64 TERRA DEL FUEGO. 
Wehad so little wind, that we were only 
able on the following morning to double the 
eastern promontory of Staten-land, Cape John ; 
which our chronometers fixed, almost precisely, 
in the same longitude assigned to it by Captain 
Cook. I now steered a westerly course along 
the south coast of Staten-land, contrary to the 
usual practice of navigators, who run from 
hence to 60 degrees South, expecting in that 
latitude to meet with fewer impediments to their 
passage into the South Sea. Experience has 
taught me, moreover, that Cape Horn may be 
doubled with least loss of time by keeping near 
land, where in the summer months good east 
winds will often blow, when westerly winds 
prevail at a distance of forty miles to sea-ward. 
When we had passed Staten-land, the Terra 
del Fuego lay in equally fearful form to our 
right. We continued our course with a mode- 
rate north-east wind, and remarked a strong 
current to the north. 
On the noon of the following day we perceived 
the terrible Cape Horn at a distance of twenty- 
five miles, lying in the form of a high, round 
mountain before us. A calm, of which we took 
