vember and December, in the year 1774, we found a Wellern
wind reigning from 42° to 54° South latitude.
T h e neighbourhood o f Tierra del Fuego, has been obferved by
other navigators,, ras the moll tempelluous ; but we found this lea
remarkably fmooth, and the weather mild ; and though we experienced
a few fqualls, they were however, by no means more violent
than fome we had met with before in other feas.
I IL S T O R M S . '
iEToRMs. W e met with very little tempelluous weather, upon the whole,
during our three years expedition; and had not any remarkable
ftorms, except twice.
When w e left the Cape o f Good Hope, on November the 23d,
1 7 7 2 , and were Handing to the South., we had during three weeks,
■ very hard gales and a high lea.
And the fecond time, when we were running along the Ealt
coall o f N ew Zeeland, towards Queen Charlotte’s Sound, in October
1773, we met a hard gale, which gradually increafed into a tem-
peft; we were obliged to hand all our fails, and to lye to under our
bare poles. T h e fea was long; the gale blowing off Ihore, tolled
our poor fhip-Jlrangely to and from, in a tempelluous ocean. The
-llorm roared in the rigging, and broke the waves agaihlt the fides
• 6 and
W IN D S .
and over the decks,of the.lhip, In one moment, being on the’ top s t o r m s ;.
o f a mountainous,wave, we:could overlook an immenfe trad: o f this
turbulent element ;andwith awe and terror;, we beheld~on both fides,,
the abyffes. fcooped out as ife were by theeenraged winds;; another,
moment hurried us down between the hollow waves,. and ■ we were
overwhelmed..by a. deluge o f brine.. T h e furious tempell.raifes the -
lea, it breaks on .the very fummit o f the wave,., which by the llorm
is. diffolved into atoms, o f vapours, involving, the furface o f the ocean
in clouds o f finoke and fo g , Such was our fituation, with very
little relaxation .for feveral.days; and happy did we think ourielves,
after having been difappointed feveral times, when, in a moderates
interval, we could take refuge in the delired port,.
S 2 C H A P .