Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/277

Archip. of the Recherche.]

improve my former survey. We steered along the coast at the distance of seven or eight leagues, with a fresh breeze and a strong current in our favour; and on the next day at noon I set land, which had the appearance of Bald Head, at N. 31° W., distant about five leagues. Mount Gardner and Bald Island were distinguished in the afternoon; but the land was visible at times only, from the haziness of the weather.

My intention in coming so near the South Coast, was to skirt along the outer parts of the Archipelago of the Recherche, which had before been seen imperfectly; and to stop a day or two in Goose-Island Bay, for the purposes of procuring geese for our sick people, seal oil for our lamps, and a few casks of salt from the lake on Middle Island. It was night when we approached the archipelago, and I therefore steered to make Termination Island, which is the outermost part; at four in the morning of the 17th, it was seen about two leagues to the N.E., and we had 62 fathoms on a bottom of white sand. Mondrain Island was set at daylight, and the positions of many other places were either verified or corrected, during the run to noon; at that time we had 45 fathoms, and a reef was seen which may probably be that marked Vigie, in the French chart, and is the more dangerous from the sea breaking upon it only at times. No observation was obtained for the latitude, but it should be 34° 13′ south, from the following bearings then taken.

At one o'clock, in steering for Douglas's Isles, a single breaker was seen right a-head of the ship, lying six miles N.E. ½ N. of the former dangerous reef, and about eight from the isles, in a W. by S. ½ S. direction. We passed to the northward of it, having