TO RADACK. ^ 



was serene, but a continual fog seemed to rest on 

 the horizon : this weather, so unusual in the 

 tropics, operated on the barometer, which stood a 

 line lower than usual, which I had never previously 

 observed in the tropics. We had a violent wind 

 on the 24th of December, when we were in lati- 

 tude 14° 42', longitude 173° 10', and which lasted 

 till the 27th, when we were in latitude 11° S\ and 

 longitude 179° 28'. From the 26th to the 28th 

 we had sailed on the parallel of the island of St. 

 Pedro, 2° from E. to W., without descrying the 

 island, from which it is to be supposed that it does 

 not exist at all, or must lie somewhere else. Here 

 I took a southern course to reach the parallel 10°, 

 which I intended to follow directly W. Since we 

 left the neighbourhood of the Cornwallis islands, 

 we daily saw sea-fowls, and sometimes in such 

 numbers, that there certainly must be here undis- 

 covered islands ; though a sailor was constantly on 

 the mast-head, from the rising to the setting of 

 the sun, I was not fortunate enough to make any 

 new discoveries. It might perhaps be supposed, 

 that our longitude was not correct ; against which 

 I have to allege daily observation of the sun and 

 moon, from the 23d to the 29th, which would 

 certainly have shewed me the errors of my chrono- 

 meters. 



The 29th, latitude 9° 52', longitude 186° 34'. 

 That we might be certain not to sail past the chain 

 of Mulgrave islands, near which we ought to be 



B 2 



