imes a kind of sleet. The coast
seemed every where almost straight, without any opening or inlet; and
it appeared to terminate in a kind of white sandy beach; though some
on board thought that appearance was owing to the snow. Each extreme
of the land that was now before us, seemed to shoot out into a point.
The northern one was the same which we had first seen on the 7th; and
on that account I called it _Cape Perpetua_. It lies in the latitude
of 44 deg. 6' N., and in the longitude of 235 deg. 57'E. The southern extreme
before us, I named _Cape Gregory_.[3] Its latitude is 43 deg. 30', and its
longitude 235 deg. 57' E. It is a remarkable point; the land of it rising
almost directly from the sea to a tolerable height, while that on each
side of it is low.

[Footnote 3: In our calendar, the 7th of March is distinguished by the
name of Perpetua M, and the 12th by that of Gregory B.--D.]

I continued standing off till one in the afternoon. Then I tacked, and
stood in, hoping to have the wind off from the land in the night. But
in this I was mistaken; for at five o'clock it began to run to the
west and south-west, which, obliged me once more to stand out to sea.
At this time, Cape Perpetua bore N.E. by N.; and the farthest land we
could see to the south of Cape Gregory bore S. by E., perhaps ten or
twelve leagues distant. If I am right in this estimation, its latitude
will be 43 deg. 10', and its longitude 235 deg. 55' E., which is nearly the
situation of Cape Blanco, discovered or seen by Martin d'Aguilar, on
the 19th of January, 1603. It is worth observing, that in the very
latitude where we now were, geographers have been pleased to place a
large entrance or strait, the discovery of which they take upon them
to ascribe to the same navigator; whereas nothing more is mentioned in
the account of his voyage, than his having seen, in this situation,
a large river, which he would have entered, but was prevented by the
currents.[4]

[Footnote 4: See the History of California, Eng. trans. vol. ii. p.
292.--D.]

The wind, as I have observed, had veered to S.W. in the evening; but
it was very unsettled, and blew in squalls, with snow showers. In one
of these, at midnight, it shifted at once to W.N.W. and soon increased
to a very hard gale, with heavy squalls, attended with sleet or
snow. There was no choice now; and we were obliged to stretch to the
southward, in order to get clear of the coast. This was done under
courses an