2^0 A VOYAGE TO Book VIH. 



from the former, and i'^ to make the land Tone where 

 between Nafca and SangalJan, as the coafl- may be then 

 kept at a pro()er diftance, and the danger of falling to 

 leeward o\ the po:t avoidrd : a misfortune which has 

 happtncd to many, who have been carried farther out 

 than they expc^l- d ; fo that after a long look out for 

 land, they find thetniclves on its firil appearance to 

 leeward of their port. 



In winter, trfpecialiy, t-^o much care cannot be taken, 

 as from the continual thicknefs of the atmofphere, ob- 

 fervadons cannot be made fo often as requifite ; fome- 

 timcs not for five or fix days fucceíTively ; at the fam.e 

 time the fight of laud is entirely intercepted by the 

 denfity of the fog. This we experienced; for after we 

 were anchored in Callao at only a quarter of a league 

 difiant from the land, the people on the fhore had no 

 fight of the ihips : and it was owing to our being very 

 near the coafi: that we made the harbour ; for had we 

 been at a diftance, we iliould have been far to leeward, 

 when the weather cleared up. 



On the 25th of June, being the fecond day after 

 our departure from the ifland de Tierra de Juan 

 jFernandes, we faw a m.eteor like that we had be- 

 fore feen at Quito, namely, a globe of fire,, or large 

 globe of inflammable exhalations. It firffc appeared 

 in the wefl:, at half an hour after three in the morning, 

 and moved with great velocity for a confiderable fpace 

 towards the eaft, as if carried by the wind. The 

 light of this meteor was fuch, that the watch on the 

 quarter-deck could plainly diftinguiih every perfon on 

 the fore-caille; and both were not a little terrified. The 

 phienornxnon lafted between three and four minutes, 

 and half an hour after we felt two violent fnocks, at an 

 interval of about a minute and a half betwixt them, fo 

 that all apprehended the ibip had (buck on fome fhoal; 

 but, on refledtion, we conrluded it to be the tñt6t oí 

 anearchquake. 



The 



