1 77 1- ROUND THE WORLD. 277 



and nodies, which are said not to go above sixty or 

 eighty leagues from land \ but of this we have no 

 certainty. No one yet knows to what distance any 

 of the oceanic birds go to sea ; for my own part, I 

 do not believe there is one in the whole tribe that 

 can be relied on, in pointing out the vicinity of land. 



In the latitude of 30 30' S., longitude 101 45' W., 

 we began to see men-of-war birds. In the latitude 

 of 29 44', longitude 100 45' W., we had a calm for 

 near two days together, during which time the heat 

 was intolerable ; but what ought to be remarked, 

 was a very great swell from the south-west. 



On the 6th of March, the calm was succeeded by 

 an easterly wind, with which we steered north-west till 

 noon the 8th, when, being in the latitude of 27 4' S., 

 longitude 103 58' W., we steered west, meeting 

 every day with great numbers of birds, such as 

 men-of-war, tropic, and egg-birds, nodies, sheer- 

 waters, &c, and once we passed several pieces 

 of sponge, and a small dried leaf not unlike a bay 

 one. Soon after, we saw a sea-snake, in every re- 

 spect like those we had before seen at the tropical 

 islands. We also saw plenty of fish ; but were such 

 bad fishers, that we caught only four albacores, which 

 were very acceptable, to me especially, who was just 

 recovering from my late illness. 



t 3 



