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A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook Title: The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks Author: Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) eBook No.: 0501141h.html Edition: 1 Language: English Character set encoding: HTML--Latin-1(ISO-8859-1)--8 bit Date first posted: November 2005 Date most recently updated: November 2005 Project Gutenberg of Australia eBooks are created from printed editions which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice is included. We do NOT keep any eBooks in compliance with a particular paper edition. Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this file. This eBook is made available at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg of Australia License which may be viewed online at http://gutenberg.net.au/licence.html To contact Project Gutenberg of Australia go to http://gutenberg.net.au
Modern Chart showing track of Endeavour
Track of Endeavour from Torres Strait to Java
The text file of this work was prepared in 1962 from the manuscript "The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks, 1768—1771" held at the State Library of NSW. Illustrations have been taken from: CAPTAIN COOK'S JOURNAL DURING HIS FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD MADE IN H.M. BARK "ENDEAVOUR" 1768-71 EDITED BY CAPTAIN W.J.L. WHARTON, R.N., F.R.S.
AUGUST 1768
Departed Plymouth
SEPTEMBER 1768
Coast of Spain
Arrived Madeira
Departed Madeira
OCTOBER 1768
Crossed Equator
NOVEMBER 1768
Continent of South America
DECEMBER 1768
Rio de Janeiro described
JANUARY 1769
Terra del Fuego sighted
APRIL 1769
Georges Land sighted
Arrival Port Royal Bay
JULY 1769
Depart Otahite
AUGUST 1769
Crossed Tropick
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 1769
OCTOBER 1769
Arrived New Zealand
APRIL 1770
New Holland sighted
Botany Bay reached
AUGUST 1770
New Guinea Coast
SEPTEMBER 1770
Savu reached
SOME ACCOUNT OF THAT PART OF NEW HOLLAND NOW CALLED NEW SOUTH WALES
ACCOUNTS OF SAVU AND ISLANDS NEAR SAVU
SOME ACCOUNT OF PRINCES ISLAND
MARCH 1771
Table Bay
APRIL 1771
French Vessels
MAY 1771
Depart St Helens for England
After having waited in this place ten days, the ship, and everything belonging to me, being all that time in perfect readyness to sail at a moments warning, we at last got a fair wind, and this day at 3 O'Clock in the even weigd anchor, and set sail, all in excellent health and spirits perfectly prepard (in Mind at least) to undergo with Chearfullness any fatigues or dangers that may occur in our intended Voyage.
Wind still fair, but very light breezes; saw this Even a shoal of those fish which are particularly calld Porpoises by the seamen, probably the Delphinus Phocaena of Linnaeus, as their noses are very blunt.
Wind fair and a fine Breeze; found the ship to be but a heavy sailer, indeed we could not Expect her to be any other from her built, so are obligd to set down with this Inconvenience, as a nescessary consequence of her form; which is much more calculated for stowage, than for sailing.
Little wind today; in some sea water, which was taken on board to season a cask, observed a very minute sea Insect, which Dr Solander describd by the name of Podura marina. In the Evening very calm; with the small casting net took several specimens of Medusa Pelagica, whose different motions in swimming amus'd us very much: among the appendages to this animal we found also a new species of oniscus. We took also another animal, quite different from any we had Ever seen; it was of an angular figure, about 3 inches long and one thick, with a hollow passing quite through it. On one end was a Brown spot, which might be the stomach of the animal.
Four of these, the whole number that we took, adherd together when taken by their sides; so that at first we imagind them to be one animal, but upon being put into a glass of water they very soon separated and swam briskly about the water.
Wind foul: Morning employd in finishing the Drawings of the animals taken yesterday till the ship got so much motion that Mr Parkinson could not set to his Pencil; in the Evening wind still Fresher so much as to make the night very uncomfortable.
Wind still Foul, ship in violent motion, but towards Evening much more quiet: Now for the first time my Sea sickness left me, and I was sufficiently well to write.
Wind Freshend again this morn; observ'd about the Ship several of the Birds calld by the seamen Mother Careys chickens, Procellaria Pelagica Linn. which were thought by them to be a sure presage of a storm, as indeed it provd, for before night it blew so hard as to bring us under our Courses, and make me very sea sick again.
Still Blew, Mother Careys chickens had not yet left us, but towards night wind slackened so that we were again tolerably easy; by our reckoning we must make some part of the coast of Spain before Morning.
This Morn about 7 saw the coast of Gallicia between Cape Ortegal and Finisterre; weather tolerably fine, so that we could use the casting net, which brought up two kinds of Animals, different from any before taken; they came up in Clusters, both sorts indifferen[t]ly in each Cluster, tho much fewer of the Horned ones than of the others. They seem to [be] two species of one genus, but are not at all reducible to any genus hitherto describd.
Blew fresh this morn. We were employd all day in describing the animals taken yesterday; found them to be of a new genus and of the same with that taken on the 28 of August Calld the genus Dagysa from the likeness of one Species to a Gem. Towards Even wind fair Settled tolerably fine.
Calm today; we were employd in fishing with the casting net and were fortunate in taking several specimens of Dagysa saccata adhering together, sometimes to the Lengh of a yard or more, and shining in the water with very beautifull Colours; but another insect which we took today was possest of more beautiful Colouring than any thing in nature I have ever seen, hardly excepting gemms. He is of a new genus and calld [] of which we took another species who had no beauty to boast, but this which we called opalinum shone in the water with all the splendor and variety of colours that we observe in a real opal; he livd in the Glass of salt water in which he was put for examination several hours; darting about with great agility, and at every motion shewing an almost infinite variety of changeable colours. Towards the Evening of this day a new phaenomenon appeard, the sea was almost coverd with a small species of Crabbs Cancer depurator of Linnaeus, floating upon the surface of the water, and moving themselves with tolerable agility, as if the surface of the water and not the bottom was their Proper station. Here again as usual our casting net was of great service, we took with it as many as were wanted, and went to bed well contented with the Produce of the day.
