[ 626 ] 
ing the bifhop of that town, whom we took on board 
at the Havanna in the ifland of Cuba : we fpent 
thirty days in making thirty leagues ; the night was 
calm, and then wc loft what we had gained by day ; 
and whether we made long or fhort tacks, the cur- 
rents drove us to the weftward. It often happens, that 
vefiels fteering from St. Domingo, or the other Lee- 
ward Iflands, to the Windward ones, cannot ab- 
folutely accomplifh it, and are therefore obliged to 
get out of the channel, and fteer away to the north- 
ward, in order to tack up to the Windward Ifles. 
Thefe are daily obfervations, and well known to all 
navigators of America. 
Beiides thefe regular currents, there are others, 
which are called counter- tides, which are obfervable 
upon the fea-coafts and fhores. In places, where thefe 
flow, the fea rifes in an extraordinary manner, be- 
coming very furious without any apparent caufe, and 
without being moved by anv wind ; the waves rife 
and open verv high, and break againft the fliore, 
with fuch violence, that it is impoflible for veflels to 
land. 
* 
It is obfervable, that thefe forts of tides, which 
fometimes laft feveral days, and at other times fpend 
their violence in twenty-four hours, are more fre- 
quent in what they call the bad (eof on, which is from 
the month of July to November, than at any other 
time of the year : and that, in thefe months, tem- 
pefts and hurricanes happen, which throw down and 
deftroy the houfes, buildings and plantations of thefe 
colonies. I have gone through feveral ofthcfetem pelts or 
hurricanes j the firft in 1712, when I was at fea, along 
the coaft of the ifland of Clerave or Bcur.qucn, to 
the 
