60 A VIOLENT STORM. 
one of these birds on the coast of Chili, which 
measured twelve feet across the wings. 
In the parallel of Rio de la Plata, although 
two hundred miles from land, we were daily car- 
ried by the current thirty-nine miles out of our 
course towards the south-west; so great is the 
influence of this mighty river at the distance of 
two hundred and forty miles from its mouth. 
On the 15th of December, in the beginning 
of the southern summer, under forty-seven de- 
grees of latitude, where, if the temperature of 
both hemispheres were equal, the climate would 
have been that of the South of Germany, or the 
middle of France, we were overtaken by a 
violent storm, accompanied by hail and snow. 
It began from the south-west, but the wind, in 
the course of twenty-four hours, veered the 
whole round of the compass, and raised such 
high and furious billows, that our escape from 
destruction afforded ample proof, notwithstand- 
ing a considerable leak, of our ship’s strength, 
and her architect’s skill. From this time we 
continued our voyage with a fair wind and 
serene weather. 
Between Falkland Islands and the west of 
