BOOK THE FOURTH.
S e c o n d v i s i t t o t h e N o r t h ;• s u r v e y of th e A m e r i c
a n COAST FROM FlTZHUGH’s SOUND TO CAPE DECI SION;
a n d f r o m M o n t e r r e y t o t h e so u t h e r n e x t
e n t of o u r in t e n d e d .i n v e s t i g a t i o n .
C H A P T E R I.
Pajfaee towards the coaft o f America— Anchor in Trinidad bay—Defcrip-
tion o f the bay, its inhabitants, & c, & c.— Arrival at Nootka—Quit
Nootka, and proceed to the northward—Jo in the Chatham in Fitzkugh’s
found.
• T - V J 1 /yd* W E took our departure from the Sandwich iflands, on faturday the . March- .
goth of march, with the trade wind blowing principally from the N. N. E. Saturday 30.
and N. E. accompanied by very pleafant weather; and in one week af» Apr;i.
terwards we reached the variable winds, having a light breeze from the
fouthward, with which we fleered N. by e . ; our obferved latitude at
this time was 30° 35', longitude by Kendall’s chronometer, 1970 26',
Arnold’s No. 14, 196° 57F, No. 176, 197° 42', and EarnlhaWs, 196*
37!'. The variation of the compafs was i f yG, eaflwardly.
Since our leaving the iflands, I obferved a very extraordinary rife and
fall of the mercury in the barometer. Early in the morning it would
be three and four tenths of an inch higher than at noon; its mean height
at that time of the day being 30. 38, varying only from 30. 43, to 30.34;
whereas in the morning it would Hand at 30. 70; it did not regularly
defcend, but fluftuated until it fettled as above ftated. This day however
it gradually fell from 30. 40, its point at the preceding noon, to
H h 2 30. 27,