POR TER’S JOURNAL 
CHAPTER XI. 
PASSAGE TO WASHINGTON ISLANDS. 
But to proceed with my journal: after leaving the Gallapa- 
goes, it was my intention to have run to the westward, keeping on 
or in the neighbourhood of the equator, to endeavour to fall in 
with a group of islands said to have been discovered by the 
Spaniards, and laid down in some charts; but on reflection I de¬ 
termined to make the best of my way for the Washington Islands, 
as this pursuit would have cost some expense of-time, an expense 
I had no right to enter into, as the object of government in send¬ 
ing me to sea was to annoy the enemy and not to make discove¬ 
ries, and should any accident happen to the ship in consequence 
of taking that route, I knew not how I should be able to justify 
my conduct in wandering from the direct course to the place of 
our destination. I had no doubt of the existence of the islands in 
question, as I had been informed by some of my prisoners that 
they had conversed with persons who had seen them; but their 
correct situation or resources were unknown to them. I deter¬ 
mined however to keep well to the northward, before I fell in with 
the latitude of the Marquesas, with the hope of making some 
new discoveries, and therefore shaped my course on the most di¬ 
rect line for them; but finding the weather unpleasant, accompa¬ 
nied by a heavy and disagreeable cross sea, I in a few days kept 
VOL. II. W 
