might, on my return, ſearch for it in the Latitudes of 40° and 41°, having ſtrong reaſon to believe, that there is land in or near thoſe Latitudes, but to the Eaſtward of the Longitude which I croſſed; as otherwiſe, I am at a loſs to account for ſuch a quantity of birch twigs, ſea-weed, drift-wood and birds as were ſeen in that ſituation. Some of theſe birds appeared to be quite young, from the difficulty with which they ſeemed to uſe their wings; though that circumſtance, it is poſſible, might have proceeded from their being gorged with ſea blubber, with which the ſurface of the water was covered.
From the land diſcovered by Monſieur La Roche, in Latitude 55° South, which I touched at with Captain Cook, in the year 1771, who named it Georgia, I am diſpoſed to believe, that the Iſle of Grand alſo exiſts, and that my not being able to find it, aroſe from an error in copying the Lati-
the South Sea, alſo mentions ſigns of land from about 40° South, near this Longitude. The Naſſau fleet, 1624, had alſo ſigns of land here, ſo as to think themſelves near the Southern continent.
Theſe teſtimonies and the Leon, in 1756, finding the other land mentioned by La Roche, leave very little reaſon to doubt his veracity; and, if there is ſuch an iſland, ſituated in the middle of the ocean, in 45° South Latitude, it cannot fail of being a very temperate and pleaſant country, in a ſituation very favorable for carrying on the whale fiſhery and others, and alſo for the proſecution of any commerce, which may be found in the countries to the South.
