A VOYAGE lO BookLX. 

 fold was proportional And though when we were 

 between the 57th ^nd 5§th degree, there was very 

 little wind, yet we had, to the great fatigue of the 

 feamen, a very heavy fea from the S. W. and W and 

 fometimes the fea rm in two or three different dir 

 redions. 



From our leaving the bay of Conception, till 17th 

 Feb, when we were in the latitude of 45^ 17' the dif- 

 ferences either with regard to excefs or deficiency be^ 

 tween the latitude by account, and that obtained by 

 obfervation, were inconfiderable : but from that day, 

 the latter was always greater than the former, as will 

 appear from the following feries. From the 15th 

 ot the fame month to the 17th, the latitude by ob- 

 fervation exceeded that by account 18 min. from 

 the 17th to the 20th, 32 min. from the 20th to the 

 ssd, 37 minutes and a ha]f, from the 23d to the 27th, 

 minutes, from the 27th, to the fecond of March, 

 43 minutes, and from the 2d of March to the 6th, 20 

 minutes and a half. We were now according to my 

 computation, 12^ 6' E. of the meridian of Concep- 

 tion, and in the latitude of 56^ 44', After this the 

 difference between the latitudes by account and obfer- 

 vation began to dccreafe ; but fometimes the latitude 

 by obfervation exceeded that by account, and at other 

 times was lefs. From the fixth to the feventh the 

 difference was four minutes and a half ; nor did it ex- 

 ceed live or fix at the end of three or four days in 

 which we had no obfervation. This evidently (hews 

 that from the above latitude of 45^ 17' the currents 

 began to fet to the fouthward, and when the land pa- 

 rallel to their courfe failed, they ran towards the eaft, 

 when it was impolTible to diftinguifh then). But 

 ^hat there were Hill currents, and very ftrong ones 

 too, feems to me beyond doubt ; and it is much 

 more natural to think, that the prodigious volume 

 of water which ran towards the fouth, when there 

 v/as no iono:e]f any land to Qbilrud its courfe, fiiould 



iiicifne 



