i?i the Pacific Ocmn- 



9 



a half feet. The usual anchorage for large vessels is about the 

 spot occupied by us ; vessels drawing not more than sixteen feet 

 water, can go up to the town. 



CHAPTER III. 



Passage from St Catharines around Cape Horn ; Arrival at 

 the Island of Mocha. 



The w^hole of the 26th, we had fresh gales from the south- 

 ward, which I took advantage of to get a good offing. 



An alarming disease now made its appearance among the crew ; 

 ten or fifteen of them were suddenly attacked by violent pains in 

 the stomach, and cholera morbus. The surgeons were first of 

 opinion, that it proceeded from the bad rum procured at St. 

 Catharines, under the impression that it was strongly impregnated 

 with lead, the disease having every symptom of that known under 

 the name of the painter's cholic. Their speedy recovery, how- 

 ever, soon removed this opinion, and caused us to attribute it to 

 the proper cause, the too sudden change from salt provisions to 

 fresh, and overloading the stomach with unripe fruit and vege- 

 tables. 



The weather continued fine, and the wind fair, until the 28th ; 

 the colour of the water indicated soundings ; our course between 

 S. by W. and S. S. W. ; time was too precious for us to heave 

 too to sound. Our latitude on the^meridian of this day, 34** 58' 09" 

 south, longitude by chronometer 51° 11' 37" west; variation 

 of the compass 12° 49' east. At nine P. M. the wind began to 

 haul around to the southward, and at midnight, after sharp light- 

 ning, fixed itself at S. by E., and freshened up so as to compel us 

 to send down our royal yards, and double reef our top sails. The 

 cold began now to be sensibly felt, and woollen clothing to be 

 more esteemed than it had been for some time past : the old 

 jackets and trowsers that had been lying about the ship were 

 carefully collected, as some suspicions of my intention of doubling 

 Cape Horn had got among the crew. 



The albatrosses, and other birds, that frequent high latitudes, 

 now began to assemble around us, but in small numbers ; many 

 attempts were made to catch them, but they all failed. We also 

 saw two whales. The colour of the water continued .to indicate 

 soundings ; but we could not reach the bottom with one hundred 

 and sixty fathoms line ; rock- weed was also seen. 



We generally kept on the edge of soundings, in from sixty to 

 seventy-five fathoms of water ; and, although the frequent ripples 

 indicated strong currents, they did not make any sensible dif- 



VoYAGEs anS Travels, No. XLVII. Vol. VIII. c 



