anions at this first
rendezvous, it was not to be supposed that any of them would be found
at the second, and indeed we had the greatest reason to suspect that
all but ourselves had perished. Besides, we were now reduced to so low
a condition, that, instead of pretending to attack the settlements
of the enemy, our utmost hopes could only suggest the possibility
of saving the ship, and some part of the remaining crew, by a speedy
arrival at Juan Fernandez; as that was the only place, in this part of
the world, where there was any probability of recovering our sick or
refitting our ship, and consequently our getting thither was the only
chance we had left to avoid perishing at sea.

Our deplorable situation allowing no room for deliberation, we stood
for the island of Juan Fernandez; and, to save time, which was now
extremely precious, as our men were dying by four, five, and six of
a day, and likewise to avoid being again engaged on a lee shore, we
resolved to endeavour to hit that island upon a meridian. On the 28th
of May, being nearly in the parallel on which it is laid down, we had
great expectations of seeing that island; but, not finding it in the
position laid down in our charts, we began to fear that we had got too
far to the westward; and therefore, though the commodore was strongly
persuaded that he saw it in the morning of the 28th, yet his officers
believing it to have been only a cloud, to which opinion the
haziness of the weather gave some countenance, it was resolved, on
consultation, to stand to the eastward in the parallel of the island;
as, by this course, we should certainly fall in with the island, if we
were already to the westward of it, or should at least make the main
land of Chili, whence we could take a new departure, so as not to miss
it a second time in running to the westward.

Accordingly, on the 30th May, we had sight of the continent of Chili,
distant about twelve or thirteen leagues, the land appearing very low
and uneven, and quite white; what we saw being doubtless a part of the
Cordilleras, which are always covered with snow. Though by this
view of the land we ascertained our position, yet it gave us great
uneasiness to find that we had so needlessly altered our course, when
we had been, in all probability, just upon the point of making
the island: For the mortality among us was now increased to a most
frightful degree, and those who remained were utterly dispirited by
this new disap