At 5 p.m.the wind Veering to the Westward we Tack'd and Stood to the Southward.

At this time the North Cape bore East 3/4 North and was just open of a point that lies 3 Leagues West by South from it, being now well assured that it is the Northermost Extremity of this Country and is the East point of a Peninsula which Stretches out North-West and North-West by North 17 or 18 Leagues, and as I have before observed is for the most part low and narrow except its Extremity where the land is Tollerable high and Extends 4 or 5 Leagues every way.

Cape Maria Van Diemen is the West point of the Peninsula and lies in the Latitude of 34 degrees 30 minutes South; Longitude 187 degrees 18 minutes West from Greenwich.* (* This is extraordinarily accurate, seeing that the ship was never close to the Cape, and the observations were all taken in bad weather.

The latitude is exact, and the longitude is only three miles in error.

The persistence with which Cook clung to this point until he could resume his exploration and examination of the coast is very characteristic of the man.