It is of a circular figure, and may be about 24 Leagues in Compass; the land is of a height sufficient to be seen 12 or 15 Leagues, and of a very broken, uneven Surface, and hath more the appearance of barrenness than fertility.

Last night we saw smoke up it, and this morning some people, and therefore must be inhabited.

Yesterday Lieutenant Gore, having the Morning Watch at the time we first saw this Island, thought he saw land bearing South-South-East and South-East by East; but I, who was upon Deck at the same time, was very Certain that it was only Clouds, which dissipated as the Sun rose.

But neither this, nor the running 14 Leagues to the South, nor the seeing no land to the Eastward of us in the Evening, could Satisfy Mr.Gore but what he saw in the morning was, or might be, land; altho' there was hardly a possibility of its being so, because we must have been more than double the distance from it at that time to what we were either last night or this morning, at both of which times the weather was Exceeding Clear, and yet we could see no land either to the Eastward or Southward of us.

Notwithstanding all this, Mr.Gore was of the same opinion this morning; upon this I order'd the Ship to be wore, and to be steer'd East-South-East by Compass on the other Tack, the point on which he said the land bore at this time from us.* (* Another instance of the general desire to leave nothing unexplored.) At Noon we were in the Latitude of 44 degrees 7 minutes South; the South point of Banks Island bore North, distant 5 Leagues.
Sunday, 18th.