ward. In the opposite direction there was a
range of hills whose centre bore N. by W. 1/2 W.; at sunset it was seen as
far as N. 37 deg. W., from the sloop's deck, and from the mast head of the
Nautilus, the land was distinguished, or thought to be so, as far as N.
60 deg. W. These bearings, but particularly the last, seemed to show a strong
current to the westward, for neither Mr. Bass nor myself could believe,
that the hills at the back of the Long Beach were sufficiently elevated
to be seen beyond fifteen leagues; I therefore took four sets of
distances, of stars east and west of the moon, which placed us, an hour
and a half after sunset, in longitude 149 deg. 13' east, agreeing nearly with
the dead reckoning. The land, if it really were such, was consequently
twenty-five or more leagues off; and if the bearing of N. 60 deg. W. were not
a mistake, it must have been thirty leagues distant in that direction.
This supposed land was visible all the afternoon; but it might possibly
have been the dense clouds hanging over the hills at the back of the Long
Beach, and not the land itself.

Our course to the south-westward was continued all night; but the wind
having veered to W. S. W. at daybreak of the 16th, the sloop was then put
on the northern tack. No land was visible in any direction; nor was there
any at noon, when the observed latitude was 38 deg. 42'. The wind veered
round by the south until it fixed itself at east; and when the day broke,
on the 17th, the signal was made to the Nautilus, and we bore away S.W.
by W. until noon. The latitude was then 39 deg. 11' south, and we judged
ourselves to be nearly in the meridian of the Sisters; the weather was
tolerably fine, and had been so all the morning, yet no land was any
where to be seen; and I therefore concluded, that none could lie in or
near the meridian of these islands, and be in the latitude of 39 deg..

The course steered at noon was west; but in half an hour it was altered
for high irregular land which came in sight to the south-westward, and
proved to be the largest of the two clusters which I had discovered when
in the Francis, and named _Kent's Groups_. We sounded in 30 fathoms, but
lost the lead, the _sole_ deep-sea line with which we had been furnished,
proving to be totally rotten. After running twenty miles, assisted by a
flood tide, we came up with the group at four o'clock, and steered
through the channel by which the principal islands are separated.