At eight o'clock in the morning of the 3d, being in the latitude of 48° 56' S. longitude 60° 47' E., and upwards of 8° to the east of the meridian of the Mauritius, I began to despair of finding land to the east; and as the wind had now veered to the north, resolved to search for it to the west. I accordingly tacked and stood to the west with a fresh gale. This increased in such a manner, that, before night, we were reduced to our two courses; and, at last, obliged to lie-to under the fore-sails, having a prodigious high sea from W.N.W., notwithstanding the height of the gale was from N. by W. At three o'clock the next morning, the gale abating, we made sail, and continued to ply to the west till ten o'clock in the morning of the 6th. At this time, being in the latitude of 48° 6' S., longitude 58° 22' E., the wind seemingly fixed at W.N.W., and seeing no signs of meeting with land, I gave over plying, and bore away east a little southerly: Being satisfied, that if there is any land hereabout, it can only be an isle of no great extent. And it was just as probable I might have found it to the E. as to the W. While we were plying about here we took every opportunity to observe the variation of the compass, and found it to be from 27° 50' to 30° 26' W. Probably the mean of the two extremes, viz. 29° 4', is the nearest the truth, as it nearly agrees with the variation observed on board the Adventure. In making these observations, we found that, when the sun was on the larboard side of the ship, the variation was the least; and when on the starboard side, the greatest. This was not the first time we had made this observation, without being able to account for it. At four o'clock in the morning of the 7th, I made the Adventure's signal to keep at the distance of four miles on my starboard beam; and continued to steer E.S.E. This being a fine day, I had all our men's bedding and clothes spread on deck to air; and the ship cleaned and smoked betwixt decks. At noon I steered a point more to the south, being then in the latitude of 45° 49' S., longitude 61° 48' E. At six o'clock in the evening, I called in the Adventure; and at the same time took several azimuths, which gave the variation 31° 28'.W. These observations could not be taken with the greatest accuracy, on account of the rolling of the ship, occasioned by a very high westerly swell.