I forgot to mention yesterday that two birds were caught in the rigging, who probably had come from Spain, as we were not then distant above 5 or 6 Leagues, this morning another was caught, and brought to me, but so weak that it dyed in my hand almost immediately; they were all three of the same species, and not describd by Linnaeus, we calld them Motacilla velificans, as they must be sailors who would venture themselves aboard a ship which is going round the world. But to make some balance to our good fortune now become too prevalent, a misfortune happned this morn, equaling almost the worst which our enemies could have wishd; the morn was calm and Richmond employd in searching for what should appear on the surface of the water, a shoal of dagysa's were observd and he Eagar to take some of them threw the cast-net fastned to nothing but his wrist, the string slippd from him and the net at once sunk into the profound never more to torment its inhabitants but Leaving us for some time intirely without a resource, plenty of animals coming past the ship, and no netts but in the hold, stowd under so many things that it was impossible even to hope for their being got out today at least, however an old hoop net was fastned to a fishing rod, and with it one new speces of Dagysa was caught and calld Lobata.
Fine and calm this morn, immence numbers of Dagysa Lobata floated by, and were taken by our new contrivance, some of them in clusters as many as 14 together, united by a Lobe on the underside. Towards the Middle of the day the sea was almost coverd with dagysa's of different kinds among which two intirely new ones were taken, rostrata and strumosa, but neither of these were observd hanging in clusters as most of the other Species had been, indeed whether from the badness of the new machine or their scarcity I cannot say; only one of rostrata and two of strumosa were taken. It is now time to give some account of the genus of Dagysa, of which there are already six species taken, all agreeing in many particulars vastly well but cheifly in this very singular one, that they have a hole at each end, which holes Communicate by a tube, often as large as the body of the animal, by the help of which they swim with some degree of activity when seperated from each other, for several sorts are seen most generaly Joind together, gemma more particularly which adhere in clusters of some hundreds irregularly shap'd; in the midst of these were generaly found a few specimens of cornuta, from which circamstance we may Judge that they are very nearly allied.
It seems singular that no naturalist before this time should have taken notice of thise animals as they abound so much where the ship now is, not twenty Leagues from the coast of Spain; from hence however great hopes may be formd, that the inhabitants of the deep have been but little examind, and as Dr Solander and my self shall have probably greater opportunity in the course of this voyage than any one has had before us, it is a very incouraging circumstance to hope that so large a feild of natural history has remaind almost untrod, even till this time, and that we may be able from this circumstance alone (almost unthought of when we embarkd in the undertaking) to add considerable Light to the science which we so eagerly Pursue.
This Evening a large quantity of the Carcinium opalinum which may be calld opal insect came under the ships stern, making the very sea appear with uncommon bea[u]ty, their colours appearing with vast brightness even at the depth of two or three fathoms, tho they are not more than three lines long and one broad.
On examining the Dagysa's which were taken yesterday, several small animals were found Lodgd in the hollow parts of their bodys, and some in the very substance of the flesh, which seems to be their food, as many of the dagysas were full of scars which had undoubtedly been the Lodgment of these animals some time before; upon a minute inspection they provd to be animals not to be class'd under any of Linnaeus's genera tho nearly related to Oniscus, from which Circumstance the name of Onidium was given to the new genus, and to them was added an animal taken the 28th of August and mentiond in the second Page by the name of Oniscus Macropthalmos.
In one circumstance these insects differ from any hitherto describd, and in that they all three agree, viz the having two Eyes joind together under one common membrane, without the least distinction or division between them, which circumstance alone seems a sufficient reason for constituting a new genus.
The wind was now fair and we went very pleasantly on towards our destind port, tho rather too fast for any natural Enquiries, for my own part I could well dispence with a much slower pace, but I fancy few in the ship, Dr Solander excepted, are of the same opinion, tho I beleive Every body envyed our easy contented countenances during the last Calm, which brought so much food to our pursuits.
Blew fresh today, but the wind was very fair so nobody complaind, nor would they was the wind much stronger, so impatient has the Calms and foul wind made every body; by the reckoning we were off Cape St Vincent so shall soon bid adieu to Europe for some time.
Since the northerly wind began to blow it has not varied a point, the Sea is now down and we go pleasantly on at the rate of about 6 Knotts; could any contrivance be found by the help of which new subjects of natual history could be taken Dr Solander and myself would be Quite happy, we are forc'd to be content; three days are now passd since any thing has been taken or indeed seen, except a stray turtle who swam by the ship about noon, but was left far behind before any instrument by which he might have been taken could possibly have been got to hand.
Today for the first time we dind in Africa, and took our leave of Europe for heaven alone knows how long, perhaps for Ever; that thought demands a sigh as a tribute due to the memory of freinds left behind and they have it; but two cannot be spard, twold give more pain to the sigher, than pleasure to those sighd for. Tis Enough that they are rememberd, they would not wish to be too much thought of by one so long to be seperated from them and left alone to the Mercy of winds and waves.
Wind fair but rather slackend upon us, nothing however was observ'd, we expected to have made Porto Santo tonight but did not.
This morn Porto Santo and Madeira were in full veiw, they were seen at day break, indeed we had a little overshot them; as the wind was rather scanty we had however no doubt of fetching in at night. Accordingly at ten tonight came to an anchor in Fonchiale bay.
This morn about 11 the product boat (as it is calld by English Sailors) which is the boat from the oficers of health who must give leave before any ships crew can land, came on board, and we immediately went on shore in the town of Fonchiale, the Capital of the Island, situate in Latitude 32:40 North, calld so from the Fennel which grows in plenty upon the rocks in its neighbourhood and which is calld Funcho in the Portugese Language. Here we immediately went to the house of the English Consul Mr Cheap, one of the first merchants in the place, where we were receivd with uncommon marks of civility; he insisted upon our taking possession of his house and living intirely with him during our stay which we did and were by him furnishd with every accomodation that we could wish. Leave was procurd by him for us to search the Island for whatever natural productions we might find worth taking notice of, people were also employd to procure for us fish and shells which we could not have spard time to have collected ourselves, horses and Guides were also got for Dr Solander and myself to carry us to any part of the Island which we might chuse to visit. But our very short stay which was only five Days inclusive made it impossible to go to any distance, so we contented ourselves with collecting as much as we could in the neighbourhood of the town, never going above three miles from it during our whole stay.
