Soon after we saw the land, of which we had a faint view in the morning; and at four o’clock it extended from S.E. 1/2 E., to S.W. by S., distant about four miles.  The left extreme, which I judged to be the northern point of this land, called, in the French chart of the southern hemisphere, Cape St Louis,[104] terminated in a perpendicular rock of a considerable height; and the right one (near which is a detached rock) in a high indented point.[105] From this point the coast seemed to turn short round to the southward, for we could see no land to the westward of the direction in which it now bore to us, but the islands we had observed in the morning; the most southerly[106] of them lying nearly W. from the point, about two or three leagues distant.

[Footnote 104:  Hitherto, we have only had occasion to supply defects, owing to Captain Cook’s entire ignorance of Kerguelen’s second voyage in 1773; we must now correct errors, owing to his very limited knowledge of the operations of the first voyage in 1772.  The chart of the southern hemisphere, his only guide, having given him, as he tells us, the name of Cape St Louis (or Cape Louis) as the most northerly promontory then seen by the French; and his own observations now satisfying him that no part of the main land stretched farther north than the left extreme now before him; from this supposed similarity of situation, he judged that his own perpendicular rock must be the Cape Louis of the first discoverers.  By looking upon the chart originally published with this voyage, we shall find Cape Louis lying upon a different part of the coast; and by comparing this chart with that published by Kerguelen, it will appear, in the clearest manner, that the northern point now described by Captain Cook, is the very same to which the French have given the name of Cape Francois—­D.]

[Footnote 105:  This right extreme of the coast, as it now shewed itself to Captain Cook, seems to be what is represented on Kerguelen’s chart under the name of Cape Aubert.  It may be proper to observe here, that all that extent of coast lying between Cape Louis and Cape Francois, of which the French saw very little during their first visit in 1772, and may be called the N.W. side of this land, they had it in their power to trace the position of in 1773, and have assigned names to some of its bays, rivers, and promontories, upon their chart.—­D.]

[Footnote 106:  Kerguelen’s Isle de Clugny.—­D.]

About the middle of the land there appeared to be an inlet, for which we steered; but, on approaching, found it was a bending in the coast, and therefore bore up, to go round Cape St Louis.[107] Soon after, land opened off the cape, in the direction of S. 53 deg.  E., and appeared to be a point at a considerable distance; for the trending of the coast from the cape was more southerly.  We also saw several rocks and islands to the eastward of the above directions, the most distant of which was about seven leagues