To repair thefe defefts the caulkers were fet to work, as
foon as we got into fair fettled weather, to caulk the decks
and infide weather-Works of the ihip; for I would not truft
them over the fides while we were at fea.
On the firft of September * we crofled the Equator, in the
longitude of 270 38' Weft, with a fine gale at South Eaft by
South ; and notwithftanding my apprehenfions of falling in
with the coaft of Brazil in ftretching to the South Weft, I
kept the ihip a full point from the wind. However, I
found my fears were ill-grounded ; for on drawing near
that coaft, we met with the wind more and more eafterly ;
fo that, by the time we were in the latitude of io° South,
we could make a South Eafterly courfe good.
Sunday 8. On the 8th, we were in the latitude of 8’ 57' South; which
is a little to the Southward of Cape St. Auguftine, on thé
coaft of Brafil. Our longitude, deduced from a very great
number of lunar obfervations, was 34° 16' Weft ; and by the
* T h e afternoon, as appears from Mr. Anderfon’s Journal, was ipent in performing
the old and ridiculous ceremony o f ducking thofe who had not crofled the Equator
before. Though Captain Cook did not fupprefs the cuftom, he thought it too trifling
tô deferve the leaft mention o f it in his Journal, or even in his log-book. Pernetty,
the Writer of Bougainville’s Voyage to the Falkland Iflands, in 1763 and 1764,
thought differently j for his account of the celebration of this childiih feftival on board:
his ihip, is extended through feventeen pages, and makes the fubjeit o f an entire chapter,
under the title of Baptême de la Ligne.
It may be worth while to tranfcribe his introduction to the defcription of it. <s Ce’ft •
K. un ufage qui ne remonte pas plus haut que ce voyage célébré de Gama, qui a fourni
“ au Camoens le fujet de la Luiiadé. L ’Idée qu’on ne fçauroit être un bon marin,
te fans avoir traverfé l’Equateur, l’ennui inseparable d’une longue navigation, un cer-
<6 tain efprit républicain qui regrie dans toutes les petites focietés, peut-être toutes ces
“ caufes reunies, on pu donner naiflance à ces efpeces de faturnales. Quoiqu’il en foit,
c‘ elles furent adaptéès,-en un mitant, dans toutes les nations, & les hommes les plus
*c éclairés furent obligés de fe foumettre à une coutume dont ils reconnoifloient l’ab-
sc furdité. Car, partout, dès que le peuple parle, it faut que le fage fe mette à l’unifon.*’
Hifloire d'un Voyage aux Ijles Malouines, p. 107, 108.
watch,
1776.
Auguit.
watch, 340 47'. The former is i° 43', and the latter 2° 14' . >776.
more Wefterly than the ifland of Fernando de Noronha, the -
fituation of which was pretty well determined during my late
voyage *. Hence I concluded that we could not now be
farther from the continent than twenty or thirty leagues at
moft; and perhaps not much lefs, as we neither had found-
ings, nor any other figns of land. Dr. Hailey, however, in
his voyage, publifhed by Mr. Dalrymple, tells us f , that he
made no more than one hundred and two miles, meridian diftance, from
the ijland [Fernando de Noronha] to the 'coaft of Brafil-, and
feems to think that currents could‘not be the whole caufe of his
making fo little. But I rather think that he was miftaken,
and that the currents had hurried him far to the Weftward
o f his intended courfe. This was, in fome meafure, confirmed
by our own obfervations; for we had found, during
three or four days preceding the 8th, that the currents fet
to the Weftward; and, during the laft twenty-four hours,
it had fet ftrong to the Northward, as we experienced a difference
of twenty-nine miles between our obferved latitude
and that by dead reckoning. Upon the whole, till fome
better aftronomical obfervations are made on ihore on the
Eaftern coaft of Brafil, I lhall conclude; that its longitude is
thirty-five degrees and a half, or thirty-fix degrees Weft, at
moft.
We proceeded on our voyage, without meeting with any oaober.
thing of note, till the 6th of October. Being then in the Sunday 6
latitude of 35° 15' South, longitude 7° 4.3' Weft, we met with 7 ’
light airs and calms by turns, for three days fucceifively.
We had, for fome days before, feen albatrofles, pintadoes,
and other petrels; and here we faw three penguins, which
* See Cook’ s Voyage, Voll I I. p/278, * ' p , I *
F 2 occafioned