230 AVOYAGETO Book VIII. 



to any of the pilots of thefe feas, as they themfelves 

 acknowledged, notwithftanding their repeated voy- 

 ages. We fhould therefore have been guilty of a great 

 indifference v/ith regard to the public fafety, had we 

 negleded to have given this account of it. 



The general winds between the iflands of Juan 

 Fernandes and this place, are the fame as thofe which 

 reign in the gulph and which have been already de- 

 fcribed ; but the currents are different, fetting N. 

 W. and this becomes the more perceivable in pro- 

 portion as you approach nearer to the coaft. From the 

 illand de 1 ierra de Juan Fernandes eaftward, the wa- 

 ter is greenifh, and weft ward bluifh. This I have my- 

 felf obferved ieveral times, even when not in fight of 

 jthe ifland ; and alfo that the colour of the water 

 changes Vvdth the meridian. Between the iOands and 

 the continent, I have frequently feen the v/ater fpout- 

 ed up by the whales ; an appearance which has been 

 often taken for breakers. 



Within twenty or thirty leagues of the coail, we 

 met with large flights of curlews ; but this diftance is 

 the utmofc iimiE of their excurfions. Thefe birds are 

 of a niidling bignds, moflly v/h ire except the bread 

 and upper part of the wings, which are of a rofe co- 

 lour. Their heads are proportionate to their bodies, 

 but their bill very long, ilender, and crooked j and as 

 fmall at the root as at the point. They fly in vaft 

 troops, and confequently are eafily known. 



The coails in general of this fea from Guayaquil to 

 the fouthward are very difficult to be feen, except in 

 fummer time, being the whole v/inter covered v^^ith 

 fuch thick fogs, that noobje6f: can be difcerned at half 

 a league diftance. And this dangerous hazinefs ex- 

 tends often to the diflance of fifteen or twenty leagues 

 off to fea. But during the night, and till about ten 

 or eleven in the morning, the fog is only on the land. 

 At that time it moves farther to feaward, with a pro- 

 digious dQrSity refembling a wall, totally concealing 



every 



