1669] of the Island Dauphine, &c. 19 
are pass’d, in order to well mark the place; but those who 
have pass’d the Line are exempt from all other Bathings. 
Saturday, 8th June, Eve of the Pentecost. We suffer’d 
severe damage to our Vessel, there being three beams 
& several knees broken & shatter’d; this was nearly 
causing our Vessel to leak & sink to the bottom ; but 
God gave us time to remedy it by moderate weather. 
Thursday, 20th June, Day of the Holy Sacrament. 
They made Processions in the ship, carrying the Holy 
Sacrament; they erected an altar, they chanted Hymns, 
they fir’d many guns & muskets, & then celebrated the 
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. After dinner they chanted 
Vespers & afterwards preach’d a Sermon. 
On the Eve of the Feast of St. John, they fir’d several 
cannon & musket shots, & threw a lighted tar barrel into 
the sea, which we kept in sight for more than three leagues. 
On Wednesday, 26th June, we quitted the Torrid Zone , 
to pass into one more Temperate , passing the Tropick of 
Capricorn , where, when the Sun has arrived, ’tis the 
shortest day of the year which occurs in France, & ’tis 
call’d the Winter Solstice : but in the Season where we 
were ’twas our Winter Solstice , because the sun was not 
distant from the Tropick of Cancer more than 6 or 7 
minutes; & as we advanc’d always to the South we were 
glad to have wherewith to cover ourselves. 
Tuesday, 9 July, the wind, being strong & contrary to The Fore- 
our course, & increasing from hour to hour, oblig’d the 'lower sail 
Pilots to furl the sails excepting the Foresail, which w Zmasts^™' 
left to keep the Ship hove to, head to wind. 
The next day, 10, they were oblig’d to abandon the 
tiller & to put the Ship before the wind, that is to say, 
let her go, at the will of the Winds & the Sea. We 
were on all sides more than six or seven hundred leagues 
from land, & ’tis at such moments that one has the Image 
of death before one’s eyes. 
