Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/251

Funchal Road.]

We were therefore induced to prefer the 16° 56′, in the Connoissance des Temps, as being nearer the true longitude of Funchal from Greenwich, than the 17° 6′ 15″ of the Requisite Tables.

Every person had returned on board on Friday morning; and a young man, a native of Ireland, who had been sent here sick in a French cartel, applying to go the voyage, I ordered him to be entered, on the surgeon reporting him to be a fit man for His Majesty's service.

On quitting Funchal Road, we were taken aback, at two o'clock, by the east-north-east wind, about two miles off Brazen Head. It blew so strong as to make it necessary to clew down all the sails; and until next morning, nothing above close-reefed top sails could be carried with safety. At noon, the log gave 162 miles from Funchal; but the cloudy weather did not admit of taking observations.

At daybreak of the 9th the island Palma was in sight, bearing S. 72° E. ten or twelve leagues. Albacores and bonitas now began to make their appearance, and the officers and men were furnished with hooks and lines, and our harpoons and fiz-gigs were prepared. This day I ordered lime juice and sugar to be mixed with the grog; and they continued to be given daily to every person on board, until within a short time of our arrival at the Cape of Good Hope.

We carried fair, and generally fresh winds, until the 15th in the morning, when St. Antonio, the north-westernmost of the Cape-Verde Islands was in sight. At eight o'clock, the extremes bore N. 69° E. and S. 19° W., and the nearest part was distant four miles; in which situation no bottom could be found at 75 fathoms. A boat was observed near the shore, and our colours were hoisted; but no notice appeared to be taken of the ship.

The north-west side of St. Antonio is four or five leagues in length; and rises abruptly from the sea, to hills which are high enough to be seen fifteen, or more leagues from a ship's deck. These barren hills are intersected by gullies, which bore marks of