803 



small elevation above the level of the waters. 

 Some doubts having been recently thrown on 

 the astronomical position of Tortuga, I shall 

 here state that, by the time-keeper of Louis 

 Berthoud % the centre of the island was 0° 49' 

 40", west of Nueva Barcelona. I believe that 

 longitude to be a little too westerly. 



November 26th. — A dead calm, so much the 

 more unexpected, that in general the breeze 

 from the eastward blows fresh on this coast 

 from the beginning of November, while from 

 the month of May till October, the N.W* and 

 S. winds are felt occasionally. At the period 

 of the N.W. wind, a current -f- is observed run- 

 ning from west to east, which sometimes favors 

 during two or three weeks, the direct naviga- 

 tion from Carthagena to the island of Trinidad. 

 The south-wind is regarded as very unhealthy 

 on all the coast of the continent, bringing (as 

 the people say), the putrid emanations of the 

 forests of the Oroonoko. Towards 9 h in the 

 morning a fine halo was formed around the 

 sun, at the moment when the temperature in 

 the low regions fell suddenly three degrees and 

 a half. Was this lowering the effect of a des- 

 cending current? The zone that formed the 

 halo, and which had one degree of breadth, was 



* Obs. Astr., Intr., p. 4*2 ; and Vol. ii, p. 2. 

 t Per. Nar., Vol. iii, p. 378. 



3g2 



