]?7 W 2. ROUND THE WORLD. 35 



navigators. However, what they have said of the 

 current setting towards the coast of Guinea, as you 

 approach that shore, is true ; for, from the time of 

 our leaving St. Jago to our arrival into the latitude 

 of l- north, which was eleven days, we were car- 

 ried by the current 3 of longitude more east than 

 our reckoning. On the other hand, after we had 

 crossed the line, and got the S. E. trade w T ind, we 

 always found by observation, that the ship outstripped 

 the reckoning, which we judged to be owing to a 

 current setting between the south and west. But, 

 upon the whole, the currents in this run seemed to 

 balance each other; for, upon our arrival at the Cape, 

 the difference of longitude by dead reckoning kept 

 from England, without once being corrected, was 

 only three quarters of a degree less than that by ob- 

 servation. 



At two in the afternoon, on the 29th, we made 

 the land of the Cape of Good Hope. The Table 

 Mountain, which is over the Cape Town, bore E. S. E. 

 distance 12 or 14 leagues. At this time it w r as a 

 good deal obscured by clouds, otherwise it might, 

 from its height, have been seen at a much greater 

 distance. We now crowded all the sail we could, 

 thinking to get into the bay before dark. But when 

 we found this could not be accomplished, we short- 

 ened sail, and spent the night standing off and on. 

 Between eight and nine o'clock, the whole sea, 

 within the compass of our sight, became at once, as 

 it were, illuminated ; or, what the seamen call, all on 

 fire. This appearance of the sea, in some degree, is 

 very common ; but the cause is not so generally 

 known. Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander had satisfied 

 me that it was occasioned by sea insects. Mr. Fors- 

 ter, however, seemed not to favour this opinion. I 

 therefore had some buckets of water drawn up from 

 along-side the ship, which we found full of an innu- 

 merable quantity of small globular insects, about the 

 size of a common pin's head, and quite transparent. 



D 2 



