29 



ogist, who would examine this ancient chain of 

 mountains broken by the action of currents, 

 earthquakes, and volcanoes. 



After having doubled the north cape of To- 

 bago, and the small island of St. Giles, we were 

 alarmed with the news of an enemy's squadron 

 seen from the mast-head ; the passengers were 

 in the utmost consternation, for several had laid 

 out their small fortunes in gfoods, which they 

 counted on selling in the Spanish colonies. The 

 squadron seemed motionless, and we soon dis- 

 covered, that what we had taken for ships was 

 a multitude of separate rocks *. 



We crossed the shoal which joins Tobago to 

 the island of Grenada. The color of the sea had 

 no visible change : but the centigrade thermo- 

 meter, plunged into the water at some inches 

 depth, rose only to 23° ; while farther at sea 

 eastward on the same parallel, and equally near 

 the surface, it kept at 25*6°. Notwithstanding 

 the currents, the cooling of the water indicated 

 the existence of the shoal, which is noted but in 

 a small number of charts. The wind slacked 

 after sunset, and the clouds disappeared as the 

 moon reached the zenith. The number of fall- 

 ing stars was very considerable both this and the 

 following nights ; they appeared less frequent 

 toward the north than the south over Terra 



* Perhaps the rocks called the Hermanas (the Sisters), 

 Y 2 



