remarkable in our canibal-dog, for he came on board fo
ybung, that he could not have been weaned long enough
to acqtiire a habit of devouring his own fpecies, and much
lefs of eating human flelh; however, one of our feamen
having cut his finger, held it out to the dog, who fell to
greedily, licked it, and then began to bite into it.
Ori the 6 th, in the afternoon, being in about i 91 deg.
of fouth latitude, we got the Cafterly trade-wind, which
fet in frefir after feveral calms, attended with heavy fliowers
of rain. The fun being at this time ftill in the oppofite
hemifphere, was probably the caufe of our meeting with
this Wind fo much later than ufual, the tropics being generally
reckoned its limits. Agreeable to the obfervation
which we now made, we had found the trade-wind, in
Auguft '1772, at Madeira, though that iiland is fituated in
3 3° of north latitude. But the moft remarkable occurence
in our run Was the nature of the winds previous to our
obtaining the trade-wind. We had expected that, by going
in a middle latitude between 5.0 and 40 deg. fouth,
we fiiould meet with regular wefterly winds, whidh are
Common in our feas during the winter months; inftead of
this we found them veering round the compafs in two or
three days time, never fettling in any other than the eaft-
efn quarter, and fometimes blowing with great violence.
Thus the name of Pacific Ocean, which has formerly been
given to the whole South Sea, is, in my opinion,, applicable
only to a part of it between the tropics, where the
winds are'fteady and uniform, the weather in general fair
and mild, and the fea not fo much agitated as in higher
latitudes.
Albecores, bonitos, and dolphins gave chace to many
fhoals of flying-filh, in the fame manner as we had ob-
ferved them in the Atlantic; while feveral large blackbirds,
with long wings and forked tails, which are commonly
called men of war (pelecanüs'aquilus, Linn.) foared at
a vaft height in the air, and fometimes defeending into a
lower region, viewed a fifh fwimming under them, and
darted down with amazing velocity, never failing to ftrike
the fifh with their bill. It is a well known faft, that gan-
nets, which are birds of the fame genus in the Englifli
feas, catch fifii in a fimilar manner. The fifliermen on the
coaft frequently fix a pilchard ot; herring on the point of a
knife fattened to a floating board, and the bird darting
down upon it transfixes itfelf on the knife.
On the 11 th, in the morning, we difeovered a low
ifland to the fouthward of us, which feemed about four
miles long, and about fix miles diftant. It appeared to be
almoft level with the fea,< only fome groups of trees rofe
above the horizon, and among them a. few cocoa-nut
palms out-topped the reft. To people in our fi'tuation, ex-
haufted with a tedious paflage, the bare fight of land was
fufficient to give fome confolation, though we could not
expect
1773.
A ugust.