174 
A VOYAGE TO 
i 779 . fails, and made the running rigging very frequently give 
. j way. This gale lafted twelve hours; it then became more 
Thurfday 25. moderate, and continued fo till the 25th at noon, when we 
entirely loft it, and had only a very light air. 
inday 26. On the 26th in the morning, we thought we faw land 
to the Weft South Weft, but, after running about fixteen 
leagues in that direction, we found our miftake; and night 
coming on, we again fleered Weft. Our latitude, at this 
time, was 19 0 45', which was the greateft Southing we 
made in this run; our longitude was 183°, and varia¬ 
tion 12 0 45'' Eaft. We continued in this courfe, with little 
Monday 29. alteration in the wind, till the 29th, when it drifted to the 
South Eaft and South South Eaft, and, for a few hours in 
the night, it was in the Weft ; the weather being dark and 
cloudy, with much rain. We had met, for fome days paft, 
feveral turtles, one of which was the fmalleft I ever faw, 
not exceeding three inches in length. We were alfo ac¬ 
companied by man-of-war birds, and boobies of an un- 
ufual kind, being quite white (except the tip of the wing, 
which was black), and eaftly miftaken, at firft fight, for 
gannets. 
The light winds which we had met with for fome time 
paft, with the prefent unfettled ftate of the weather, and the 
little appearance of any change for the better, induced Cap¬ 
tain Clerke to alter his plan of keeping within the tropical 
latitudes; and accordingly, at fix this evening, we began 
to fteer North Weft by North, at which time our latitude 
was 20 0 23', and our longitude 180 0 40'. During the conti¬ 
nuance of the light winds, which prevailed almoft conftantly 
ever fince our departure from the Sandwich Illands, the 
weather was very clofe, and the air hot and fultry; the 
thermometer being generally at 8o°, and fometimes at 83°. 
All 
