I now made the signal to the Adventure to keep at the distance of four miles on my starboard beam. At half an hour past six Captain Furneaux made the signal to speak with me; and upon his coming under my stern, he informed me that he had just seen a large float of sea or rock-weed, and about it several birds (divers). These were certainly signs of the vicinity of land; but whether it lay to the east or west was not possible for us to know. My intention was to have got into this latitude four or five degrees of longitude to the west of the meridian we were now in, and then to have carried on my researches to the east. But the W. and N. W. winds we had had the five preceding days prevented me from putting this in execution. The continual high sea we had lately had from the N. E., N. N. W. and west, left me no reason to believe that land of any extent lay to the west. We therefore continued to steer to the E., only lying to a few hours in the night, and in the morning resumed our course again, four miles north and south from each other; the hazy weather not permitting us to spread farther. We passed two or three small pieces of rock-weed, and saw two or three birds known by the name of egg-birds; but saw no other signs of land. At noon we observed, in latitude 48° 36ʹ south, longitude 59° 35ʹ east. As we could only see a few miles farther to the south, and as it was not impossible that there might be land not far off in that direction, I gave orders to steer S. 1/2 E., and made the signal for the Adventure to follow, she being, by this movement, thrown a-stern. The weather continuing hazy till half an hour past six o’clock in the evening, when it cleared up so as to enable us to see about five leagues round us. Being now in the latitude of 49° 13ʹ south, without having the least signs of land, I wore and stood again to the eastward, and soon after spoke with Captain Furneaux. He told me that he thought the land was to the N. W. of us; as he had, at one time, observed the sea to be smooth when the wind blew in that direction. Although this was not conformable to the remarks _we_ had made on the sea, I resolved to clear up the point, if the wind would admit of my getting to the west in any reasonable time. At eight o’clock in the morning of the 3d, being in the latitude of 48° 56ʹ South, longitude 6° 47ʹ East, and upwards of 3° to the east of the meridian of Mauritius, I began to despair of finding land to the east; and as the wind had now veered to the northward, 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 sixth.