VOYAGE TO RIO. 



29 



pleased to call all those who are not quite so 

 amphibious as himself. 



Sept. 10.— South latitude 14° 40'. Our 

 south-easter is blowing us fairly and rapidly 

 towards Rio ; though to-day we have frequently 

 lowered the topgallant sails on account of 

 squalls. We expect to make the coast of 

 Brazil to-morrow, near Cape Frio, where the 

 Thetis, in which I was first " borne upon the 

 distant wave, " was wrecked.^ 



Our passage will have been excellent, if we 

 reach the harbour of Rio to-morrow. A north- 

 east wind blew us away to Madeira without a 

 check. The N. E. trade- wind, a more regular 

 breeze, took us up from Madeira, and carried 

 us, without any change, nearly to the equator, 

 where we encountered what are termed the 

 variables, which prevail in the interval between 



* I performed my first voyage in that luckless vessel 

 in only thirteen days from Plymouth to Naples. 



