The wind, by veering to the north, did admit of his pursuing the search; and the result of it was, his conviction that if any land was near, it could only be an island of no considerable extent.
Captain Cook and his philosophical friends, while they were traversing this part, of the southern ocean, paid particular attention to the variation of the compass, which they found to be from 27 deg.

50' to 30 deg.
26' west.

Probably the mean of the two extremes, viz.

29 deg.

4', was the nearest the truth, as it coincided with the variation observed on board the Adventure.