14 
CAPE riNIST-EBBE. 
at Cadiz, and having been each time taken at the entrance 
of the port, were at length obliged to return to Spain through 
Portugal. 
The Pizarro set sail at two in the afternoon. As the long 
and narrow passage by which a ship sails from the port of 
Corunna opens towards the north, and the wind was con- 
trary, we made eight short tacks, three of which were use- 
less. A Iresh tack was made, but very slowly, and we 
were for some momenta in danger at the foot of fort St. 
Amarro, the current having driven us very near the rock, 
on which the sea breaks with considerable violence. AVc 
remained with our eyes fixed on the castle of St. Antonio, 
where the unfortunate Malaspina was then a captive in a 
state prison. On the point of leaving Europe to visit the 
countries wliieh this illustrious traveller had visited with so 
much advantage, I could have wished to have tixed mv 
thoughts on some object less affecting. 
At half-past six we passed tlic Tower of Hercules, which 
is the lighthouse of Corunna, as already mentioned, and 
where, from a. very remote time, a coal-foe has been kept up 
for the direction of vessels. The light of this lire is in no 
way proportionate to the noble construction of so vast 
an edifice, being so feeble that ships cannot perceive it till 
they are in danger of striking on the shore. Towards the 
close of day flic wind increased and the sea ran high. AVe 
directed our course to north-west, in order to avoid the 
English frigates, which we supposed were cruizing off these 
coasts. About nine we spied the light of a fishing-hut at 
Sisarga, which was the last object we beheld in the west of 
Europe. 
On the 7th we were in the latitude of Cano Einisterre 
The group of granitic rocks, which forms part of this pro- 
montory, like that of Torianes and Alonte de Corcubion, 
bears the name of the Sierra do Torinona, Cape Einisterre 
is lower than the neighbouring lands, hut the Torinona is 
visible at seventeen leagues’ distance, which proves that the 
elevation of its highest summit is not less than 300 toises 
(582 metres). Spanish, navigators affirm that on these 
coasts Hie magnetic variation differs cxtrcmelv from that 
obsen ed at sen. j\I. Bory, it is true, in the voyage of the 
sloop Amaranth, found in 1751, that the variation of the 
