Page:Captain Cook's Journal during His First Voyage Round the World.djvu/111

Rh etc.; and what we saw of the interior parts of the Country is still more barren of the necessaries of Life than the Sea. The few days we stay'd here we had constant bad weather, the Winds from the S.W. and W.S.W. with rain, Hail and Snow. Snow generally fell on the Hills everywhere with these winds when we had rain in the Bay or upon the Sea Coast. I observed the same in respect to Staten Land, but as it never froze it did not lay long; yet it must render the Country Cold and barren, and unfit for Cultivation. The Tides in Success Bay flows at the full and Change of the Moon, about 4 or 5 o'Clock, and riseth between 5 and 6 feet Perpendicular, but in the Strait the flood runs 2 or 3 Hours longer, and there the Ebb or Southerly Current runs near Double the strength of the Flood or Northerly Current.

Staten Island lies nearest E. and W., and from what I could see and judge of it may be about 12 Leagues in length and 5 in breadth. On the North side are the appearances of Bays or Harbours, and the land is not destitute of Wood and Verdure, nor covered with Snow any more than Terra del Fuego.

On the S.W. side of the Cape of good Success (which forms the S.W. entrance of Strait Le Mair, and is known by some rocks off it) lies Valentine's Bay, the entrance of which we only saw. From this Bay the land Trends to the W.S.W.; for 20 or 30 Leagues it appears High and Mountainous, and forms several Bays and inlets S.W. ½ S. 14 Leagues from the Cape of good Success, and 2 or 3 Leagues from the Shore lies New Island; it is 2 leagues in length, N.E. and S.W., the N.E. end is terminated by a remarkable Hillock. S.W. 7 Leagues from New Island lies the Isle Evouts, and South, a little Westerly from this island, lies Barnevelts, two small flatt Islands close to each other; they are partly Environ'd with rocks of Different height above water, and lay S.W. 24 leagues from Strait le Mair. From Barnevelts Island to the S.E. point of Hermites island is S.W. by S., distance 3 Leagues. These Islands lay S.E. and N.W., and are pretty high, and will, from most points of view, be taken for one Island or a part of the Main; from the S.E. point of Hermites Isles to Cape Horn, the Course is S.W. by S., distance 3 Leagues. The Appearance of this Cape and Hermites Islands is represented in the last View in the chart which I have drawn of this Coast from our first making the land unto Cape Horn, in which is included Strait Le Mair and part of Staten Land. In this chart I have laid down no land nor figured out any Shore, but what I saw myself, and thus far the Chart may be depended upon. The Bays and inlets are left voide, the openings of which we only see from the Ship. It cannot be doubted but what there is Anchorage, Wood and Water in those Bays, and it must have been in some of them that the Dutch Squadron commanded by Hermites put into in the