2SG 



CHAP. XV. 



FROM ST. HELENA TO REVEL. 



The 30th, we saw the island of Ascension at fifty 

 miles in N.W. 40°. At noon, it was still twenty- 

 two miles from us : we sailed round its eastern side; 

 and at half-past five in the evening saw its middle 

 due west at the distance of one mile and a half: the 

 chronometers gave its longitude 14° 22' 30'". We 

 now took our course to the equator, which we 

 crossed on the Gth of May, longitude 20° 26'. The 

 current which had regularly carried us from St. 

 Helena to the S.W. to-day changed its course to 

 the S.E. We bade farewell to the soutliern hemi- 

 sphere, and solemnized the day on which we crossed 

 the line for the last time. 



The 3d of June* At five o'clock in tlie morning, 

 we saw Flores, the most westerly of the Azores, 

 sailed past their eastern side, took our course to 

 the English channel, and on the l6th of June cast 

 anchor in the evening, before the town of Ports- 

 mouth. Business obliged me to go to London, 

 where I had the honour to be introduced to the 

 Prince Regent, and to our Archduke Nicolai Pawlo- 

 witch. I here left with the inventor several boxes 

 of patent meat, as a proof how well it had kept, 



