CHAPTER X. 
&ALLAPAGOS ISLANDS; DEPARTURE FOR WASHINGTON ISLANDS, 
On the 24th, I stretched in toward the cove, to meet the boats* 
which I expected off with the crews of the Seringapatam and New 
Zealander, and at one o’clock discovered them on a sand beach 
on Narborough, where they had landed to await our coming in ; 
and about an hour afterwards they came on board, with 21 men 
from the two ships. We had now got to the entrance of the pas¬ 
sage between Narborough and Albemarle. A steady breeze from 
the N.W. and a current setting from the same quarter, as well as 
a desire of looking into the cove, to see in what order the prizes 
had been secured, altogether tempted me to endeavour to go 
through the passage, in which I could perceive no danger what¬ 
ever, nor had I ever heard of the existence of any, except what 
arose from the violence of the current, and a reef off the S.E. 
part of Narborough. Accordingly all sail was made ; but, contra¬ 
ry to my expectations, the wind died away at sunset, and shifted 
ahead, leaving us nearly becalmed until after dark, when a brisk 
breeze sprang up from the S.W., with which, after great anxiety 
and uneasiness on my part, we succeeded in beating through ; but 
this anxiety was unnecessary, as the passage is as safe as any other 
that is liable to sudden shifts of wind and rapid currents. Sound¬ 
ings were obtained in mid channel with 80 fathoms of line, coarse 
gravelly bottom. There appears no dangers lying any distance 
from the shores of either side, with the exception of the aforesaid 
reef, which we got sight of before night, and does not extend more 
than a mile and a half from the shore. On the beaches of the 
Albemarle side, we saw vast numbers of turtle, and seals kept 
playing around us during the whole passage, or it may more pro¬ 
perly be called a sound. 
I had here an opportunity of seeing in what manner the seals 
are enabled to devour their prey when in the water, which had 
hitherto been a mystery to me, not having feet to assist them in 