The season of the year was undoubtedly the worst for both plants and insects, being the hight of the vintage, when nothing is green in the countrey but just on the verge of small brooks, by which these vines are waterd; we made shift however to collect specimens of several plants, etc.: of which a catalogue follows as it is not worth while to mix them in the Journal, where they would take up much room.
The five days which we remained upon the Island were spent so exactly in the same manner, that it is by no means nescessary to divide them, I shall therefore only say, that in general we got up in the Morn, went out on our researches, retur[n]d to dine, and went out again in the Evening; one day however we had a visit from the Governor, of which we had notice before and were obligd to stay at home, so that unsought honour lost us very near the whole day, a very material part of the short time we were allowd to stay upon the Island: we however contrivd to revenge ourselves upon his excellency, by an Electrical machine which we had on board; upon his expressing a desire to see it we sent for it ashore, and shockd him full as much as he chose.
While at this place we were much indebted to Dr Heberden, the cheif Physitian of the Island, and brother to the Physitian of that name at London; he had for many years been an inhabitant of the Canaries and this Island, and had made several observations cheifly philosophical, some however were Botanical, describing the trees of the Island: of these he immediately gave us a copy, together with such specimens as he had in his possession, and indeed spard no pains to get for us such living specimens of such as could be procurd in flower.
We tryed here to learn what Species of wood it is which has been imported into England, and is now known to Cabinet makers by the name of Madeira mahogeny, but without much success, as we could not learn that any wood had been exported out of the Island by that name; the wood however of the tree calld here Vigniatico, Laurus indicus Linn. bidds fair to be the thing, it being of a fine grain and brown like mahogeny, from which it is dificult to distinguish it, which is well shewn at Dr Heberdens house where in a bookcase vigniatico and mahogeny were placd close by each other, and were only to be known asunder by the first being not quite so dark colourd as the other.
As much of the Island as we saw shewd evidently the signs of a volcano having some time or other possibly produced the whole; as we saw no one peice of stone which did not evidently shew signs of having been burnt, some very much, especialy the sand which was absolutely cinders. Indeed we did not see much of the countrey, but we were told that the whole was like the specimen we saw of it.
When you first aproach it from seaward it has a very beautifull appearance, the sides of the hills being intirely coverd with vineyards almost as high as the eye can distinguish, which make a constant appearance of verdure tho at this time nothing but the vines remaind green, the grass and herbs being intirely burnt up except near the sides of the rills of water by which the vines are waterd, and under the shade of the vines themselves; tho these very few Species of plants were in perfection the greater part being burnt up.
The people here in general seem to be as idle, or rather uninformd a set as I ever yet saw; all their instruments, even those with which their wine, the only article of trade in the Island is made, are perfectly simple and unimprovd. Their method is this: the Grapes are put into a square wooden vessel, of dimensions according to the size of the vineyard to which it belongs, into which the servants get (having taken off their stockins and Jackets) and with their feet and Elbows squeeze out as much of the Juice as they can; the stalks etc. are then collected, tyed together with a rope and put under a square peice of wood which is pressd down by a Leaver, to the other end of which is fastned a stone that may be raisd up at pleasure by a screw; by this way and this only they make their wine, and by this way probably Noah made his when he had newly planted the first vineyard after the general destruction of mankind and their arts; tho it is not impossible that he might have used a better, if he rememberd the ways he had seen us'd before the flood.
It was with great dificulty that some (and not as yet all) of them were persuaded not long ago to graft their vines and by this means bring all the fruit of a vineyard to be of one sort, tho before the vine which it producd had been spoild by different sorts of bad ones which were nevertheless sufferd to grow, and taken as much care of as the best, because they added to the quantity of the wine. Yet were they perfectly acquainted with the use of grafting, and constantly practisd it on their chestnut trees, by which means they were brought to bear sooner much than they would have done had they been allowd to remain unimprovd.
Wheel carriages I saw none in the Island of any sort or kind, indeed their roads are so intolerably bad that if they had them they could scarcely make use of them: they have however some horses and mules, wonderfully clever in traveling upon them, notwithstanding which they bring to town every drop of wine they make upon mens heads, in vessells made of goat skins. The only imitation of a carriage they have, is a board a little hollowd out in the middle, to one end of which a pole is tyed by a strap of whitleather, the whole machine comeing about as near the perfection of a European cart as an Indian canoe does to a boat with this they move the pipes of wine about the town. Indeed I suppose they would never have made use even of this had not the English introd[u]ced vessels to put their wine in which were rather too large to be carried by hand, as they used to do every thing else.
A speech of their late governeur is recorded here, which shews in what light they are lookd upon even by the Portugese, (themselves I beleive far behind all the rest of Europe, except possibly the Spaniards): it was very fortunate said he that this Island was not Eden in which Adam and Eve dwelt before the fall, for had it been so the inhabitants here would never have been induc'd to put on Cloaths; so much are they resolvd in every particular to follow exactly the paths of their forefathers.
