expeditions o f this kind ; and hence too it follows, how extremely
prejudicial that intelligence may prove, which is given by the Por-
tuguefe Governors to the Spaniards, in relation to the defigns of
{hips touching at the ports o f Brazil.
However, notwithftanding the inconveniencies we have mentioned
of touching on the coaft of Brazil, it will oftentimes happen,
that fhips bound round Cape Horn will be obliged to call there
for a fupply o f wood and water, and other refrelhments. In this
cafe, St. Catherine's is the laft place I would recommend, both as
the proper animals for a live flock at fea, as hogs, flieep, and fowls,
cannot be procured there (for want of which we found ourfelves
greatly diftrefled, by being reduced to live almoft entirely on fait
provifiens), and alfo becaufe, from its being nearer the river o f Plate
than many o f their other fettlements, the inducements and conve-
iliencies o f betraying us are much ftronger. The place I would recommend
is Rio Janeiro, where two o f our lijuadron put in, after
they were feparated from us in paffing Cape Horn ; for here, as I
have been informed by one <sf the Gentlemen on board thefe lhips,
any quantity o f hogs and poultry may be procured ; and this place
being more diftant from the river of Plate, the difficulty of intelligence
is fomewhat inhanced, and confequently the chance of continuing
there undifcovered, in fome degree augmented. Other
meafures, which may effe&ually obviate all thefe embarraflments,
fhall be confidered more at large hereafter.
I next proceed to the confideration of the proper courfe to be
fleered for doubling Cape Horn. And here, I think, I am fuffici-
ently authorized by our own fatal experience, and by a careful companion
and examination of the journals of former Navigators, to
give this piece of advice, which, in prudence, 1 think, ought never
to be departed from : that is, that all fhips bound to the South-Seas,
inftead of paffing through Streights Le Maire, fhould conftaudy
pafs to the eaftward of Staten-land, and fhould be invariably bent
on running to the fouthward, as far as the latitude of 6 1 or 62 degrees,
before they endeavour to ftand to the weftward; and that,
when
when they are got into that latitude, they fhould then make fure
of fufficient welling, before they once think of fleering to the
northward.
But, as directions diametrically oppofite to thefe have been formerly
given by other writers, it is incumbent on me to produce my
reafons for each part of this maxim. And, firft, as to the palling to
the eaftward o f Staten-land-, thofe who have attended to the rifque
we ran in paffing Streights Le Maire, the danger we were in of
being driven upon Staten-land by the current, when, though we happily
efcaped being put afhore, we were yet carried to. the eaftward
of that Ifland: thofe who reflect on this, and on the like accidents
which have happened to other fhips, will furely not efteem it prudent
to pafs through Streights L e Maire, and run the rifque o f fhip-
wreck, and after all find themfelves no farther to the weftward (the
only reafon hitherto given for this practice) than they might have
been in the fame time, by a fecure navigation in an open fea.
And next, as to the directions I have given for running into the
latitude o f 61 or 62 South, before any endeavour is made to ftand
to the weftward: the reafons for this precept are, that, in all probability,
the violence of the currents will be hereby avoided, and the
weather will prove lefs tempeftuous and uncertain. This laft cir-
cumftance we ourfelves experienced moft remarkably ; for after we
had unexpectedly fallen in with the land, as has been mentioned in
the preceding chapter, we flood away to the fouthward, to run clear
o f i t ; and were no fooner advanced into fixty degrees, or upwards,
hut we met with much better weather, and fmoother water, than
in any other part of the whole paffage : the air, indeed, was very
cold and fharp, and we had ftrong gales; but they were fteady and
uniform, and we had at the fame time funfhine and a clear fk y :
whereas, in the lower latitudes, the winds-every now and then intermitted,
as it were, to recover new ftrength, and. then, returned
.fuddenly in the moft; violent gufts, threatening at each blaft tire lofs
of our mafts, which muft have ended in our certain deftrudtion.
And that the currents in this high latitude would be of much lefs
efficacy