"59 



was fired, and the fignal hoifted, denoting the 

 approach of a fleet; but it was too diftant, 

 and the weather too hazy for us to afcertain 

 diftinftly what fleet it was — perhaps the long 

 expected convoy ; or poflibly only another 

 fevered divifion of it. Even fhould it prove 

 to have been the body of the fleet, bringing in 

 the great bulk of the armament, it ftill is an 

 extraordinary inftance of delay, from adverfe 

 weather, that a convoy which failed from Spit- 

 head early in November, fhould only have 

 reached Barbadoes on the 15th of April fol- 

 lowing, and it rauft ftand as a ftriking ex- 

 ample of the incalculable uncertainty of all 

 maritime expeditions. 



I rauft not forget to note to you that I 

 am now addrefling you from the oppofite fide 

 of the fun. This day in latitude 9 0 27' we 

 paffed immediately under that burning orb ? 

 receiving his perpendicular rays dire£fcly upon 

 our heads. I have nothing further to tell you 

 on this occafion. His fouthern face feems 

 neither hotter, nor colder, brighter nor darker, 

 than his northern. The only ftriking pecu- 

 liarity arifes from the novelty of looking to 

 the north at noon, to take our meridian, and 