Indeed were the people here only tolerably industrious, there is scarcely any Luxury which might [not] be produc'd that either Europe or the Indies afford, owing to the great difference of Climate observable in ascending the hills; this we experien[c]d in a visit to Dr Heberden, who lives about two miles from the town, we left the Thermometer when we set out at 74 and found it there at 66. Indeed the hills produce almost spontaneously vast plenty of Wallnutts, chestnutts, and apples, but in the town you find some few plants natives of both the Indies, whose flourishing state put it out of all doubt that were they taken any care of they might have any quantity of them. Of these I mention some: the Banana tree, (Musa sapientum Linn.) in great abundance; the guava (Psidium pyriferum Linn.) not uncommon; the pine apple, Bromelia ananas Linn. of this I saw some very healthy plants in the provadores Garden; Mango, Mangifera indica Linn. one plant also of this in the same garden Bearing fruit every year; Cinnamon, Laurus cinnamomum Linn. very healthy plants of this I saw on the top of Dr Heberdens house at Fonchiale, which had stood there through the winter without any kind of Care having been taken of them. These without mentioning any more seem very sufficient to shew that the tenderest plants might be cultivated here without any trouble; yet the indolence of the inhabitants is so great, that even that is too much for them; indeed the policy of the English here is to hinder them as much as possible from growing any thing themselves except what they find their account in taking in exchange for Corn, tho the people might with much Less trouble and expence grow the corn themselves. What corn grows here, which indeed is not much, is of a most excellent quality, Large graind, and very fine; their meat also is very good, mutton, pork, and beef more especialy, of which what we had on board the ship was agreed by all of us to be very little inferior to our own; tho we Englishmen value ourselves not a little on our peculiar excellence in that production. The fat of this was white like the fat of mutton, yet the meat Brown, and coarse graind as ours, tho much smaller.
The town of Fonchiale is situated at the Bottom of the Bay, very ill Built, tho larger than the size of the Island seems to deserve. The houses of the bettermost people are in general large but those of the poorer sort very small, and the streets very narrow and uncommonly ill pavd. The Churches here have abundance of ornaments, cheifly bad pictures and figures of their favourite saints in lac'd cloaths; the Convent of the Franciscans indeed which we went to See had very little ornament; but the neatness with which those fathers kept everything was well worthy of commendation, especialy their infirmary, the contrivance of which deserves to be taken particular notice of; it was a long room, on one side of which were windows, and an altar for the convenience of administering the sacrament to the sick; on the other were the wards, each just capable of containing a bed, and lind with white duch tiles; to every one of these was a door communicating with a gallery which ran paralel to the great room, so that any of the sick might be supplied with whatever they wanted without disturbing their neighbours.
In this Convent was a curiosity of a very singular nature; a small chapel whose whole lining, wainscote, and ceiling, was intirely compos'd of human bones, two large thigh bones across, and a skull in each of the openings. Among these was a very singular anatomical curiosity, a skull in which one side of the Lower jaw was perfectly and very firmly fastned to the upper by an ossification, so that the man whoever he was must have livd some time without being able to open his mouth, indeed it was plain on the other side that a hole had been made by beating out his teeth, and in some measure damaging his Jaw bone, by which alone he must have receivd his nourishment.
I must not leave these good fathers without mentioning a thing which does great credit to their civility, and at the same time shews that they are not bigots to their religion: we visited them on Thursday Even just before their supper time; they made many apologies that they could not ask us to sup, not being prepard; but said they, if you will come tomorrow, notwithstanding it is fast with us, we will have a turkey roasted for you.
There are here, beside friarys, 3 or 4 houses of nunns. To one of these (Sa'nta Clara) we went, and indeed the ladies did us the honour to express great pleasure in seeing us there; they had heard that we were great Philosophers, and expected much from us, one of the first questions that they askd was, when it would thunder; they then desird to know if we could put them in a way of finding water in their convent, which it seems they were in want of; but notwishstanding our answers to these questions were not quite so much to the purpose as they expected, they did not at all cease their civilities, for while we stayd, which was about half an hour, I am sure there was not the fraction of a second in which their tongues did not go at an uncommonly nimble rate.
It remains now that I should say something of the Island in general, and then take my leave of Madeira till some other opportunity offers of visiting it again, for the climate is so fine that any man might wish it was in his power to live here under the benefits of English laws and liberty.
The hills here are very high, much higher than any one would imagine, Pico Ruevo the highest is 5068 ft which is much higher than any land that has been measured in Great Britain; indeed as I hinted before the whole Island has probably been the production of a Volcano, notwishstanding which its fertility is amazing, all the sides of the hills are coverd with vines to a certain hight, above which are woods of chestnut and pine of immense extent; and above them forests of wild timber of kinds not known in Europe, which amply supply the inhabitants with whatever they may want. Among these some there were whose flowers we were not able to procure and consequently could not settle their Genera, particularly those calld by the Portugese Mirmulano and Pao branco, both which, and especialy the first, from the Beauty of their leaves promise to be a great ornament to our European gardens.
The inhabitants here are supposd to be about 80,000; and from the town of Fonchiale (its custom house I mean) the King of Portugal receives 20000 pounds a year, after having paid the Governor and all expences of every kind, which may serve to shew in some degree the consequence which this little Island is of to the crown of Portugal; was it in the hands of any other people in the world its value might easily be doubled, from the excellence of its climate capable of bearing any kind of crop, a circumstance which the Portugese do not make the least advantage of.
The Coin current here is intirely Spanish, for the Balance of trade with Lisbon being in disfavour of this Island all the Portugese money naturaly goes there, to prevent which Spanish money is allowd to pass: it is of three denominations, Pistereens, Bitts, and ½ bitts; the first worth about 1 shilling, the 2nd 6 pence, the third 3 pence; they have also Portugese money of Copper, but so scarce that I did not in my stay there see a single peice.
This Evening every thing being ready for sea, we went on board, and at 8 o'Clock got under way with a very light breeze.
Light Breezes all day, without any event worth writing about.
Still almost calm, which gave us an opportunity of taking with the casting nett a most beautifull species of Medusa, of a colour equaling if not exceeding the finest ultramarine; it was describd and calld Medusa azurea.
This morn wind foul, saw however some rocks call'd in the old charts Salvages which lay to the northward of the Canarys.
No land in sight this morn, towards noon almost calm, many fish were about the ship, but our fishermen could not contrive to catch any of them.
This morn we were calld up very early to see the pike of Teneriffe, which now for the first time appeard at a vast distance much above the clouds (I mean those which form a bank near the Horizon); the hill itself was so faint, that no man who was not used to the appearance of land at a great distance could tell it from a cloud, it soon however appeard something clearer and a sketch was made of it.
While we were engagd in looking at the hill a fish was taken which was describ'd and called Scomber serpens; the seamen said they had never seen such a one before except the first lieutenant, who rememberd to have taken one before just about these Islands; Sr Hans Sloane in his Passage out to Jamaica also took one of these fish which he gives a figure of, Vol.1,T.1, f.2.
