Page:Early voyages to Terra Australis.djvu/295

 dampikr's voyages. 139

>vcre very clear and transparent, and upon crushing any of them a drop of water would come forth: the skin that con- tain'd the Avater was so thin that it was but just disccrn- able. Some weeds swam by us, so that we did not doubt but we should qviickly sec land. On the 27th also some weeds swam by us, and the birds that had flown along with us all the way almost from Brazil now left us, except only two or three shear-waters. On the 28th we saw many weeds swim by us, and some whales blowing. On the 29th we had dark cloudy weather, with much thunder, lightning, and violent rains in the morning, but in the evening: it srrew fair. We saw this day a scuttle-bone swim by us, and some of our young men a seal, as it should seem by their descrip- tion of its head. I saw also some bonetas and some skip- jacks, a fish about eight inches long, broad, and sizeable, not much unlike a roach, which our seamen call so from their leaping about.

The oOth of July, being still nearer the land, we saw abundance of scuttle-bones and sea-weed, more tokens that we were not far from it ; and saw also a sort of fowls, the like of which we had not seen in the whole voyage, all the other fowls having now left us. These were as big as lap- wings, of a grey colour, black about their eyes, with red sharp bills, long wings, their tails long and forked like swallows, and they flew flapping their wings like lapwings. In the afternoon we met with a ripling like a tide or cur- rent, or the water of some shoal or over-fall ; but were past it before we could sound. The birds last mention'd and this were further signs of the land. In the evening we had fair Aveather, and a small gale at west. At eight a clock we sounded again, but had no ground.

We kept on still to the eastward, with an easy sail, look- ing out sharp ; for, by the many signs we had, I did expect that we were near the land. At twelve a clock in the night I sounded, and had forty-five fathom, coarse sand and small