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1768. September

We took in 270 lb. of fresh beef, and a live bullock, charged at 613 lb. 3,032 gallons of water, and ten tons of wine; and in the night, between Sunday the 18th and Monday the 19th Monday 19. of September, we fet fail in profecution of our voyage.

When Funchiale bore North, 13 Eaft, at the distance of 76 miles, the variation appeared by feveral azimuths to be 16° 30′ West.

Sunday 18.

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1768. September.

CHA P. II.

The Paffage from Madeira to Rio de Janeiro, with fome account of the Country, and the Incidents that happened there.

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N the 21ft of September we faw the islands called the Salvages, to the north Wednef. 21. of the Canaries; when the principal of these bore S. W. at the diftance of about five

Friday 23.

2

leagues, we found the variation of the compass by an azimuth to be 17° 50′. I make these iflands to lie in latitude 30° 11′ North, and diftant 58 leagues from Funchiale in Madeira, in the direction of S. 16 E.

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2

On Friday the 23d we faw the Peak of Teneriffe bearing W. by S. 4 S. and found the variation of the compass to be from 17° 22′ to 16′ 30. The height of this mountain, from which I took a new departure, has been determined by Dr. Heberden, who has been upon it, to be 15,396 feet, which is but 148 yards lefs than three miles, reckoning the mile at 1760 yards. Its appearance at funfet was very striking; when the fun was below the horizon, and the reft of the island appeared of a deep black, the mountain ftill reflected his rays, and glowed with a warmth of colour which no painting can express.

September.

exprefs. There is no eruption of vifible fire. 1768. from it, but a heat iffues from the chinks near the top, too strong to be borne by the hand Friday 23. when it is held near them. We had received from Dr. Heberden, among other favours, some falt which he collected on the top of the mountain, where it is found in large quantities, and which he supposes to be the true natrum or nitrum of the ancients: he gave us alfo fome native fulphur exceedingly pure, which he had likewife found upon the furface in great plenty.

On the next day, Saturday the 24th, we came Saturd. 24. into the north east trade wind, and on Friday

the 30th faw Bona Vista, one of the Cape de Friday 30. Verd islands; we ranged the caft fide of it, at the distance of three or four miles from the fhore, till we were obliged to haul off to avoid a ledge of rocks which ftretch out S. W. by W. from the body, or S. E. point of the island, to the extent of a league and an half. Bona Vista by our observation lies in latitude 16 N. and longitude 21° 51′ Weft.

On the 1st of October, in latitude 14° 6' N. and longitude 22° 10' W. we found the varia

October. Saturd. I.

tion by a very good azimuth to be 10° 37′ W. and the next morning it appeared to be 10°. Sunday 2. This day we found the fhip five miles a head of the log, and the next day feven. On the third, Monday 3. hoifted out the boat to discover whether there

was a current, and found one to the eastward,

1768.

October.

Monday 3.

Friday 7.

at the rate of three quarters of a mile an hour.

During our courfe from Teneriffe to Bona Vista we faw great numbers of flying fish, which from the cabbin windows appear beautiful beyond imagination, their fides having the colour and brightness of burnished filver; when they are feen from the deck they do not appear to fo much advantage, because their backs are of a dark colour. We also tock a fhark, which proved to be the Squalus Carcharias of Lin

næus.

Having loft the trade wind on the 3d, in latitude 12° 14', and longitude 22° 10', the wind became fomewhat variable, and we had light airs and calms by turns.

It

On the 7th, Mr. Banks went out in the boat and took what the feamen call a Portuguese man of war; it is the Holuthuria Physalis of Linnæus, and a fpecies of the Mollusca. confifted of a fmall bladder about feven inches long, very much refembling the air-bladder of fishes, from the bottom of which defcended a number of ftrings, of a bright blue and red, fome of them three or four feet in length, which upon being touched fting like a nettle, but with much more force. On the top of the bladder is a membrane which is ufed as a fail, and turned fo as to receive the wind which way foever it blows: this membrane is marked in

fine pink coloured veins, and the animal is in every respect an object exquifitely curious and beautiful.

We also took several of the fhell-fishes, or teftaceous animals, which are always found floating upon the water, particularly the Helix Janthina and Violacea; they are about the size of a fnail, and are fupported upon the furface of the water by a small cluster of bubbles, which are filled with air, and confift of a tenacious flimy fubftance that will not eafily part with its contents; the animal is oviparous, and these bub. bles ferve also as a nidus for its eggs. It is probable that it never goes down to the bottom, nor willingly approaches any fhore; for the fhell is exceedingly brittle, and that of few fresh water fnails is so thin: every shell contains about a tea-fpoonful of liquor, which it easily discharges upon being touched, and which is of the most beautiful red purple that can be conceived. It dies linen cloth, and it may perhaps be worth inquiry, as the fhell is certainly found in the Mediterranean, whether it be not the Purpura of the ancients.

1768. Q&eber/

Friday 7.

On the 8th, in latitude 8° 25′ North, longi- Saturd. 8. tude 22° 4' Weft, we found a current fetting to the southward, which the next day in latitude 7° 58', longitude 22° 13' fhifted to the N. N. W. W. at the rate of one mile and a furlong

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