The Pike continued in sight almost all day, tho sometimes obscurd by the clouds; at sunset however its appearance was most truely elegant, the rays of the sun remaining upon it sometime after it was set and the other land quite Black, and giving it a warmth of colour not to be express'd by painting.
This Morn the Pike appeard very plain and immensely above the clouds, as may well be imagin'd by its hight which Dr Heberden of Madeira who has been himself upon it communicated to us, 15,396 feet. The Dr also says that tho there is no eruption of visible fire from it, yet heat issues from the chinks near the top so strongly that a person who putts his hand upon these is scalded; from him we receivd among many other favours some salt which he supposes to be the true natron or nitrum of the ancients, and some native sulphur exceedingly pure, both which he collected himself on the top of the mountain, where large quantities, especialy of the salt, are found on the surface of the Earth.
Wind continued to blow much as it had done so we were sure we were well in the trade; now for the first time we saw plenty of flying fish, whose bea[u]ty especialy when seen from the cabbin windows is beyond imagination, their sides shining like burnishd silver; when seen from the Deck they do not appear to such advantage as their backs are then presented to the view, which are dark colourd.
Went as usual and as we expect to go these next two months; flying fish are in great plenty about the ship. About one today we crossd the tropick, the night most intolerably hot, the Thermometer standing all night at 78 in the cabbin tho every window was open.
About one this morn a flying fish was brought into the cabbin, the first that had been taken; it flew aboard, I suppose chasd by some other fish, or maybe merely because he did not see the ship; at breakfast another was brought, which had flown into Mr Green the Astronomers Cabbin. This whole day we saild at the rate of 7 knotts, sometimes a fathom or two more the wind being rather stronger than it usualy is in the trade.
Wind rather slackend; three birds were today about the ship, a swallow, to all appearance the same as our European one, and two motacillas, about night fall one of the latter was taken; about 11 a shoal of Porpoises came about the ship, and the fisgig was soon thrown into one of them but would not hold.
This morn calm; employd in drawing and describing the bird taken yesterday, calld it Motacilla avida; while the drawing was in hand it became very familiar, so much so that we had a brace made for it in hope to keep it alive; as flies were in amazing abundance onboard the ship we had no fear of plentiful supply of provision.
About noon a young shark was seen from the Cabbin windows following the ship, who immediately took a bait and was caught on board; he provd to be the Squalus Charcharias of Linn[aeus] and assisted us in clearing up much confusion which almost all authors had made about that species; with him came on board 4 sucking fish, echineis remora Linn. who were preserved in spirit. Notwistanding it was twelve O'Clock before the shark was taken, we made shift to have a part of him stewd for dinner, and very good meat he was, at least in the opinion of Dr Solander and myself, tho some of the Seamen did not seem to be fond of him, probably from some prejudice founded on the species sometimes feeding on human flesh.
This Morn at day break made the Island of Bonavista, one of the Cape Verde Islands: Mr Buchan employd in taking views of the land; Mr Parkinson busy in finishing the sketches made of the shark yesterday.
This Evening the other Motacilla avida was brought to us, it differd scarce at all from the first taken, except that it was something larger; his head however gave us some good, by supplying us with near twenty specimens of ticks, which differd but little from the acarus vicinus Linn; it was however described and calld Motacilla.
This Morn Bonetos were in great plenty about the ship, we were calld up early to see one that had been struck, found it to be the Scomber Pelamis Linn., had a drawing made of it; I confess however that I was a good deal disapointd, expecting to find the animal much more bea[u]tifull than it provd, tho its colours were extreemly lively, especialy the blue lines on the Back (which equald at least any ultramarine); yet the name, and accounts I had heard from all who had seen them, made me expect an animal of a much greater variety of colour, this consisting of no other than blue lines on the back crossing each other, a gold and purple changeable on the sides, and white with black lines on the bottom of the sides and belly.
After having examind and drawn the animal we proceeded to disect him, and in the course of the operation were much pleasd by the infinite strength we observd in every part of him, specialy the stomack, the coats of which were uncommonly strong especialy about the sp[h]incter, or extremity by which the digested meat is discharged; this I suppose is intended to crush and render usefull the scales and bones of fishes which this animal must continualy swalow without seperating them from the flesh.
From the inside of its scales we took a small animal who seemd to be a louse (if I may so call it) as it certainly stuck to him and preyd upon the Juices which it extra[c]ted by sucktion, probably much to his disquiet; it provd to be monoculus piscinus Linn. which Baster has given a figure of in his Opera subcessive, but has by some unlucky accident mistaken the head to be the tail, and the tail the head, and the ovaria for antennae.
In the inside of the fish were also found two animals which preyd upon him, one in his very flesh tho near the membrane which covers the intestines, Fasciola Pelamines Mss, the other in the stomach sipunculus piscium Mss.
This morn two swallows were about the ship, tho we must now be 60 Leagues at least from any land, at night one of them is taken and proved to be Hirundo domestica Linn.
This morn the other swallow was found dead upon the deck; now for the first time we have lost the trade, and expected calm and squally weather till we shall cross the line.
The trade had now lasted us pretty free from squalls or calms these [] days it has been in general between [] but ever since we have been in it the air has been uncommonly damp, every thing more than usualy liable to mould, and all Iron work to rust, the air has seldom been Clear, but a haize in it which was even perceiveable to the human frame.
Today quite calm, I went out in a boat and took dagysa strumosa, medusa porpita, the same which we before calld asurea, mimus volutator, and cimex [] who runns upon the water here in the same manner as C. Lacustris does on our ponds in England. Towards even two small fish were taken under the stern, they were following a shirt which was towing and showd not the least signs of fear, so that they were taken with a landing net without the least difficulty. Balistes monoceros Linn.
Weather pretty good, at night a squall with Lightning and rain, another swallow came to the ship today and was taken with the snippers as soon as he went to roost.
