11 A VOYAGE TO Book I. 



During our paiTage betwixt the Canary illands, 

 \ve had faint and variable winds, with ibme fhort 

 calms ; but, after we had lofl light of them, the gales 

 increafed upon us, but moderate, and continued in 

 this manner till we arrived within 170 or 180 leagues 

 of Martinico, when wc had fqualls accompanied with 

 violent rams. After palling the Canaries, at about 

 twenty leagues from theie iflands, we had the vvind 

 at north- welt, and at the diii-ince of near 80 leagues 

 it ihifted to E. and E. N. E. We had nearly the 

 fame in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, and after- 

 wards the wind came about to the E. with different 

 degrees of velocity ; but the variation w^as not fuch 

 as to occafion any inconveniency. 



These are the winds generally met with in this 

 voyage. Sometimes it veers away to the W. and 

 W. iSi. W. though it is very feldom knov^in to con- 

 tinue. on thefe poinis. Sometimes long calms inter- 

 vene, v/hich lengthen the voyage beyond the ufual 

 time. All this depends on the feafons ; and ac- 

 cording to the time of the voyage, the w eather and 

 winds are more or lefs favourable. The winds above- 

 mentioned are the moft general j and the heft time 

 for making ufe of them, as they then are fettled, is 

 when the fun approaches near the equator in his re- 

 turn from the tropic of Capricorn : for his approach 

 to the autumnal equinox is the time when the calms 

 jnoft prevail. 



From the iflands of Martinico and Dominica to 

 that of Curafao and the coaft of Carthhgena, the 

 winds continued the fame as in the ocean, though more 

 variable, and the weather lefs fair. I have faid, that 

 about 170 leagues before we reached Martinico the 

 winds were interrupted by fqualls ; and thefe are more 

 common beyond thofe iflands, and arre immediately 

 fucceeded by fhort calms ; after which the wind 

 freihens again for half an hour, an hour, two hours, 

 and fometimes longer. From what quarter thefe 



tornadoes 



