16th August 1769. Early this morning we were told that land was in sight. It proved to be a cloud, but at first sight was so like land that it deceived every man in the ship; even Tupia gave it a name.

17th. A heavy swell from the south-west all day, so we are not yet under the lee of the continent. Our taros (roots like a yam, called in the West Indies cocos) failed us to-day; many of them were rotten. They would probably have kept longer had we had either time or opportunity of drying them well, but I believe that at the best they are very much inferior to either yams or potatoes for keeping.

24th. The morning was calm. About nine it began to blow fresh with rain, which came on without the least warning; at the same time a waterspout was seen to leeward. It appeared to me so inconsiderable, that had it not been pointed out to me, I should not have particularly noticed the appearance. It resembled a line of thick mist, as thick as a middling-sized tree, which reached, not in a straight line, almost to the water's edge, and in a few minutes totally disappeared. Its distance, I suppose, made it appear so trifling, as the seamen judged it to be not less than two or three miles from us.