I continued to stand to the north with a fine breeze at west, and west north-west, till near seven o’clock in the evening, when I tacked to wait for day-light. At this time we were in forty-eight fathoms’ water, and about four leagues from the land, which extended from north to south east half east, and a small round hill, which had the appearance of being an island, bore north three quarters east, distant six or seven leagues, as I guessed; it appears to be of a tolerable height, and was but just to be seen from the deck. Between this island or rock, and the northern extreme of the land, there appeared to be a small opening, which flattered us with the hopes of finding an harbour. These hopes lessened as we drew nearer; and, at last, we had some reason to think, that the opening was closed by low land. On this account I called the point of land to the north of it _Cape Flattery_. It lies in the latitude of 48° 15ʹ north, and in the longitude of 235° 3ʹ east. There is a round hill of a moderate height over it; and all the land upon this part of the coast is of a moderate and pretty equal height, well covered with wood, and had a very pleasant and fertile appearance. It is in this very latitude where we now were, that geographers have placed the pretended strait of Juan de Fuca. We saw nothing like it; nor is there the least probability that ever any such thing existed.[36] I stood off to the southward till night, when I tacked, and steered to the north-west, with a gentle breeze at south-west, intending to stand in for the land as soon as day-light should appear. But, by that time, we were reduced to two courses and close-reefed topsails, having a very hard gale, with rain, right on shore; so that, instead of running in for the land, I was glad to get an offing, or to keep that which we had already got. The south west wind, was, however, but of short continuance; for in the evening, it veered again to the west. Thus we had perpetually strong west and north west winds to encounter. Sometimes in an evening, the wind would become moderate, and veer to the southward; but this was always a sure prelude to a storm, which blew the hardest at south south-east, and was attended with rain and sleet. It seldom lasted above four or six hours, before it was succeeded by another gale from the north-west, which generally brought with it fair weather. It was by the means of these southerly blasts, that we were enabled to get to the north-west at all.