Travels into z-/;^ L e v a n t. Part 11, 
Sunday about break of day, we tacked about and ftoodNorth-Eafr, that we 
might make Candie; after two hours failing the Seamen made- lomething dark 
on head which they believed to be the Land of Candie: we ikered our courfc 
that way all day long, but could not make it plain becaufe of Clouds V/c 
continued the fame courfe ftill, till eleven of the clock at night, and then be- 
gan to tack and beat to and again, that we might bear in with the Land of 
Cahd'ii:. It blew Very hard all that night, and we had a violent .ftornj. 
Mundaj by break of day we had the Wind at North,which being quire con- 
trary for Candie, made us refolve to quit our defign of ftanding towards that 
Ifland, which we had made but very obfcurely, and to bear away towards 
thediftaticc of Jle:<a-ndria\n Egjpi, four hundred miles diftant from C^7?7r//e; and therefore 
c^nû\efrom we fleered our courfe South-Eaft. Towards Evening the Wind abated, and 
Alexandria, we werc becalmed until T'we/^-rz/ Morning; when there blew a gentle breeze 
fi"om South-Eaft, which made us turn the fhip'shead towards the North : we 
were obliged to keep lb upon tacks that we might not over fhoot Alexandria, 
from which we were not above two hundred lourfcore and ten miles : Then 
did every one blame and curfe the Sea-man, whofe errour was the caufethat 
we were not in the Port of Alexandria. About fix a Clock at Night we tac- 
ked about, and flood away South-South-Weft ; it blew fo hard, that our 
VelTel fhipped the Sea on both fides, one after another. 
ITednejday Morning February the fixth, the Wind was fo violent, that we 
were afraid we fhould lail ourMafts, becaufe the Stays were very flack, be- 
ing loofened by the force of the Wind the day before ; ( the Stay is a great Ca, 
ble that holds the Mafttaunt, each Maft has one : the main Stay which is 
the biggeft, is made faft, one end to the fhip's head, and the other to the 
round top of the main Maft. ) To prevent that difafter, all the Sails were 
furled the fhip's head turned North-Eaft, and a quarter of an hour after, 
the Stayes being well bent, we bore away Weft South-Weft with the mifTen 
and forefail : the Wind being a little fallen after dinner, we fpread the main 
Sail, and about fix a Clock at Night, having tacked about, we ftood Eaft- 
North-Eaft, the Wind then flackening more and more. 
Tbiirfday Morning we were almoft becalmed ; but about ten of the Clock, 
a South-Eaft Wind blowing again, we tacked and bore away South-South- 
Weft ; about fix a Clock at Night we tacked again, and ftood Eaft-North- 
Eaft. 
Friday about two or three of the Clock in the Morning, immediately after 
the Moon was fet, the South-Eaft Wind ceafèd, and the fo much defired 
Weft, and North Wind can->e in place of it, which made us turn the fhip's 
head South Eaft, and make all the fail wecould ; but we made but little way 
for all that, the Wind being fo eafie that it vv^as almoft a calm : It continued 
' fo till about five of the Clock at Night, and then the Wind changed to North- 
Wefl:, but was fo eafie that the Sea wa.s very fmooth ; about tejri a Clock at 
Night the Wind chopping about to the North- Weft, in five or iik hours time 
we made a great deal of way, there being very little or no Sea going, but 
the Wind frefhened afterwards, and then wefpared fail that we might not run 
to the Lee ward of Alexandria; the fhip's head in the mean time lying ftill 
South-Eaft. 
^rf^wr^/^r)' Morning the Weather was very hazy, and a little after we were 
almoft in a calm. About eleven a Clock he that looked out made a fàil, and 
fhortly after another, which were known to be Saicks coming from Egypr. 
About two a Clock after Noon the Wind turned South-Eaft, and we ftood 
away North-Eaft ; an hour after it fhifted about to the North-Eaft again, but 
was fb eafie that the Sea was fmooth, and we fleered our courfe South : a few 
. minutes after it turned South-Eaft again, but fo gentle, that the Sea was as 
fiiiooth as a Looking-glals. We failed South-South-Weft, till fix at Night, 
when having tacked, we ftood away Eaft-North-Eaft. About midnight the 
Wind turned Weft-South- Weft, and we fteered our courfe South-South-Eaft, 
after an hours failing, we found the Water to be whitifti, which made us 
ibe Land of think we were not far from Egypt, that being the onely mark that can be 
^'^yp^' had; for the Land is fo low that one cannot make it till he be juft upon it, 
efpecially when it is dark, as it was then, and that whitenefs is occafioned by 
the Nile J which carries it a great way into the Sea, Sunday 
\ 
