egarding the men on board, who seemed to be about
six in number, especially as the haziness of the weather precluded the use
of our glasses. According to the best conjectures we were able to form, the
vessel was about forty tons burthen. She had but one mast, on which was
hoisted a square sail, extended by a yard aloft, the braces of which worked
forward. Half-way down the sail, came three pieces of black cloth, at equal
distances from each other. The vessel was higher at each end than in the
midship; and we imagined, from her appearance and form, that it was
impossible for her to sail any otherwise than large.

At noon, the wind freshened, and brought with it a good deal of rain; by
three, it had increased so much, that we were reduced to our courses; at
the same time, the sea ran as high as any one on board ever remembered to
have seen it. If the Japanese vessels are, as Kaempfer describes them, open
in the stern, it would not have been possible for those we saw to have
survived the fury of this storm; but, as the appearance of the weather, all
the preceding part of the day, foretold its coming, and one of the sloops
had, notwithstanding, stood far out to sea, we may safely conclude, that
they are perfectly capable of bearing a gale of wind. Spanberg indeed
describes two kinds of Japanese vessels; one answering to the above
description of Kaempfer, the other, which he calls busses, and in which, he
says, they make their voyages to the neighbouring islands, exactly
corresponds with those we saw.[99]

At eight in the evening, the gale shifted to the W., without abating the
least in violence, and by raising a sudden swell, in a contrary direction
to that which prevailed before, occasioned the ships to strain and labour
exceedingly. During the storm, several of the sails were split on board the
Resolution. Indeed they had been so long bent, and were worn so thin, that
this accident had of late happened to us almost daily, in both ships;
especially when, being stiff and heavy with the rain, they became less able
to bear the shocks of the violent and variable winds we at this time
experienced. The gale at length growing moderate, and settling to the W.,
we kept upon a wind to the southward; and, at nine in the morning of the
30th, we saw the land, at the distance of about fifteen leagues, bearing
from W. by N. to N.W. 1/4 W. It appeared in detached parts; but whether
they were small islands, or parts of Japan, our distance d