Page:Captain Cook's Journal during His First Voyage Round the World.djvu/121

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March 1769.]
Cape Horn to Tahiti.
53

Azimuths 2° East. Wind E.S.E., S.S.E., S.W.; course N.N.W.; distance 34 m.; lat. 29° 22′ S., long. 127° 8′ W.

Friday, 17th.—Little wind and fine Pleasant weather. Variation, p.m. 3° 27 E. Wind, S.E. by S.; course, N. 20° W.; distance, 55 m.; lat. 28° 30′ S., long. 127° 29′ W.

Saturday, 18th.—First part, little wind and Cloudy; latter, fresh gales and hard Squalls, with much rain. Took 2 Reefs in the Topsails. Wind N.E. North; course N. 60° 45′ W.; distance 78 m.; lat. 27° 52′ S., long. 128° 44′ W.

Sunday, 19th.—First part fresh Gales and Squally, with rain; remainder more moderate and cloudy. Variation, a.m. per Means of several Azimuths, 3° 14′ E. Loosed the 2d reefs out of the Topsails. Wind between the N. and W.; course N. 52° W.; distance 50 m.; lat. 27° 21′ S., long. 129° 28′ W.

Monday, 20th.—A Fine breeze and pleasant weather. Saw several Tropic Birds. Wind West; course North; distance 95 m.; lat. 25° 44′ S., long. 129° 28′ W.

Tuesday, 21st.—First part little wind, the remainder Calm. Variation, 3° 43′ E. Saw some rock weed and a great many Tropic Birds. Wind W. by N., calm; course North; distance 23 m.; lat. 25° 21′ S., long. 129° 28′ W.

Wednesday, 22nd.—First part Calm, in the night Squally, with rain. A.M. a fresh breeze and Cloudy. Variation per Amplitude 3° 10′ E. Saw some Egg Birds. Wind N. by E. to N.N.W.; course W.; distance 57 m.; lat. 25° 21′ S., long. 129° 52′ W.

Thursday, 23rd.—Fresh gales and Squally, with rain, the first part; remainder fresh Gales and Cloudy. P.M. saw some Men-of-War Birds, and Egg Birds, and in the Morning saw more Egg Birds and Tropic Birds. The Man-of-War and Tropic Birds are pretty well known, but the Egg Bird (as it is called in the Dolphin's Journal) requires some discription to know it by that Name. It is a small slender Bird of the Gull kind, and all white, and not much unlike the small white Gulls we have in England, only not so big.[1] There are also Birds in Newfoundland called Stearings that are of the same shape and Bigness, only they are of a Greyish Colour. These Birds were called by the Dolphin Egg Birds on account of their being like those known by that name by Sailors in the Gulph of Florida; neither they nor the Man-of-War Birds are ever reckoned to go very far from Land. Wind N. by W. to W. by N.: course N. 13° W.; distance 49 m.; lat. 24° 43′ S., long. 130° 8′ W.

Friday, 24th.—Fresh Gales and Cloudy, with some rain in the forepart of this day. All the forepart of these 24 hrs. the Sea was smooth, but at 12 at night it was more so, and about 3 in the Morning one of the people saw, or thought he saw, a Log of Wood

  1. Terns.