but in a small degree; the motion of the ship and the shaking of the table, caused by turning the machine, made the electrometer (which was a very unsteady one) move backwards and forwards visibly, so that it was impossible to ascertain exactly at what distance it discharged the phial, it however was guessed to be about a line when at the greatest distance.

13th November. As soon as we were well in the river, the captain sent his first lieutenant, Mr. Hicks, with a midshipman, to get a pilot: the boat returned, however, without the officers, but with a Portuguese subaltern. The coxswain informed us that the lieutenant was detained until the captain should go off. A ten-oared boat, containing about a dozen soldiers, then came off and rowed round the ship, no one in it appearing to take the slightest notice of us. A quarter of an hour later another boat came off, on board which was a Disemlargador and a colonel of a Portuguese regiment. The latter asked many questions, and at first seemed to discourage our stay, but ended by being extremely civil, and assuring us that the Governor would give us every assistance in his power. The lieutenant, he said, was not detained, but had not been allowed on shore on account of the practica, but that he would be sent on board immediately.

14th. Captain Cook went on shore this morning. He returned with a Portuguese officer with him in the boat, also an Englishman, Mr. Forster, a lieutenant in the Portuguese service. We were informed that we could not have a house nor sleep on shore, and that no person except the captain and such common sailors as were required on duty would be permitted to land; we, the passengers, were particularly objected to.