S4 



A VOYAGE TO 



Au^uli "^^ repair thefe defe(n:s the caulkers were fet to work, as 



' ' foon as we got into fair fettled weather, to caulk the decks 



and infide weather- works of the fliip; for I would not truft 

 them over the fides while we were at fea. 



September. 

 Sunday i. 



Sunday So 



On the firft of September * we crofled the Equator, in the 

 longitude of 27° 38' Weft, with a fine gale at South Eaft by 

 South ; and notwithftanding my apprehenfions of falling in 

 with the coaft of Brazil in ftretching to the South Weft, I 

 kept the fhip a full point from the wind. However, I 

 found my fears were ill-grounded; for on drawing near 

 that coaft, we met with the wind more and more eafterly j 

 fo that, by the time we were in the latitude of 10° South, 

 we could make a South Eafterly courfe good. 



On the 8th, we were in the latitude of 8* 57' South; which 

 is a little to the Southward of Cape St. Auguftine, on the 

 coaft of Brafil. Our longitude, deduced from a very great 

 number of lunar obfervations, was 34° 16' Weft ; and by the 



* The afternoon, as appears from Mr. Anderfon's Journal, was fpent in perform- 

 ing the old and ridiculous ceremony of ducking thofe who had not crofled the Equator 

 before. Though Captain Cook did not fupprefs the cuftom, he thought it too trifling 

 to deferve the lead mention of it in his Journal, or even in his log-book. Pernetty, 

 the Writer of Bougainville's Voyage to the Falkland Iflands, in 1763 and 1764, 

 thought differently ; for his account of the celebration of this childifh feftival on board 

 his fhip, is extended through feventeen pages, and makes the fubjedl of an entire chap- 

 ter, under the title of Baptitne de la L'tgne. 



It may be worth while to tranfcribe his introdudlion to the defcription of it. " Ce'ft 

 •' un ufage qui ne remonte pas plus haut que ce voyage celebre de Gama, qui a fourni 

 *' au Camoens le fujet de la Lufiade. L'Idee qu'on ne fcauroit etre un bon marin, 

 " fans avoir traverfe I'Equateur, I'ennui infeparable d'une longue navigation, un cer- 

 " tain efprit republicain qui regne dans toutes les petites fociete's, peut-etre toutes ces 

 " caufes reunies, on pu donner naiflance a ces efpeces de faturnales. Quoiqu'il en foit, 

 «' elles furent adoptees, en un infl:ant, dans toutes les nations, & les hommes les plus 

 «' eclaires furent obliges de fe foumettre a une coutume dont ils reconnoiflbient I'ab- 

 " furdite. Car, partout, des que le peuple parle, it faut que le fage fe raette a I'unifon.'* 

 Hijioired'un Voyage anx Ijles Malouines, p. 107, 108. 



watch. 