Blew fresh this morn with heavy rain; towards noon five swallows came on board and were taken at roosting time, and provd like all we have taken before to be H. domestica Linn.
This morn calm; went out in the boat and took what is calld by the Seamen a Portugese man of war, Holothuria Physalis Linn; also Medusa velella L. onidium spinosum Mss, Diodon Erinaceus Mss, dagysa vitrea Mss, Helix Janthina Linn,--violacea Mss and procellaria Oceanica Mss. The Holothuria proved to be one of the most bea[u]tifull sights I had ever seen, it consisted of a small bladder in shape much like the air bladder of fishes, from the bottom of which descended a number of strings of bright blue and red, some three or four feet in length which if touchd stung the person who touchd them in the same manner as nettles, only much stronger: on the top of this Bladder was a membrane which he turnd either one way or the other as the wind blew to receive it, this was veind with pink in an uncommonly beautifull manner, in short the whole together was one of the most beautifull sights I have seen among the mollusca, tho many of them are beautifull.
The floating shells H. Janthina and violacea from their particularity deserve also to be mentiond, they are found floating on the top of the water by means of a small cluster of Bubbles filld with air, which are composd of a tenacious slimey substance, not easily parting with its contents; these keep him suspended on the surface of the water and serve as a hiding for his Eggs, and it is probable that he never goes down to the bottom, or willingly comes near any shore, as his shell is of so brittle a construction that few fresh water snails are so thin.
Every shell contains within it about a teaspoonfull of Liquid, which it easily discharges on being touched, this is of a most beautifull red purple colour and easily dies linnen clothes; it may be well worth inquiry whether or not this is the purpura of the ancients as the shell is certainly found in the Mediterranean. We have not yet taken a sufficient quantity of the shells to try the experiment, probably we shall do soon.
Procellaria oceanica differs very little from P. pelagica Linn, but from his place of abode so far south and some small difference in plumage it is more than likely that he is different in species.
A fine Breze today; employd in figuring etc. what was taken yesterday.
This morn a shark calld us out of our bedds, and was soon hookd, but as soon broke his hold and went off: at noon went out in the boat but found nothing on the surface of the water; on returning home however found on the sterm of the ship two new species of Lepas vittata and midas, they were both sticking to the bottom in company with the anatifera, of which there was great abundance. After dinner calld upon deck by another shark, who had been lately wounded by a harpoon, but he was two cunning after his misfortune to bite at our baits, which we much Lamented as he had sucking fish upon him that were quite white, probably a species not yet describd.
Went out in the boat today, took plenty of Helix Janthina and some few of violacea, shot the black toed gull of Penn. Zool. It had not yet been describd according to Linnaeus's system, so calld it Larus crepidatus; its food here seems to be cheifly Helixes which appeard probable at least, on account of its dung being of a lively red colour, much like that which was procurd from the shells.
I was drove home from this excursion by a very heavy squall of rain, which intirely wetted me through long before it was possible to return to the ship, however I receivd no other harm from the ducking than the present inconvenience of being so thoroughly wet. The remainder of today was very squally, with much rain; indeed it has been so ever since we lost the trade, and the people who have been here before say that it is generaly so in these latitudes; I can liken it to nothing so much as April in England, when it is very showery, the weather is never certain for two hours, or indeed half the time, tho calms spend much the greatest part of our time in idleness.
Today much like yesterday, very squally; saw a dolphin, and admired the infinite beauty of his colour as he swam in the water, but in vain, he would not give us even a chance of taking him.
A shark, squalus carcharias Linn. taken this morn, and with him two pilot fish; at noon calm, I went out in the boat and took several Blubbers. The pilot fish Gasterosteus ductor Linn. is certainly as bea[u]tyfull a fish as can be imagind: it is of a light blue with cross streaks of darker colour; it is wonderful to see them about a Shark, swimming round him without expressing the least signs of fear; what their motive for doing so is I cannot guess as I cannot find that they get any provision by it, or any other emolument, except possibly the company of the shark keeps them free from the attacks of Dolphins or other large fish of prey, who would otherwise devour them.
The blubbers taken today were Beroe Labiata and Marsupialis Mss, the first of which made a pretty appearance in the water, by reason of its swimmers, which line its sides like fringes, and are of a changeable fire colour; Callirhoe bivia Mss, the most lifeless lump of Jelly I have seen, it scarcely seems to be possessd of life but for one or two motions we saw it make.
Calm this Morn; a shark was taken, but not one pilot fish attended him, which is rather uncommon as they seldom are without a shoal of from ten to twenty. At noon I went in the boat, and took the Sallee man Phyllodoce velella Linn. who is a Sailor tho inferior in size to the Portugese man of war, yet not without its beauty, cheifly from the charming blue of its bottom; its sail is transparent but not moveable, so it trusts itself to the mercy of the winds without being able to turn to windward as the Portugese man of war maybe can? We saw several of the latter today, and observd many small fish under their tentacula who seemd to shelter there as if with its stings it could defend them from large enemies.
Calm today but so squally and rainy that I dar'd not venture out with the boat.
Ventur'd out today, but found the surface of the water so ruffled that nothing at all floated upon it, I had the good fortune however to see a bird of the shearwater kind which I shot, and it provd to be not describd; it was about as large as the common but differd from it in being whiter, especialy about the face: calld it Procellaria crepidata, as its feet were like the gulls shot last week, black without but white near the leggs.
A large shoal of fish were all this day under the shipp's stern, playing about, but refusing to take bait; we however contrivd to take one of them with a fish gigg, which provd not describd; it was in make and appearance like a Carp, weighing near two pounds, its sides were ornamented with narrow yellow lines and its finns almost intirely coverd with scales: calld it Chaetodon cyprinaceus.
A fine breeze of wind started up last night which held us all day, so I found it impossible to go out in the boat; tonight however to make these 24 hours not intirely unprofitable I had the opportunity of seeing a Phenomenon I had never before met with, a lunar rainbow which appeard about ten O'Clock very faint and almost or quite without colour, so that it could be tracd by little More than an appearance which lookd like shade on a cloud.
