4 8 
A VOYAGE TO 
1776. 
November. 
1 >.,mt 
Weft by Weft, beyond her reckoning; an error by far too 
great to have any other caufe but a ftrong current running 
in the fame diretftion. Nor did its ftrength abate here; but 
its courfe was, afterward, more Wefterly, and to the North 
of Weft; and off Cape Auguftine, North, as I have already 
mentioned. But this Northerly current did not exift at 
twenty or thirty leagues to the Southward of that Cape; 
nor any other, that I could perceive, in the remaining part 
of the paffage. The little difference we afterward found 
between the reckoning and obfervations, might very well 
happen without the afliftance of currents; as will appear 
by the Table of Days Works. 
In the account of my laft voyage % I remarked, that the 
currents one meets with in this paffage generally balance 
each other. It happened fo then; becaufe we crofted the 
line about 20° more to the E aft ward than we did now; fo 
that we were, of confequence, longer under the influence 
of the Eafterly current, which made up for the Wefterly 
one. And this, I apprehend, will generally be the cafe, if 
you crofs the line io° or 15 0 to the Eaft of the meridian of 
St. Jago. 
From thefe remarks I fliall draw the following conclu- 
fton, That, after palling the Cape de Verde Illands, if you 
do not make above 4 0 or 5 0 Eafting, and crofs the line in, or 
to the Weft ward of, the meridian of St. Jago, you may ex- 
pecft to find your fhip 3 0 or 4 0 to the Weft ward of her reck¬ 
oning, by the time you get into the latitude of io° South. 
If, on the other hand, you keep well to the Eaft, and crofs 
the line 15 0 or 20° to the Eaft of St. Jago, you will be then 
as much to the Eaft of your reckoning; and the more you 
keep to the Eaftward, the greater will be your error; as has 
* Captain Cook’s Voyage, VoL I. p. 14. 
been 
