4 ROUGH WEA.THER. 



harpooning them, but they would not wait ; 

 they plunged again into the depths of the sea, 

 and we had disturbed their enjoyments in vain. 

 Our water-machine was several times let 

 down, even to the depth of a thousand fathoms : 

 on the surface, the temperature was 24°, and at 

 this depth, only 2° of Reaumur. 



On the 22nd of May, the anniversary of our 

 frigate's leaving Stopel, we got a fresh easterly 

 wind, which carried us forward pretty quickly 

 on the still smooth surface of the sea. 



On the 1st of June, when in latitude 42^ and 

 longitude 201°, and consequently opposite the 

 coast of Japan, we descried a red stripe in the 

 water, about a mile long and a fathom broad. 

 In passing over it we drew up a pail-full, and 

 found that its colour was occasioned by an infi- 

 nite number of crabs, so small as to be scarcely 

 distinguishable by the naked eye. 



We now began daily to experience increasing 

 inconveniences from the Northern climate. The 

 sky, hitherto so serene, became gloomy and cover- 

 ed with storm-clouds, which seldom threatened 

 ill vain ; we were, besides, enveloped in almost 

 perpetual mists, bounding our prospect to a 



