. 177*-
A ugust..
Sunday 23.
Tuefday 25.
•fhips, at. confiderable diftances from any land*. I Ihall
venture another reflection on this incident. In the long
folitary hours of an uniform navigation, every little cir-
cumftance becomes interefting to the paflenger •, it is
therefore not to be wondered at, if a fubjeCt fo trifling in
itfelf as putting to death a harmlefs bird, fhould afFeCt a
heart not yet buffeted into infenfibility.
On the 23 d, feveral cetaceous fifh, from fifteen to
twenty feet long pafied the fhip, directing their courfe
to the N. and N. W. They were fuppofed to be grampuffes,
(delphinus area). Two days after the fame kind of fifh,
and a number of leffer ones of a brownifh colour, called
Jklp-jacks, from leaping frequently out of the water, were
obferved. The wind for feveral days paft had blown from
the N. W. and obliged us to take a S. E. courfe, fo that
we were now got to the fouthward of the coaft of Guinea.
Several of our navigators, who had frequently croffed the
Atlantic, looked upon this as a Angular circumftance; and
indeed it fairly proves, that though nature in the torrid
zone commonly produces regular and conftant winds,
neverthelefs it fometimes deviates even there from general
* Captain Cook very obligingly communicated to me a fa& which confirms
the -above aflertion. Being on board of a fhip between Norway and England, he
met with a violent ftorm, during which a flight o f feveral hundred birds covered
•the whole rigging of the fhip. Among numbers of fmall birds, he obferved- feveral
hawks, which lived very luxurioufly by preying on thofe poor- defencelefs
fireatures.
rules,
rules, and admits of feveral exceptions. In this fituation
A SEPTEMBER;,
we alfo obferved feveral man-of-war birds, (pelectmus aqtii-
lus.) It is a common belief among failors that their appearance
denotes a vicinity of land mr but we were at pre—
-£ent above a hundred leagues from, any Ihore, fo that this
opinion feems to have no better fupport than many old
prejudices. Each eradication of one of thefe is a gain to
fcience; and each vulgar opinion, proved to he erroneous,
is an. approximation to t r uth , which alone is worthy of
being recorded, for the ule of mankind.
On the. firft. of September, feveral dolphins, (corypliana [»!. - J"
Kppurus,) were feen; and we likewife took notice of a
large fifh clofe to us, perfectly refembling the figure of a
filh given in Willoughby’s Hiftor. Pifcium, appendix
p'ag. 5. tab. 9. f. 3. which is taken from John Nieuhoff’s
account, and which the Dutch call zee-duyvel, or fea-devil.
In its external fhape it was fimilar to the genus of rays, but
feems to be a new fpecies ; from whence it is evident
that even in the mod frequented feas, fuch as the Atlantic,
many new difeoveries in natural hiftory might be
made, if thofe who can diftinguifh unknown from known
objects, had always opportunities of enquiring into them.
On the third of September great numbers of flying- TWday 3i.
fifh.es were obferved, and a bonito (ƒcomber pelarnp) was
caught, whofe meat we found to be dry and lefs palatable
than it is generally reprefented: We were lucky enough
two 1