renamed, re fpe ftin g the falfehood o f this pretended d ifco -
yery. For it is to be obferved, that no one has ever yet been
able to find who John de Gama was, when he lived, or w h a t
year this pretended difcovery was.made.
According to Mr. Muller, the firft account o f it given to
the Public was in a chart publifhed by Texeira, a Portu-
gu e z e geographer, in 1 649, who places it in ten or twelve degrees
to the North Eaft o f Japan, between the latitudes o f
44e and 450; and announce it to be landfeen by John de Gama;
the Indian, in a voyage from China to New Spain. On w hat
grounds the French geographers have fince removed it five-
degrees to che Eaftward, does not appear; except w e fuppofe'
it to have been in order to make room for another difcovery
o f the fame kind made by the Dutch, called Company's Land ;
o f w h ich we ih a li have occafion to fpeak hereafter.
Du ring the whole day,, the wind was exceedingly unfettled,
be in g feldom fteady to two or three points ; and.
blowin g in frefh guffs, w hich were fucceeded by dead
calms. T h e fe were not unpromifing appearances; bur,
after Handing o ff and on, the whole o f this: day, w ith out
feeing any thin g o f the land, we again fleered to the
Northward, not thin k in g it worth our while to lofe time in
fearch o f an objeft, the opinion o f wliofe exiftence h ad
been already pietty generally exploded. Our people were
employed the whole o f the 1 6th, in ge ttin g their wet things,
to dry, and in airin g the ihips below.
We now began to fe e l very Iharply the increafing inclemency
o f the Northern climate. In thé morning o f
the 18th, our latitude being 45° 40', and our longitude.
160° 25', w e had fnow and- fleet, accompanied with flrong,
gales from the South Weft. This circumftance w ill appear
pear ve ry remarkable, i f we confider the feafon o f the .^jgfe
year, and the quarter from w hich the wind blew. On the 1 >
ig th , the thermometer, in the day-time, remained at the Monday ¡g..
fre e z in g point, and at four in the morning fe ll to 29°. I f
the reader w ill take the trouble to compare the degree o f
heat, during the hot fultry weather w e had at the begin n
in g o f this month, w ith the extreme cold which w e now
endured, he w ill conceive how feverely fo rapid a change'
mu ff have been felt by us.
Tn the gale o f the 18th, we had fplit ahnoft a ll the fails
w e had, bent, w h ich being our fecond beft fuit, we were
now red u ced to make ufe o f our laft and beft fet. T o add
to~ Captain Clerke’s difficulties, rhe fea. was in general fo
rough; and'the Ihips fo leaky, that the fail-makers had no
place to repair the fails in, except his apartments, which,,
in his declining ftate o f health, was a ferious inconvenience
to him.
On the aoth, at noon, b e in g in latitude 490' 45' North, Tuefdayze.
and longitude i6t° 15' Eaft; and eage rly e xp eftin g to fall
in with the coaft o f Afia, the wind ihifted fuddenly to the
North, and continued in the fame quarter the fo llow in g
day. However, alth ou gh it retarded our progrefs, yet the
fa ir weather it brought was no. fmall refrefliment to us.
In the forenoon o f the 2 ift, we faw a whale, and a land- Wednef. zi,
hird ; and; in the. afternoon, the water lo okin g muddy, we
founded, but got no ground with an hundred and forty fathoms
o f line. D u rin g the three preceding days, we faw
la rg e flocks o f wild-fowl, o f a fpecies refembling ducks.
T h is is u fu a lly confidered as a proof o f the vicinity o f land;-
b.ut w e had no other figns o f it, fince the 16th ; in which:
time we had run upward of. an hundred and fifty leagues.
On.