I now return to the progress of our voyage. On the 7th, being in the latitude of 29° N., and in the longitude of 200° E., the wind veered to S. E. This enabled us to steer N. E. and E.; which course we continued till the 12th, when the wind had veered round by the south and west, to north-east and east north-east. I then tacked, and stood to the northward, our latitude being 30° N. and our longitude 206° 15ʹ E. Notwithstanding our advanced latitude, and its being the winter season, we had only begun, for a few days past, to feel a sensation of cold in the mornings and evenings. This is a sign of the equal and lasting influence of the sun’s heat, at all seasons, to 30° on each side the line. The disproportion is known to become very great after that. This must be attributed, almost entirely, to the direction of the rays of the sun, independent of the bare distance, which is, by no means, equal to the effect. On the 19th, being now in the latitude of 37° N., and in the longitude of 206° E., the wind veered to south-east; and I was enabled again to steer to the east, inclining to the north. We had, on the 25th, reached the latitude of 42° 30ʹ, and the longitude of 219°; and then we began to meet with the rock-weed, mentioned by the writer of Lord Anson’s voyage, under the name of sea-leek, which the Manilla ships generally fall in with. Now and then a piece of wood also appeared. But if we had not known that the continent of North America was not far distant, we might, from the few signs of the vicinity of land hitherto met with, have concluded, that there was none within some thousand leagues of us. We had hardly seen a bird, or any other oceanic animal, since we left Sandwich Islands.