At two in the morning, however, we made sail with the wind at S.W. and at daylight, we saw the land extending as far as N. ¾#190; E. the point we had set the night before bore S.W. by W. distant between three and four leagues. It lies in latitude 25° 58’, longitude 206° 48’ W.: the land within it is of a moderate and equal height, but the point itself is so unequal, that it looks like two small islands lying under the land, for which reason I gave it the name of DOUBLE ISLAND POINT; it may also be known by the white cliffs on the north side of it. Here the land trends to the N.W. and forms a large open bay, the bottom of which is so low a flat that from the deck it could scarcely be seen. In crossing this bay, our depth of water was from thirty to twenty-two fathom, with a white sandy bottom. At noon, we were about three leagues from the shore, in latitude 25° 34’ S. longitude 206° 45’ W.: Double Island Point bore S. ¾#190; W. and the northermost land in sight N. ¾#190; E. This part of the coast, which is of a moderate height, is more barren than any we had seen, and the soil more sandy. With our glasses we could discover that the sands, which lay in great patches of many acres, were moveable, and that some of them had not been long in the place they possessed; for we saw in several parts, trees half buried, the tops of which were still green; and in others, the naked trunks of such as the sand had surrounded long enough to destroy. In other places the woods appeared to be low and shrubby, and we saw no signs of inhabitants. Two water snakes swam by the ship: they were beautifully spotted, and in every respect like land snakes, except that their tails were broad and flat, probably to serve them instead of fins in swimming. In the morning of this day, the variation was 8° 20’ E. and in the evening, 8° 36’. During the night, we continued our course to the northward, with a light breeze from the land, being distant from it between two and three leagues, and having from twenty-three to twenty-seven fathom with a fine sandy bottom.

Voyaging Accounts