In the afternoon, the weather became gloomy, and the gusts of wind that blew off the land were so violent, as to make it necessary to take in all the sails, and bring to, under the mizen stay-sail. All the canoes left us at the beginning of the gale; and Mr. Bligh, on his return, had the satisfaction of saving an old woman, and two men, whose canoe had been overset by the violence of the wind, as they were endeavouring to gain the shore. Besides these distressed people, we had a great many women on board, whom the natives had left behind, in their hurry, to shift for themselves. The master reported to Captain Cook, that he had landed at the only village he saw on the north side of the bay, where he was directed to some wells of water, but found they would by no means answer our purpose; that he afterward proceeded farther into the bay, which runs inland to a great depth, and stretches toward the foot of a very conspicuous high mountain, situated on the north-west end of the island; but that instead of meeting with safe anchorage, as Britannee had taught him to expect, he found the shores low and rocky, and a flat bed of coral rocks running along the coast, and extending upward of a mile from the land; on the outside of which, the depth of water was twenty fathoms, over a sandy bottom; and that, in the mean time, Britannee had contrived to slip away, being afraid of returning, as we imagined, because his information had not proved true and successful. In the evening, the weather being more moderate, we again made sail; but about midnight it blew so violently, as to split both the fore and main-topsails. On the morning of the 7th, we bent fresh sails, and had fair weather, and a light breeze. At noon, the latitude, by observation, was 20° 1ʹ north, the west point of the island bearing south, 7° east, and the north-west point north, 38° east. As we were, at this time, four or five leagues from the shore, and the weather very unsettled, none of the canoes would venture out, so that our guests were obliged to remain with us, much indeed to their dissatisfaction; for they were all sea-sick, and many of them had left young children behind them.