It is a diminution of the value of that gentleman's voyage, that his longitude was not confirmed by astronomical observations, and that hence it was liable to errors, the correction of which was out of his power.
As Captain Cook had now gotten to the northward of Captain Carteret's tracks, he no longer entertained any hopes of discovering a continent.
Islands were all that he could expect to find, until he returned again to the south.

In this and his former voyage, he had crossed the ocean in the latitude of 40 deg.

and upwards, without meeting any thing which could, in the least, induce him to believe that he should attain the great object of his pursuit.

Every circumstance concurred to convince him, that, between the meridian of America and New Zealand, there is no southern continent; and that there is no continent farther to the south, unless in a very high latitude.

This, however; was a point too important to be left to opinions and conjectures.