long as ours, the lower ones, with the sheathing, being of copper.

Pursuant to these orders, the Tamar parted company with us on the 1st of April, and steered for the Caribbee Islands. When we came into latitude 34° N. longitude 35° W. we had strong gales from W.S.W. to W.N.W. with a great sea, which broke over us continually for six days successively, and run us into latitude 48° N. longitude 14° W. On the 7th of May, at seven o'clock in the morning, we made the islands of Scilly, having been just nine weeks coming from the Cape of Good Hope, and somewhat more than two-and-twenty months upon the voyage; the 9th, the ship came to anchor in the Downs, and on the same day I landed at Deal, and set out for London.

[The reader will find a short but interesting memoir of Byron prefixed, for the first time, to the Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Wager, published at Edinburgh by Ballantyne, 1812. All that it is thought necessary to quote from it here is, that in 1769, about three years after his return from this circumnavigation, he was appointed governor of Newfoundland, which office he held till 1775; that then he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue, and successively to that of rear-admiral of the white and red; that he was appointed to command the squadron directed to watch and oppose the French fleet under Count d'Estaign, over which, however, owing to circumstances no prudence or bravery could controul, he obtained no decisive advantages; that in 1779, he was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral of the white; and that he died in 1786, at the age of 73, generally respected and beloved for his eminent professional and moral qualities.-E.]

CHAPTER

CHAPTER II.

AN ACCOUNT OF A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, IN THE YEARS 1766, 1767, AND 1768, BY SAMUEL WALLIS, ESQ. COMMANDER OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP THE DOLPHIN.

SECTION II.

The Passage to the Coast of Patagonia, with some Account of the Natives.

[The longitude in this voyage is reckoned from the meridian of London.]

HA

AVING received my commission, which was dated the 19th of June 1766, I went on board the same day, hoisted the pendant, and began to enter seamen, but, according to my orders, took no boys either for myself or any of the officers.

The ship was fitted for the sea with all possible expedition, during which the articles of war and the act of parliament were read to the ship's company: On the 26th of July we sailed down the river, and on the 16th of August, at eight o'clock in the morning, anchored in Plymouth Sound.

On the 19th I received my sailing orders, with directions to take the Swallow sloop, and the Prince Frederick storeship, under my command: And this day I took on board, among other things, three thousand weight of portable soup, and a bale of cork jackets. Every part of the ship was filled with stores and necessaries of various kinds, even to the steerage and state-room, which were allotted to the slops and portable soup. The surgeon offered to purchase an extraordinary quantity of medicines, and medical necessaries, which, as the ship's company might become sickly, he said would in that case be of great service, if room

could

could be found to stow them in; I therefore gave him. leave to put them into my cabin, the only place in the ship where they could be received, as they consisted of three large boxes.

On the 22d, at four o'clock in the morning, I weighed and made sail in company with the Swallow and Prince Frederick, and had soon the mortification to find that the Swallow was a very bad sailer.

We proceeded in our voyage, without any remarkable incident, till Sunday the 7th of September, when, about eight o'clock in the morning, we saw the island of PortoSanto, bearing west; and about noon saw the east end of the island of Madeira.

About five o'clock we ran between this end of the island and the Deserters. On the side next the Deserters is a low flat island, and near it a needle rock; the side next to Madeira is full of broken rocks, and for that reason it is not safe to come within less than two miles of it.

At six in the evening we anchored in Madeira road, about two-thirds of a mile from the shore, in twenty-four fathom with a muddy bottom: About eight the Swallow and Prince Frederick also came to an anchor; and I sent an officer on shore to the governor, to let him know that I would salute him, if he would return an equal number of guns, which he promised to do; the next morning, therefore, at six o'clock, I saluted him with thirteen guns, and he returned thirteen as he had promised.

Having taken in a proper quantity of water at this place, with four pipes and ten puncheons of wine, some fresh beef, and a large quantity of onions, we weighed anchor on the 12th, and continued our voyage.

At six o'clock in the morning of Tuesday the 16th, we saw the island of Palma, and found the ship fifteen miles to the southward of her reckoning. As we were sailing along this island, at the rate of no less than eight miles an hour, with the wind at east, it died away at once; so that within less than two minutes the ship had no motion, though we were at least four leagues distant from the shore. Palma lies in lat. 28° 40′ N. long. 17° 48′ W.

