ULLOA's voyage to south AMERICA. ^25 



royal feet : for though in ftridnefs, it ought to have been forty-feven and a half of the 

 latter, the difference being but fmall, I thought it beft- to omit the half foot, that my 

 reckoning might be before the fhip. According to the firft method, the difference of 

 longitude between Cadiz and this ifland was between fixty and fixty-one degrees, which 

 nearly agrees with the journal of Don George. 



From Martinico we continued our courfe towards Curafao, which we had fight of 

 July 3d. The difference of meridians between that and Martinico, Don George Juan 

 found to be 6° 49', whereas I made it 7° ^6\ The caufe of this difagreement was, 

 that finding a fenfible difference in the latitudes, I regulated myfelf by the currents, 

 imagining, according to the opinion of all our navigators, that they fet to the north- 

 weft ; which Don George did not, and by that means his reckoning anfwered to the 

 real diftance betwixt thefe two iflands, and mine was erroneous. But that the water 

 was in motion, is not to be queftioned : for in all the latitudes from June 30th, to 

 July 3d, thofe found by obfervation exceeded thofe by account ten minutes thirteen 

 feconds, and even fifteen minutes ; a fufficient proof that the currents run directly 

 north and not north-weft. 



From the 2d, at fix in the morning, till the day we made Curafao and Uruba, 

 we had ftiallow water, of a greenifh colour, which continued till about half paft feven 

 in the evening, when we entered the gulf. 



Our courfe from Martinico to Curafao, during the two firft days, was fouth eighty- 

 one wefterly ; and the two laft fouth fixty-four degrees wefterly. From thence to 

 Carthagena we kept at a proper diftance from the coaft, fo as to diftinguifli its moft 

 noted capes, and inhabited places. 



On the 5th we difcovered the mountains of St. Martha, fo well known for their 

 height, and being all covered with fnow ; and at fix in the morning we croffed at 

 the current of thick water, which iffues with prodigious rapidity from the river De la 

 Magdalena, and extends feveral leagues into the fea. About fix in the evening found 

 ourfelves to the northward of Cape de Canoa, where we lay to, and continued till 

 feven in the morning, when we fet all our fails, which at eight in the evening brought 

 us under fort Boca Chica, where we came to an anchor in thirty-four fathom water, 

 the bottom muddy. On the 8th we endeavoured to get into Carthagena bay, but 

 could not before the 9th fecurely moor our ftiip. 



During our paffage betwixt the Canary iflands, we had faint and variable winds, 

 with fome fliort calms ; but, after we had loft fight of them, the gales encreafed upon 

 us, but moderate, and continued in this manner till we arrived within one hundred 

 and feventy or one hundred and eighty leagues of Martinico, when we had fqualls 

 accompanied with violent rains. After paffmg the Canaries, at about twen.y leagues 

 from thefe iflands, we had the wind at north-weft, and at the diftance of near eighty 

 leagues it fliifted to eaft and eaft-north-eaft. We had nearly the fame in the middle 

 of the Atlantic ocean, and afterwards the wind came about to the eaft, with different 

 degrees of velocity ; but the variation was not fuch as to occafion any inconveniency. 

 Thefe are the winds generally met with in this voyage. Sometimes it veers away 

 to the weft and weft-north-weft, though it is very feldom known to continue on 

 thefe points. Sometimes long calms intervene, which lengthen the voyage beyond the ' 

 ufual time. All this depends on the feafons ; and according to the time of the voy- 

 age, the weather and winds are more or lefs favourable. Tlie winds above-mentioned 

 are the moft general ; and the beft time for making ufe of them, as they then are 

 fettled, is when the fun approaches near the equator in his return from the tropic of 



T T a Capri- 



