34 
A VOYAGE TO 
1776. 
September. 
--v-- I 
Sunday 1. 
Sunday 8 , 
On the fir ft of September * we crofted the Equator, in the 
longitude of 27 0 38" Weft, with a fine gale at South Eaft by 
South; and notwithftanding my apprehenfions of falling in 
with the coaft of Brafil in ftretching to the South Weft, I 
kept the fhip a full point from the wind. However, I found 
my fears were ill-grounded; for on drawing near that coaft, 
we met with the wind more and more eafterly; fo that, by 
the time we were in the latitude of io° South, we could 
make a South Eafterly courfe good. 
On the 8th, we were in the latitude of 8° 57' South; which 
is a little to the Southward of Cape St. Auguftine, on the 
coaft of Brafil. Our longitude, deduced from a very great 
number of lunar obfervations, was 34 0 i6 7 Weft; and by the 
watch, 34 0 47b The former is x° 43', and the latter i° I4 A 
more Wefterly than the ifland of Fernando de Noronha, the 
lituation of which was pretty well determined during my 
late voyage t. Hence I concluded that we could not now 
* The afternoon, as appears from Mr. Anderfon’s Journal, was fpent in performing 
the old and ridiculous ceremony of ducking thofe who had not croffed the Equator before. 
Though Captain Cook did not fupprefs the cuftom, he thought it too trifling to deferve 
the leaft mention of it in his Journal, or even in his log-book. Pernetty, the Writer of 
Bougainville’s Voyage to the Falkland Iflands, in 1763 and 1764, thought differently ; 
for his account of the celebration of this childifh feftival on board his fhip, is extended 
through feventeen pages, and makes the fubjedt of an entire chapter, under the title of 
Bapteme de la Ligne,. 
It may be worth while to tranfcribe his introduction to the defcription of it. u C’eft 
“ un ufage qui ne remonte pas plus haut que ce voyage celebre de Gama, qui a fourni au 
w Camoens le fujet de la Lufiade. L’Idee qu’on ne gauroit etre un bon marin, fans avoir 
“ traverfe PEquateur, l’ennui infeparable d’une longue navigation, un certain efprit repub- 
u licain qui regne dans toutes les petites focietes, peut-etre toutes ces caufes reunies, ont 
M pu donner naiffance a ces efpeces de faturnales. Quoiqu’il en foit, elles furent adoptees, 
“ en un inftant, dans toutes les nations, et les homines les plus eclaires furent obliges de le 
u foumettre a une coutume dont ils reconnoiffoient 1 ’abfurdite. Car, partout, des que le 
u peuple parle, il faut que le fage fe mette a l’unifon.” Hiflaire d’un Voyage aux IJles Ma~ 
huhies , p. 107, 108. 
f See Cook’s Voyage, Vol.II. p. 278, 
he 
