J^ly. principal intent of monafiic life, may be doubted with equal
juftice.
The next day, about noon, having taken leave of all our.
acquaintance, we returned on board with the conful, and fe-
veral Portuguefe, who honoured us with their company at.
dinner; we pafled the afternoon very agreeably, their con-
verfation' being eafy and chearful, the reverfe of that
haughty taciturnity which is the general character of the
Portuguefe nobility at Madeira. They were put on fhore
in the evening, and at- four the next morning we weighed*
and fet (ail with a fair wind,
WedneH. i9. We palled by the iflands of St. George and Graciofa, and:
came in fight of Terceira at noon. About three o’clock in.
the afternoon we failed'along its north fide, which exhibited,
the richeft corn-fields, and various villages furrounded by
trees. We tookleave ofit in the evening, and then directed,
our courfe to the channel. On the 2 9th, at. four o’clock,
we faw the Start Point and Eddiftone light-houfe near it,,
the fame parts of the Englifli fliores which we had laA feen
at the beginning of the voyage. The next morning we
pafled through the Needles, and fwiftly. failing hetween the
Ille of Wight and the fertile fhores of Hamplhire, came to.
an anchor a little before noon at Spithead.
Thus, after efcaping, innumerable dangers, and fuflfer-
ing a long feries o f hardfliips, we happily completed a voyage,
which bad lafted three years and fixteen days; in the
courfe
courfe o f which, it is computed we run over a greater fpace j«,«.
of fea than any £hip ever did before us ; fince, taking all our
tracks together, they form more than thrice the circumference
of the globe. We were likewife fortunate enougn
to lofe only four men; three of whom died by accident, and-
one by a difeafe,, which would perhaps have brought him to-
the grave much fooner had he continued in England *..
The principal view of pur expedition, the fearch after a
fouthern continent within the bounds of the temperate
zone, was fulfilled ; we had even fearched the frozen feas
oftheoppofite hemifphere, within the antarftic circle, without
meeting with that vafi trad): of land which had formerly,
been fuppofed to exift. At the fame time, we had made another
difcovery important to fcience, that nature forms great
mafies of ice in the. midft of the wide ocean, which are
deftitute of any faline particles, but have all the ufeful and;
falubrious qualities of the pure element. At other feafons
we explored the Pacific Ocean between the tropics, and in
the temperate zone; and there furniflied geographers with
new iflands, naturalifts with new plants and birds,, and,
♦ From the bills of mortality in Europe, it is computed'that three men in a hun-
cfted annually die ;• according to which, we fhould have loft- at leaft ten men. There*
fore, notwithftanding.the beft precautions may. be taken for the future, yet, from
the chance or probability of events, another fhip may not preferve her men in the?
fame proportion as ours; and it would be extremely rafli to fuppofe that this excep*
tion could always be produced,, merely by. the prophylaxies and antifcorbutics w&-
had on board..
above: