it was.|tl)Wst4atei; but the sea remained agitated for some
time. - The theFmometejr istQod iaieigMyrtffiO'd^mQsj and
the barometer at, twenty-nineunches,. sixty,^threhtfeciuKil
parts.
Tlj_e-twerlty-sixth of June was squallyyS^compariied
hp, dreadful thunderii JightningF, | and almost ince&iafit'
rain. The wind - varied gradually from the southeast
totsouthshy-wesfe.« The, weather was so thick' and cloudy
that np. observation Ico.ul'd betaken the whole day ; nor
Couldrthe .continent of China hev distinguished, tho the
squadron, was jj now' in the narrowest? part ofrfthe? strait
between ; h randpTormosa, and not distant from either
much^bpye ten leagues * and the land of both jisiso: high,
that, inf cle^Weather,, 010^ can be seen fromtlltefitfreH.
The north-west .-part of Formosa .yraS indeedffper-GeiyeH
this day, for a;few minutes, a little after sunrise^ bearing
fromsouth-eSstby-jeastdo: south. ;
In rainy weather the.Chinese, sailors change, their
cotton clothes for jackets and trpwsers-; composed of r<?eds
unbent and uncompressed, lying close and .parallel th each-
other,., together/\yith large slouched Jaatsfydbthe*iSarfie
materiab) ever the exterior surface of all which! the rain
slides off, as [ over the • feathers- of aquatic birds, This
coarse but convenient Covering very much; roserhbfe^the
dr^ess worn, under similar circumstances^ by-the natives
of the. northryKe^gchast of America. Tho it be poSsifrif
that some original connection between the two countries,
enabled the one to borrow from the other, it appears Passage»
more,- prj^able that the skm^tatits suggested to both the .----- -
same^eonj/ri^ancè. ■■*
If tolerable sood'v^eafcher. mightuUüt any season bè expected
in this- strait, it was most likely tobbe found in
the, height of summer, and about the middle of the monsoon
; but- from the situation and>direction of thé -strait;
it is probable that moderate weather -seldom j prevails
there; for as imlieshih, a lin&'wrth the ’ notth-eaSt and
south-west points of the compass, and i#&öttiidêd on
each side > by ranges of mountains running in the same
direction, the1 effect*of the monsoons is increased^by the
compression which, the ainJndergoes i-ti passingthrough
tbis.narrow channel, which stands open, like a funnel,
to receive it from the two points whence! the monsoons
regularly blow. The currents, as might be expected,
are found, invariably, to set with the mOnsoon ; so that1
it may be considered asikarbely .practicable for ships to
work-up against it. In the manuscript jscieteslpfif the
passie of the Argonaut through the strait of Formosa,
towards the latteE}end o& April, 17 the title imports
that it was “ against the northreast monsoon;” but it
appears from the journal itself, that ;the monsoon was
then breaking up, the winds blowing from all points of
the .compass, and as often for, as against that vessel’s intended
eoprse:. Her small size,, moreover* enabled her to
run within many of the islands that lie off the coast of