This morn went out in the boat but caught no one thing, I had never been before so unfortunate. In the Evening a breeze of wind sprung up from SE by S which makes us hope we had got the S.E. trade.
Wind continued to blow fresh so we had little doubt of the reality of yesterdays hopes. This evening trying as I have often (foolishly no doubt) done to exercise myself by playing tricks with two ropes in the Cabbin I got a fall which hurt me a good deal and alarmd me more, as the blow was on my head, and two hours after it I was taken with sickness at my stomack which made me fear some ill consequence.
Today thank God I was much better and easd of all apprehensions, the wind continuing fair and I had given over all thoughts of boat expeditions for some time at least.
Quite well today, employd in describing and attending the Draughtsmen.
Trade continues. Today the cat killd our bird M. Avida who had lived with us ever since the 29th of Septr intirely on the flies which he caught for himself; he was hearty and in high health so that probably he might have livd a great while longer had fate been more kind.
Trade had got more to the Southward that it usualy had been, which was unlucky for me as I proposd to the Captain to touch for part of a day at least at the Island of Ferdinand Norronha, which he had no objection to if we could fetch it: that however seemd very uncertain. This Evening we saw 6 or 7 large fish of the whale kind which the Seamen calld Grampuses tho I think they were very different from the fish commonly so calld; they were however Certainly of the whale kind and blew throug[h] two? pipes on the top of their heads. They had heads smaller and rounder than those fish in general have and very low back finns and very small tails; thus much was all that I could see as they never came within two cables lengh of the ship.
Trade today was still more to the Southward, almost due South, so that we tackd and stood to the eastward lest we should fall in with the coast of Brazil to the Northward of Cape Frio.
Wind today as fair as we could wish, ship layd up so well that it renewd our hopes of touching at the Island.
About noon today we experiencd what the Seamen call a white squall, that is a gust of wind which came upon us quite unawares, unattended with a cloud as squalls in general are and therefore took us quite unprepard; it was however very slight so no ill consequence ensued except Mr Parkinson and his potts going to leward, which diverted us more than it hurt him.
This morn about 8 O'Clock crossed the Aequinoctial line in about 33 degrees West Longitude from Greenwich, at the rate of four knotts which our seamen said was an uncommonly good breeze, the Thermometer standing at 29. (The Thermometers used in this voyage are two of Mr Birds making after Farenheights scale, which seldom differ above a degree from each other and that not till they are as high as 80, in which case the medium between the two instruments is set down.) This Evening the ceremony of ducking the ships company was performed as always customary on crossing the line, when those who have crossd it before Claim a right of ducking all that have not, the whole of the ceremony I shall describe.
About dinner time a list was brought into the cabbin containing the names of every body and thing aboard the ship, in which the dogs and catts were not forgot; to this was affixd a petition, sign'd 'the ships company,' desiring leave to examine every body in that List that it might be know[n] whether or not they had crossd the line before. This was immediately granted; every body was then calld upon the quarter deck and examind by one of the lieutenants who had crossd, he markd every name either to be duckd or let off according as their qualifications directed. Captn Cooke and Doctor Solander were on the Black list, as were my self my servants and doggs, which I was oblig'd to compound for by giving the Duckers a certain quantity of Brandy for which they willingly excusd us the ceremony.
Many of the Men however chose to be duckd rather than give up 4 days allowance of wine which was the price fixd upon, and as for the boys they are always duckd of course; so that about 21 underwent the ceremony which was performd thus:
A block was made fast to the end of the Main Yard and a long line reved through it, to which three Cross peices of wood were fastned, one of which was put between the leggs of the man who was to be duckd and to this he was tyed very fast, another was for him to hold in his hands and the third was over his head least the rope should be hoisted too near the block and by that means the man be hurt. When he was fas[t]ned upon this machine the Boatswain gave the command by his whistle and the man was hoisted up as high as the cross peice over his head would allow, when another signal was made and immediately the rope was let go and his own weight carried him down, he was then immediately hoisted up again and three times served in this manner which was every mans allowance. Thus ended the diversion of the day, for the ducking lasted till almost night, and sufficiently diverting it certainly was to see the different faces that were made on this occasion, some grinning and exulting in their hardiness whilst others were almost suffocated and came up ready enough to have compounded after the first or second duck, had such proceeding been allowable.
It is now time that I should say something of the climate and degree of heat since crossing the tropick, as we have been for some time within the bounds which were supposd by the ancients to be uninhabitable on account of their heat.
Almost immediately on crossing the tropick the air became sensibly much damper than usual, tho not materialy hotter, the thermometer then in general stood from 80 to 82. The nearer we approachd to the calms still the damper every thing grew, this was perceivable even to the human body and very much so, but more remarkably upon all kinds of furniture: every thing made of Iron rusted so fast that the knives in peoples pockets became almost useless and the razors in cases not free. All kinds of Leather became mouldy, Portfolios and truncks coverd with black leather were almost white, soon after this mould adheerd to almost every thing, all the books in my Library became mouldy so that they were obligd to be wiped to preserve them. About this time we came into the calms which we met with earlier than usual; the thermometer was then at 83 and we sufferd from the heat and damp together. Bathing however kept me in perfect health, tho many of the ship[s] company were ill of bilious complaints which however were but of short duration.
This continued till we got the S.E. trade, when or a little before the glass fell to 88 and soon to 78 and 79, but the dampness continued yet; to that I cheifly attribute the ill success of the Electrical experiments of which I have wrote an account on separate papers that the different experiments may appear at one view.
The air during the whole time sin[c]e we crossed the tropick and indeed sometime before has been nearly of the same temperature throughout the 24 hours, the Thermometer seldom rising above a degree during the time the sun is above the horizon. The windows of the cabbin have been open without once being shut ever since we left Madeira.
Last night and today the weather has been squally, wind rather fresh but keeping very much to the Southward; great plenty of flying fish have been about the ship few or none of which have been seen since we left the N.E. trade.
