25 



rent, which I have called the current of rotation^ 

 than to that particular movement, which draw- 

 ing the waters toward the north-west, from the 

 coast of Brazil to the Antilles, shortens the pas- 

 sage from Cayenne to Guadaloupe*. The 12th 

 of July, I thought I might foretell our seeing 

 land the next day before sunrise. We found 

 ourselves then, according to my observations, in 

 latitude 10° 46', and west longitude 60° 54'. 

 A few series of lunar distances confirmed the 

 chronometrical result ; but we were surer of the 

 position of the vessel, than of that of the land to 

 which we directed our course, and which was so 

 differently placed in the French, Spanish, and 

 English charts. The longitudes, deduced from 

 the accurate observations of Messrs. Churruca, 

 Fidalgo, and Noguera, were not published at 

 this period. 



The pilots trusted more to the log than the 

 time-keeper ; they smiled at the prediction of 

 speedily making the land, and thought them- 

 selves two or three days sail frpm the coast. It 

 was therefore with great pleasure, that on the 

 13th, toward six in the morning, I learnt that 



* In the Atlantic Ocean there is a space, where the water 

 is constantly milky, though the sea is very deep. This curious 

 phenomenon exists in the parallel of the island of Dominica, 

 very near the 57th degree of longitude. May there not be 

 in this place some sunk volcanic islet, more easterly still than 

 Barbacfoes 1 



