. efficacy than nearer the land, feems to be evinced from thefe con-
.fiderations, that all currents run with greater, violence near the ftiore
than at fea, and that at great diftances from fhore they are fcarcely
■ perceptible: indeed, thereafonof this,feems.fufficientlyobvious, if
we confiderj that conftant currents are,, in all probability, produced
'by conftant winds, the wind driving before it, though with a flow
and imperceptible motion, a-large body of water, which, being ac-
-Vumulated upon any coaft that it meets with, muft efcape along
the ftiore, by-the endeaveurs of its furfece, to reduce itfelf to the
fame level' with the reft of the Ocean. And ;it is reafonable to
fuppofe, that thofe violent.gufts of wind, which we experienced
>mear the fliore, fo very different from what we found- in the latitude
o f fixty degrees and upwards, may be owing to a fimilar
-caufe; for a wefterly wind almoft perpetually prevails in the
fouthern part of the Bacifiek Ocean: and this-current o f air being
'interrupted b y ‘thofe immenfe hills called the -Andes, and .by the
mountains -on Terra del Fuego, which together bar-up the whole
country to the fouthward as far as Gape Horn, a part o f it oilly can
.'force its way over the -tops o f thefe prodigious precipices, whilft
the reft muft naturally follow the direction.of the coaft, and muft
j-ange down the-land to the fouthward, and fweep with an impetuous
and irregular blaftround Cape Horn,and. the fouthermoft part
o f Terra del Fuego. However, not to rely on thefe fpeculations, we
may, I believe, eftablifh, as inconteftable, thefe matters of faft, that
.both the rapidity of the-currents, and the violence o f the weftern
gales, are lefs fenfible in the latitude-of 61 or 62 degrees than
mearerthe fhore o f Terra del Fuego.
But though I am fatisfied, both from our own experience and the
-relations of other Navigators, o f the importance of-the, precept I
here infifton, that o f running into the latitude o f 6 to r 62 degrees,
before any endeavours are made to ftand to the weftward ; yet I
-wouldiadvife no fhips hereafter to truft fo far to this management,
as to negledt another mofteffential maxim, which is, the making this
■ paflage in the height of fummer, that.is, in themonths.of December
& ~ and
ana January, and the more diftant. the time o f pafling is taken
from this feafon, the more di&ftrous it may be reafonably expefted
to prove. Indeed, i f the mere violence of the weftern winds be
confidered, the time o f our paffage, which was about the Equinox,
was perhaps the moft favourable of the whole year ; but then it
muft be remembered, that, independent of the winds, there are,
in the depth of winter, many other inconveniences to be apprehended,
which are almoft infuperable : for the feventy of the cold,
and the Ihortnefs of the days, would render it impracticable, at
that feafon, to ran fo far to the fouthward as is here recommended
; and the fame reafons would greatly augment the alarms
o f failing in the neighbourhood of an unknown ftiore, dreadful
in its appearance in the midft of fummer, and would make a winter
navigation on this coaft to be, of all others, the moft difmaying
and terrible. As I would therefore advife all {hips to make their
paffage in December u n i January, if poflible; fo I would warn
them never to attempt the doubling Cape Horn, from the eaftward,
after the month o f March. \ .
And now as to the remaining confideration, that -is, the pro-
pereftport for cruifers to refrelh at, on their fir ft arrival in the
South-Seas: on this'1 head, there is fcarcely any choice ; the Ifland
-of Juan Fernandes being the only place that can be prudently recommended
for this purpofe. For though there are many ports
on the weftern fide of Patagonia, between the Streights of
lan and the Spanijh fettlements (a plan of one of which I lhall infer!
in'the courfe of this work), where {hips might ride in great
fafety, might recruit their wood and water, and might procure
iom l few refreftiments; yet that coaft is, in itfelf, fo dangerous,
from its numerous rocks and breakers, and from the violence of
the weftern winds, which blow conftantly upon it, that it is by no
means advifeable to fall in with that land, at leaft, ti l the roads,
channels, and anchorage in each part of it are accurately furveyed.
and both the perils and flicker-it abounds with are more diftmtUy
known.