More of them were now seen to the westward, the south-westernmost part
of them bearing W.N.W. The weather, in the afternoon, became gloomy,
and at length turned to a mist, and the wind blew fresh at E. I
therefore, at ten at night, hauled the wind to the southward till
day-break, when we resumed our course to the W.

Day-light availed us little, for the weather was so thick, that we
could not see a hundred yards before us; but as the wind was now
moderate, I ventured to run. At half-past four, we were alarmed at
hearing the sound of breakers on our larboard bow. On heaving
the lead, we found twenty-eight fathoms water, and the next cast,
twenty-five. I immediately brought the ship to, with her head to the
northward, and anchored in this last depth, over a bottom of coarse
sand, calling to the Discovery, she being close by us, to anchor also.

A few hours after, the fog having cleared away a little, it appeared
that we had escaped very imminent danger. We found ourselves three
quarters of a mile from the N.E. side of an island, which extended
from S. by W. 1/2 W. to N. by E. 1/2 E., each extreme about a league
distant. Two elevated rocks, the one bearing S. by E., and the other
E. by S., were about half a league each from us, and about the same
distance from each other. There were several breakers about them, and
yet Providence had, in the dark, conducted the ships through, between
these rocks, which I should not have ventured in a clear day, and to
such an anchoring-place, that I could not have chosen a better.

Finding ourselves so near land, I sent a boat to examine what
it produced. In the afternoon she returned, and the officer, who
commanded her, reported, that it produced some tolerable good grass,
and several other small plants, one of which was like purslain, and
eat very well, either in soups or as a sallad. There was no appearance
of shrubs or trees, but on the beach were a few pieces of drift wood.
It was judged to be low water between ten and eleven o'clock, and we
found, where we lay at anchor, that the flood-tide came from the E. or
S.E.

In the night, the wind blew fresh at S., but was more moderate toward
the morning, and the fog partly dispersed. Having weighed at seven
o'clock, we steered to the northward, between the island under which
we had anchored, and another small one near it. The channel is not
above a mile broad; and before we were through it, the wind failed,
and we were obliged to ancho