416 
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
safety demands. Although such may be the case, it ought not to lessen 
the gratitude that navigators owe him for his East India Directory, a 
contribution to nautical information that cannot well be surpassed, 
either for general accuracy, or as regards the great number of satis¬ 
factory directions that it contains. 
On the morning of the 6th, we again got under way, the men ex¬ 
hibiting their joy in taking this first real step on their homeward course, 
by running up the anchor quickly to the bows, and by the alacrity 
with which they performed their other duties. With a light wind 
from the eastward, we stood into the Indian Ocean, between the 
islands of Pulo Bessy and Crockatoa ; the day was a delightful one, 
and being Sunday, when no unessential duty was performed, there was 
leisure to enjoy it. After divine service, the wind shifted to the north¬ 
ward and westward, and towards night we experienced severe squalls 
from that quarter, accompanied by lightning and torrents of rain. In 
the intervals between the gusts, the wind blew freshly, and on the 
morning of the 7th we found ourselves fairly launched on the blue 
waters of the ocean, pursuing rapidly our homeward course. 
We were now truly on our route for home, and finding that the 
brigs detained us by their slower rate of sailing, I determined to part 
company with them, having some days previously given them direc¬ 
tions what course to pursue in such an event: these will be found in 
Appendix XIV. We accordingly made all the sail that oould be 
carried, and soon left them behind us. As we proceeded to the south¬ 
ward, the wind gradually hauled to the westward, and continued 
blowing strongly from that quarter until the 10th, on which day we 
reached the latitude of 14° S., and longitude 100° E. 
The 11th was the first fine day since our departure from the straits; 
and on this day we had some slight indications that we should be 
favoured with the trades. On trying the temperature of the water, one 
hundred fathoms deep, we found it to differ from that at the surface 
only six degrees. 
On the 12th, we had reached latitude 17° S., and longitude 98° E. 
The weather was now delightful, and we experienced the long swells 
of the ocean from the southward and eastward, together with moderate 
breezes from the same quarter. I determined now to run on that 
parallel of latitude; for I believed, judging from my experience in 
other seas, that steady trade-winds were more likely to prevail on it 
than farther to the southward. 
On the 13th, we overtook an English barque. At this time, the 
crew began to be affected with catarrhs and influenza, and thirty- 
