^6 VOYAGE INT SEARCH 



Tt was to be prefumcd that in this latitude wc 

 fhould me t with variable winds, which would 

 favour our route towards the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; but they varied only to he more contrary 



to D 



On the 26th of December we had ftill fouth - 

 eafterly winds, although we had pafled the 

 lati.ude of 291 fouth. The fun, which for 

 fevcral months paft extended its grcateft heat in 

 this hemifphere, had receded from the limits of 

 the general winds. 



The length of our paffage occasioned our allow- 

 ance of water to be reduced to a bottle a day 

 each man. 



As foon as the winds had got round to the 

 north-eail and north, the currents, which before 

 fct to the weftward, became fcarcely perceptible. 



Although on the 27th we were at a very great 

 diftance from the Cape of Good Hope, we al- 

 ready perceived the albatrofs (diomedea exulans)> 

 which is there found in considerable numbers. 



A circumftance worthy of remark is the vari- 

 ation of the compafs being much greater to the 

 fouthward than to the northward of the equator; 

 from the 14th degree of north latitude to the 

 r, in the fpacc comprifed between the 23d 

 and 26th degrees of weft longitude, the differ- 

 pm 1 or from i 4 to n ; while in 



the fame (pace in latitude towards the fouth. and 

 4 of weft longitude, that is, from tho 26th de- 

 gree 



