113 



A VOYAGE TO 



the ocean seemed to be cheered with the prospect; 

 much greater therefore must have been the gratifica- 

 tion of mere landsmen. By our observations and 

 reckoning, we expected by twelve o'clock on the 27th 

 to make Cape Frio, a headland of great celebrity with 

 mariners. During the greater part of the forenoon all 

 were anxiously looking out for it, and about one it was 

 descried by the man stationed at the mast head; but it 

 was not until two or three that it could be seen from 

 deck; and even then for some time only by those who 

 were accustomed to distinguish the loom of the land, 

 from the low clouds which skirt the horizon. We 

 found our reckoning within eighteen miles of being 

 correct, having been set somewhat to the southward 

 by a current, which usually sets with the wind along 

 the coast. By observation we were in twenty-three 

 degrees nine minutes south, and by chronometer in 

 forty-one west. Cape Frio was seen at the distance 

 of fifteen or twenty miles; its appearance is so remark- 

 able and so easily recognized from the description of 

 navigators, that it is impossible to mistake it. It 

 seemed to be a high promontory, its summit present- 

 ing a waving line, with places somewhat conical; and 

 when first seen it has the appearance of two sepa- 

 rate islands^ from a hollow in the middle. The clouds 

 rested on its summit. It appeared to be immense 

 naked rock, incapable of affording sustenance to any 

 living thing, and yet I felt a kind of pleasure in con- 

 templating this huge inhospitable mass, being weary 

 of seeing nothing for nearly sixty days but the sky 

 and water. 



Having ascertained where we were, the commodore 

 gave orders to stand along down the land, under easy 



