MEXICO. 



45 



far as 93^° by help of N. N. E. and Easterly winds. 

 On the 22dy 2Sd^ and 24th, we were struggling 

 against north-westerly winds off Guatimala between 

 14° and 15^° north latitude. This brought us up 

 to the top of the Bay of Tecoantepec at sunset of the 

 24th^ we then tacked and stood to the westward. 

 The weather at this time looked threatening; the 

 sky was clear overhead, but all round the horizon 

 there hung a fiery and portentous haze, and the sun 

 set in great splendour ; presently the breeze fresh- 

 ened, and came to north by west, and before mid- 

 night it blew a hard gale of wind from north. This 

 lasted with little intermission till six in the morning 

 of the 26th, or about thirty hours. There was 

 during all the time an uncommonly high short sea, 

 which made the ship extremely uneasy. The baro- 

 meter fell from 29,94 to 29,81, between noon and 

 four P. M., but rose again as the gale freshened — 

 the sympiesometer fell twelve hundredths. This 

 gale drove us to the south-west by south about one 

 hundred and forty miles. A fine fresh breeze suc- 

 ceeded from N. N. E., which carried us one hund- 

 red and twenty miles towards Acapulco, and left us 

 in longitude 97|^ west, and latitude 15° north, on 

 the 27th. This was the last fair wind we had on 



