133 



CHAPTER VI. 



FROM CONCEPTION BAY TO KAMTSCHATKA. 



The fine weather which we enjoyed at Concep- 

 tion, did not yet forsake us. I endeavoured to 

 steer my course so as to sail to the windward of 

 Juan Fernandez, in order, according to my instruc- 

 tions, to reach latitude 27°, and there look for 

 Davis* Land, where Captain Krusenstern supposed 

 it to be. On the 9th,. in latitude 36" 22\ longitude 

 74° 4', we perceived a bloody colour on tlie sur^ 

 face of the water, an appearance wdiich was caused 

 by a dead whale, on which a number of sea-swal- 

 lows were making a repast. On the following day, 

 in 34" 27' south latitude, and longitude 74°, at six 

 o'clock in the evening we experienced a strange 

 commotion in the air, which made the ship seem to 

 tremble; the noise, which resembled distant thunder, 

 was renewed every three minutes, and continued only 

 half a minute each time. In the space of an hour 

 we observed it no longer ; it is probable that an 

 earthquake happened in America at this moment, 

 as our distance from the shore was two degrees, 

 and we only heard the noise from the east. 



On the iGth, at noon, in 27° 20' south latitude, 

 longitude 88° 4V we were in the neighbourhood 



K 3 



