T he wind had been very high, while we were in the port
of Falmouth ; and the weather was ftill unfettled. Black louring
clouds rendered the morning of our departure uncommonly
gloomy and awful. After a heavy fhower of ram, we were becalmed
in the mouth of the channel, the fea heaving prodigi-
oufly with the furface quite fmoo'th and unbroken. We were
carried along by the current, and land foon difappeared. We
now encountered foul weather and contrary winds. The fhip
pitched and rolled exceedingly, the waves frequently burfting
pver, and the fwell affeCting fome of our oldeft mariners.
O n the third of July we made the rock of Lifbon. We had
then a ftrong gale, and failed at the rate of nine knots or miles
in an hour. We had 'run one hundred and feventy knots in the
laft twenty four hours. We here faw a grampus or whale fpout-
ing up water, which, in falling, formed a mill not unlike the
fmoke from a flalh of gunpowder. It blew hard in the night,
.and the next evening we could difcern Cape St. Vincent.
As we now approached near to the Mediterranean, fome of
the Jailors' had got a ftrong new rope, and prepared it for ducking
fuch of the crew as were novices in this fea. They were to
be let down from the yard-arm with their hands and feet tied to
two bars of wood, placed at convenient diftances; but when
every thing was ready, they all preferred the alternative, which
is a fmall forfeit to be deduced from their pay.
■ Our paffage through the ftrait of Gibraltar was amuling
and delightful beyond imagination. The coaft on each fide is
irregular, adorned with lofty grotefque mountains of varums
lhapes, the majeftic tops Worn white with rain, and looking as
crowned with fnow. From one of the narrow vaUies a thick
fmoke arofe. The land is of a brown complexion, as fnn-iburnt
and barren. On the Spanilhlhore are many’watch-towers, ranging
along to a great extent, defigned to alarm the country by
3
fignals on the appearance of an enemy. We had Spanilh and
Moorilh towns in view, with the rock and fortrefs of Gibraltar.
Sea-birds were flying, and numerous fmall-craft moving to and
fro, on every quarter. Wc had a gentle breeze, and our fails all
fet, with the current from the weftern or atlantic ocean in our
favour. In this, the water was agitated and noify, like a {hallow
brook running over pebbles; while in the contrary currents,
it was fmooth and calm as in a mill-pond, except where dif-
turbed by albicores, porpuffes, and fea-monfters, which fported
around us, innumerable. Their burnilhed fides refledted the rays
o f the fun, which then {hone in a pidturefque iky, of clear azure
foftened by thin fleecy clouds, imparting chearfulnefs to the
waves, which feemed to fmile on us.
O ur entry into the Mediterranean is here faintly defcribed,
as no words can convey the ideas excited by fcenes of fo much
novelty, grandeur, and beauty. The vail aflemblage of bulky
monllers in particular was beyond amazing; fome leaping up,
as if aiming to divert us; {pme approaching the {hip, as it were
to be feen, floating together, abreaft, and half out of the water.
We counted in one company fourteen, of the fpecies called by
the failors I ’ke Bottk-Ncje, each, as we guelfed, about twelve
feet long, Thefe are almoft {hapelefs, looking black and oily,
with a large thick fin on the back, no eyes or mouth difcernible,
the head rounded at the extremity, and fo joined with the body
as to render it difficult to diftioguifh, where the one ends or the
other begins j but on the upper part is a hole ahout an inch and
a half ip diameter, from which, at regular intervals, the log-'
like Being blows out water accompanied with a puff audible at
fome diftance.
T o complete this wonderful day, the fun before its fetting
was exceedingly big, and affumed a variety of fantaftic lhapes.
It was furrounded firft with a golden glory, of great extent, and
flamed upon the furface of the fea in a long column of fire. The
lower half qF the orb foon after immerged in the horizon, the
A 2 other