th, we got the fore-mast out, and hauled it
ashore, and the carpenters of the ships were set to work upon it. Some
parts of the lower standing rigging having been found to be very much
decayed, as we had time now to put them in order, while the carpenters
were repairing the fore-mast, I ordered a new set of main-rigging to
be fitted, and a more perfect set of fore-rigging to be selected out
of the best parts of the old.

From the time of our putting into the Sound till now, the weather had
been exceedingly fine, without either wind or rain. That comfort, at
the very moment when the continuance of it would have been of most
service, was withdrawn. In the morning of the 8th, the wind freshened
at S.E., attended with thick hazy weather and rain. In the afternoon
the wind increased; and, toward the evening, it blew very hard indeed.
It came, in excessively heavy squalls, from over the high land on the
opposite shore, right into the cove, and, though the ships were
very well moored, put them in some danger. These tempestuous blasts
succeeded each other pretty quick, but they were of short duration,
and in the intervals between them we had a perfect calm. According to
the old proverb, Misfortunes seldom come single; the mizen was now
the only mast on board the Resolution that remained rigged, with its
top-mast up. The former was so defective, that it could not support
the latter during the violence of the squalls, but gave way at the
head under the rigging. About eight o'clock the gale abated; but the
rain continued with very little intermission for several days; and,
that the carpenters might be enabled to proceed in their labours,
while it prevailed, a tent was erected over the fore-mast, where they
could work with some degree of convenience.

The bad weather which now came on, did not, however, hinder the
natives from visiting us daily; and, in such circumstances, their
visits were very advantageous to us. For they frequently brought us a
tolerable supply of fish, when we could not catch any ourselves with
hook and line; and there was not a proper place near us where we could
draw a net. The fish which they brought us were either sardines, or
what resembled them much; a small kind of bream; and sometimes small
cod.

On the 11th, notwithstanding the rainy weather, the main-rigging was
fixed and got over head; and our employment, the day after, was to
take down the mizen-mast, the head of which proved to be so rotten,
th