OP LA PEROUSE. 47 



but it required a particular circumftance to pro- 

 duce fo bright a light. The clouds, from which 

 had iffued the wind that had recently agitated 

 the water, had fpread in the atmofphere a fuper- 

 abundance of electric matter, which contributed 

 to give the fea the luftre with which we had 

 feen it fhine. It was by the great receffion of 

 the two little balls of my electrometer, when ex- 

 pofed to the air, that I was able to judge how 

 electric our atmofphere was become. 



A faint breeze from the fouth-eaft gave us the 

 hope of getting out of thofe calms, which are 

 here met with in a much greater extent than in 

 any other part of the fea : it is particularly in 

 going to India that thefe contrarieties are the 

 greateit ; they appear to depend on the vicinity 

 of the coaft which navigators approach much 

 nearer in going to the Cape of Good Hope, than 

 in the route from the Cape to Europe ; accord- 

 ingly the parTages from the Cape to Europe are 

 generally much fhorter than thofe from Europe 

 to the Cape. 



Many ikilful feamen are of opinion, that, in 

 going to the Cape of Good Hope, there is an 

 advantage in croffing the equator much farther 

 to the weftward than is commonly done. 



The calms that are met with to the north- 

 ward of the equator are owing to the configu- 

 ration of the coaft of Africa, which to the north, 

 3 a few 



