Page:Voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the world in the years 1791-95, volume 3.djvu/17

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A VOYAGE or DISCOVERY


>793- December. Sunday 22. Wednef. 25. Sunday sg. Tuefday 31 1794. January. Tuefday 7, the other lying (ouih, two miles from its fouth point, which is fituatcd in latitude 28" 51', longitude 241" 38'. The wind at n. w. continued to blow a picafant gale with fair weather until midnight; but at this time it veered round, and fettled in the north-ea(l trade. Our diftance was now about 75 leagues from the coart, and it is probable the north-weft; winds do not extend far beyond that limit, as the wind that fucceeded continued without calms, or other interruptions, between the n.e. and e.n.e., blowing a (Kady, gentle, and pleafant gale. On the 2J(1, in latitude 23* 23', longitude 23.1° 37', the variation of the compafs was 7' eaftwardly ; here we had thirty hours calm, after which we had a gentle breeze from the N. e.; this as we proceeded was attended full by cloudy and gloomy weather, and afterwards with rain, and fuddcn gufts or flurries of wind. On the '25th, a tropic bird was feen, and a common gull that appeared to be much fatigued, and in- clined to alight on board. This very unpleafant weather, fimilar to that which we had experi- enced in this neighbourhood about the conclufion of laft January, ft;ill continued; and on the 2gth, in latitude 19° 1', longitude 231" 58', the wind, after veering to the s. e., became light, and, like the weather, was very unfettled. We were now paffing the fpot afligncd to the los Majos ifles, at the dift-ance of a few miles onlv to th(; fouthward of our former track; but we perceived no one circumftance that indicated the vicinity of land. On the 31ft, the wind feemcd to be fixed in the northern quarter, but the atmofpherc was Rill very unpleafant, and the gloomy weather was now accompanied by much rain. On the 3d of January, in latitude i8* 31' longitude 213° 32', a very heavy fwell rolled from theN.w., and the wind in that diredion was light, with alternate calms, attended by foggy or dark hazy weather until the 6t]i, when in latitude ig° ig', lon- gitude 208" 48', we had a few hours of fair and pleafant weather; this was again fucceeded by the fame gloomy aimofphere that we had xperiencecl during the greater part of this paffage, and the wind cont. aed to be very variable between the n.vv. and s.s.w. In the afternoon of the following day the weather was more favorable, and the wind from the northward