On the 20th we tried the current, and found it set S.W. by W. one mile an hour. This day we saw two herons flying to the eastward, and a great number of bonnettos about the ship, of which we caught eight.

In the night between the 21st and 22d we lost our companion the Swallow, and about eight in the morning we saw the island of Sal, bearing S. W., at noon it bore S. W. distant eight leagues; and at noon on the 23d, the nearest land of the island of Bonavista bore from S. to W.S.W. distant seven or eight miles, the east end, at the same time, bearing W. distant two leagues. In this situation we sounded, and had only fifteen fathom, with rocky ground; at the same time we saw a very great rippling, which we supposed to be caused by a reef, stretching off the point about E.S.E. three miles, and the breakers without us, distant also about three miles in the direction of S.E. We steered between the rippling and the breakers, but after hauling the ship off about half a mile, we had no soundings. The Prince Frederick passed very near the breakers, in the S.E., but had no soundings; yet these breakers are supposed to be dan gerous. The middle of the isle of Sal is in lat. 16° 55′ N, long. 21° 59′ W.; the middle of Bonavista is in lat. 16° 10′ long. 23° W.

On the next day, at six in the morning, the isle of May bore from W. to S. W. six leagues; and soon after the Swallow again joined company. At half an hour after ten the west end of the isle of May bore north at the distance of five miles, and we found a current here, setting to the southward at the rate of twenty miles in four-and-twenty hours. The latitude of this island is 15° 10' N. longitude 22° 25′ W.

At noon the south end of the island of St Iago bore S.W. by W. distant four leagues; and the north end N.W. distant five leagues. At half an hour after three we anchored in Port Praya, in that island, in company with the Swallow and Prince Frederick, in eight fathom water, upon sandy ground. We had much rain and lightning in the night, and early in the morning I sent to the commanding officer at the fort, for leave to get off some water, and other refreshments, which he granted.

We soon learnt that this was the sickly season, and that the rains were so great as to render it extremely difficult to get any thing down from the country to the ships: It happened also, unfortunately, that the small-pox, which is extremely fatal here, was at this time epidemic; so that I mitted no man to go ashore who had not had that distem

per

per, and I would not suffer even those that had to go into any house.

We procured, however, a supply of water and some cattle from the shore, and caught abundance of fish with the seine, which was hauled twice every day: We found also in the valley where we got our water, a kind of large purslain, growing wild in amazing quantities: This was a most welcome refreshment both raw as a sallad, and boiled with the broth and pease; when we left the place we carried away enough of it to serve us a week.

On the 28th, at half an hour after twelve, we weighed and put to sea; at half an hour after six in the evening the peak of Fuego bore W.N.W. distant twelve leagues, and in the night the burning mountain was very visible.

This day I ordered hooks and lines to be served to all the ship's company, that they might catch fish for themselves; but at the same time I also ordered that no man should keep his fish more than four-and-twenty hours before it was eaten, for I had observed that stale, and even dried fish, had made the people sickly, and tainted the air in the ship.

On the first of October, in lat. 10° 37′ N. we lost the true trade-wind, and had only light and variable gales; and this day we found that the ship was set twelve miles to the northward by a current; on the third we found a current run S. by E. at the rate of six fathom an hour, or about twenty miles and a half a day: On the seventh we found the ship nineteen miles to the southward of her reckoning.

On the 20th, our butter and cheese being all expended, we began to serve the ship's company with oil, and I gave orders that they should also be served with mustard and vinegar once a fortnight during the rest of the voyage.

On the 22d we saw an incredible number of birds, and among the rest a man-of-war bird, which inclined us to think that some land was not more than sixty leagues distant: This day we crossed the equator in longitude 23° 40′

W.

On the 24th, I ordered the ship's company to be served with brandy, and reserved the wine for the sick and convalescent. On the 26th the Prince Frederick made signals of distress, upon which we bore down to her, and found that she had carried away her fore-top-sail-yard, and to supply this loss, we gave her our sprit-sail top-sail-yard, which we could spare, and she hoisted it immediately.

On