314 A VOYAGE TO Book IX. 



cold was proportional. And though when we were 

 between the 57th and 5Sth degree, there was very 

 little wind, yet we had, to the great fatigue of. the 

 framen, a very heavy fca from the S. W. and W. and 

 iometimes the fea run in two or three different di- 

 rcdions. 



From our leaving the bay of Conception, till 17th 

 Feb. when we were in the latitude of 45° if the dif- 

 ferences either with regard to excefs or deficiency be- 

 tv/ecn the latitude by account, and that obtained by 

 obferv^tion, were inconfiderable : but from tn¿t day, 

 the latter wiis always greater than the former, as will 

 appear from the following feries. From the 15th 

 of the fame month to the 17th, the latitude by ob- 

 fervation exceeded that by account iB min. from 

 the 17th to the aoth, 32 min. from the 20th to the 

 23d, 37 tninutcs and a half, from the 23d to the :^7th, 

 :22 minutes, from the 27 th, to the fecond of March, 

 43 minutes, and from the 2d of March to the 6th, 20 

 minutes and a half. We were now according to my 

 computation, 12° 6' E. of the meridian of Concep- 

 tion, and in the latitude of 56° 44'. After this the 

 difference between the latitudes by account and obfcr- 

 vation began to decreafe -, but fometimes the latitude 

 by obfervation exceeded that by account, a^d at other 

 times WIS lefs. From the fiJtch to the feventh the 

 diffiirence was four minutes and a half} nor did it ex- 

 ceed five or fix at the end of three or four days in 

 which we had no obfervation. This evidently (hews 

 that from the above latitude of 45° ) 7" the cwrents 

 began to fet to the fourhward, and when the land pa- 

 rallel to their courfe failed, they ran towards the eafb, 

 when it was impoffible to diilinguiih them, But 

 that there were ilill currents, and very ilrong ones 

 too, feems to me beyond doubt $ and it is much 

 more natural to think, that the prcjji'gious volume 

 of water whicli ran towards the loyif, when there 

 was no longer any land to obilrufl i courfe, fbould 



incline 



