302 A VOYAGE TO Book IX. 



they had feen a ihoal of fiih, which had probably 

 drawn fuch numbi rs together. 



On the 14th the wind variable betwixt the 

 \V. N. W. and S. V/. and our latitude 48'' 12', we 

 began to be fcnfible of an agreeable change in the 

 tcíTiperature of the air: in the day time it Was not 

 cold upon deck, and at night: the cabins were warm. 

 On the 15th we had a frcfh gale at W. N.W. and 

 N. AV. wiih a hollow fea, which continued the two 

 fcllowipg c .vs being the i6th and 17th, the weather 

 was very hazy, funden ílioweis frequent, and the 

 fame number of birds ftill continiied. On the i6th 

 the marq'iis d' Antin came along fide and told us, 

 that tiic £hip had fprung a leak, and that they had 

 laboured the v4iolc night to ftop it, having, after a 

 long fearch, found it to proceed from a hole made 

 by the raes in one of her quarters near the water's 

 edge. This obliged them to heel the iliip in order 

 to IV p it, iUid the other two fiackened fail that fhe 

 miglit come up with them. On the 17th we faw 

 many large whales, feveral of which played round 

 the ihip for a confiderable rime. 



The wind during the laft day was at S. E. and at 

 S. S. E. but moderate; the fea fmooth, vvith ihowers 

 of rain ; when we found ourielves in the latitude of 

 44° 30' and C5° 1 '/ E. of Conception, and faw 

 leveral fiights of birds both of the large and fmall 

 fpecies, but different in colour from any we had feen 

 before, being entirely white. 



Ti-iE water no^^ increafed fo prodigioufly in our 

 fi-iip, that for fame days our men had been almoft 

 continua'ly labouring at the pump, which quite ex- 

 hauUed uicir ipiriis ; and all of us under the greateft 

 spprchtnfions of periO:iing. Nor was this a íudden 

 panic, the. vvarer fometimes increafmg fo fuddenly, 

 that notwithftanding all our efforts it feemed to gain 

 upon us. ^^ c oblerved t'lat the principal leaks were 

 at the head and ilern, and the 19th proving a fine day. 



we 



