472 



adventure's passage SUMMER. 



which makes like a high island. In calm weather do not pass 

 too near to the cape, for the current sometimes sets out, and 

 round the cape to the southward ; but with a strong wind, 

 get under the lee of it as soon as you please, and steer along 

 the shore. In the night it will be advisable to keep close to 

 the land of the south shore ; and if a patent log be used, 

 which no ship should be without, your distance will be cor- 

 rectly known. The course along-shore, by compass, is E. f S. ; 

 and if the weather be hazy, by keeping sight of the south 

 shore, there will be no difficulty in proceeding with safety. 



The Adventure entered the Strait on the 1st of April, 1830, 

 at sunset ; and after passing within half a mile of the islets 

 off* the Harbour of Mercy, steered E. f S. magnetic, under 

 close-reefed topsails, braced by, the weather being so squally 

 and thick that the land was frequently concealed from us ; 

 but being occasionally seen, the water being quite smooth, 

 and the course steadily steered, with the patent log to mark 

 the distance run, we proceeded without the least anxiety, 

 although the night was dark, and the squalls of wind and rain 

 frequent and violent. When abreast of Cape Tamar, that 

 projection was clearly distinguished, as was also the land of 

 Cape Providence, which served to check the distance shewn 

 by the patent log ; but both giving the same results, proved 

 that we had not been subjected to any current ; whereas the 

 account by the ship's log was very much in error, in conse- 

 quence of the violence of the squalls and the long intervals of 

 light winds, which rendered it impossible to keep a correct 

 account of the distance. At daybreak we were between Cape 

 Monday and the Gulf of Xaultegua ; and at eight o'clock 

 we were abreast of Playa Parda, in which, after a calm day, 

 the ship was anchored. 



In the summer season there is no occasion to anchor any 

 where, unless the weather be very tempestuous, for the nights 

 are short, and hardly dark enough to require it, unless as a 

 precautionary measure, or for the purpose of procuring wood 

 and water ; the heat place for which is Port Famine, where 



