1779. THE PACTFTC OCEAN. 159 



also accompanied by man-of-war birds, and boobies 

 of an unusual kind, being quite white (except the tip 

 of the wing, which was black), and easily mistaken, 

 at first sight, for gannets. 



The light winds which we had met with for some 

 time past, with the present unsettled state of the 

 weather, and the little appearance of any change for 

 the better, induced Captain Clerke to alter his plan 

 of keeping within the tropical latitudes ; and accord- 

 ingly, at six this evening, we began to steer north- 

 west by north, at which time our latitude was 20° 

 23', and our longitude 180° 40'. During the conti- 

 nuance of the light winds, which prevailed almost 

 constantly ever since our departure from the Sand- 

 wich Islands, the weather was very close, and the air 

 hot and sultry ; the thermometer being generally at 

 80°, and sometimes at 83°. All this time, we had a 

 considerable swell from the north-east ; and in no 

 period of the voyage did the ships roll and strain so 

 violently. 



In the morning of the 1st of April, the wind 

 changed from the south-east to the north-east by 

 east, and blew a fresh breeze, till the morning of the 

 4th, when it altered two points more to the east, and 

 by noon increased to a strong gale, which lasted till 

 the afternoon of the 5th, attended with hazy weather. 

 It then again altere'd its direction to the south-east, 

 became more moderate, and was accompanied by 

 heavy showers of rain. During all this time, we 

 kept steering to the north -west, against a slow but 

 regular current from that quarter, which caused a 

 constant variation from our reckoning by the log, of 

 fifteen miles a day. On the 4th, being then in the 

 latitude 26° 17', and longitude 173° 30', we passed 

 prodigious quantities of what sailors call Portuguese 

 men-of-war (holothuria physalis), and were also 

 accompanied with a great number of sea birds, 

 amongst which we observed, for the first time, the 

 albatross and sheerwater. 