Fine weather but Wind rather too much to the Southward. We are today nearly in the latitude of the Island of Fernand de Norhona, so that I am not without hopes of making it if rightly laid down; night however put an end to our hopes for the present at least, and left us in no very agreable situation as shoals and foul ground is laid down all round the Islands.
Fine breeze today, our hopes of seeing the Island were again renewd but without success, so at night we judge ourselves to be past it and that the longitude is wrong laid down.
Wind East very pleasant, we now gave up all thoughts of the Island. This Evening the sea appeard uncommonly bea[u]tifull, flashes of light coming from it perfectly resembling small flashes of lightning, and these so frequent that sometimes 8 or ten were visible at the same moment; the seamen were divided in their acco[u]nts some assuring us that it proceeded from fish who made the light by agitating the salt water, as they calld it, in their darting at their prey, while others said that they had often seen them and knew them to be nothing but blubbers (Medusas). This made us very Eager to procure some of them, which at last we did one by the help of the landing net. They prov'd to be a species of Medusa which when brought on board appeard like metal violently heated, emitting a white light; on the surface of this animal a small Lepas was fixd exactly the colour of it, which was almost transparent not unlike thin starch in which a small quantity of blue is disolv'd. In taking these animals three or 4 species of Crabbs were taken also but very small, one of which gave light full as much as a glow-worm in England tho the Creature was not so large by 10/9ths; indeed the sea this night seemd to abound with light in an uncommon manner, as if every inhabitant of it furnishd its share, which might have been the case tho none kept that property after being brought out of the water except these two.
This Morn employd in Examining the things caught last night, which being taken by the light of our lamps (for the wind which blows in at the windows always open will not suffer us to burn candles) we could hardly then distinguish into genera, much less into species, had the good fortune to find that they were all quite new. Calld them Medusa pellucens, Lepas pellucens,[], Clio [], Cancer fulgens and Cancer amplectens, but we had the misfortune to loose two more species of Crabbs overboard by the tumbling of a glass overboard in which they were containd.
In the Evening the Sea was lighted in the same manner as it was last night only not near so strongly; we renewd however our endeavours to take some of the light carriers, not without success as two new species of Crabbs were taken one of which was very singular.
Nothing to be done today, found however that the crabbs taken yesterday were both new, calld them vitreus and Crassicornis.
A shoal of small fish were today under our stern who attended the ship for some time; she had however too much way through the water for our instruments so we could not take any of them.
This day was quite void of Events, the wind however was very fair and we now approachd the place where we were next to refresh ourselves apace.
This morn the sun was immediately over our heads notwiths[t]anding which the Thermometer was no higher than 77. Since we left the calms under the line the weather has grown cooler by gradual degrees, now we reckon it quite moderate after having felt the heat of 83 so lately.
This Even I for the first time (for other people had seen them much before) observd two Light spots in the heavens apearing much like the milky way, one the largest and brightest Bore S. by E. the other about South.
Still as we got more to the westward the wind became more favourable, today it was almost aft and has been all along creeping to the northward.
The thermometer kept still gradualy falling as the wind got more to the northward, which appears odd as the North wind should now be the warm wind; we were not yet however enough to the Southward to find much alteration. Wind this morn was North-east, at noon North by west, between this place and mid channel it has changd from South by East. The Trade being to the Northward upon this coast has been observd long ago, tho I question whether our navigators are sufficiently apprisd of it. Piso in his Natural history of the Brasils says that the winds along shore are constantly to the Northward from October to March and to the southward from March to October. Dampier also who certainly had as much experience as most men says the same thing, advising ships outward bound to keep to the westward where they are almost certain to find the Trade more Eastward than in mid channel, where it sometimes is due South or within ½ a point of it as we ourselves experienced.
Today light winds and very pleasant weather, the Thermometer was never above 76. Towards evening the colour of the water was observd to change upon which we sounded and found ground at 32 fathom; the lead was cast three times between 6 and 10 without finding a foot difference in the depth or quality of the bottom, which was incrusted with coral; we supposd this to be the tail of a great shoal laid down in all our charts by the name of Albrolhos, on which Ld Anson struck soundings in his outward bound passage.
This morn at four no ground with 100 Fathoms of Line. About noon long ranges of a yellowish colour appeard upon the sea, many of them very large, one (the largest) might be a mile in lengh and 3 or 400 yards wide. The seamen in general affirmd roundly that they were the spawn of fishes and that they had often seen the same appearance before; upon taking up some of the water so coloured we found it to be causd by innumerable small atoms, each pointed at the end and of a yellowish colour, none of them above a quarter of a line in lengh; in the microscope they appeard to be fasciculi of small fibres interwove one within the other, not unlike the nidi of some Phryganeas which we call caddices. What they were or for what purposes designd we could not even guess, nor so much as distinguish whether their substance was animal or vegetable.
At day break today we made the Land which Provd to be the Continent of S. America in Lat. 21.16; about ten we saw a fishing boat who told us that the countrey we saw belongd to the Captainship of Espirito Santo.
Doctor Solander and myself went on board this boat in which were 11 men (9 of whom were blacks) who all fishd with lines. We bought of them the cheif part of their cargo consisting of Dolphins, two kinds of large Pelagick Scombers, Sea Bream and the fish calld in the West Indies Welshman, for which they made us pay 19 shillings and Sixpence. We had taken Spanish silver with us which we imagind was the currency of the Continent, we were therefore not a little surprizd that they askd us for English shillings and preferrd two which we by accident had to the Pistereens, tho they after some words took them also. The Business of these people seemd to be going a good distance from land and catching large fish, which they salted in bulk in a place in the middle of their boat made for that purpose; in this place was about 2 Quintals of fish laid in salt which they offerd to sale for 16 shillings, and would doubtless have taken half the money had we been inclind to buy them, but fresh provisions was all we wanted and the fresh fish they had which we bought servd the whole ships company.
Their provision for the Sea consisted of a cask of water and a bag of the flour of Cassada which they call Farinha de Pao or wooden flour, a very proper name for it which indeed tastes more like powderd chipps than any thing else.
Their method of drinking out of their cask of water was truely primitive and pleasd me much. The cask was large, as broad as the boat and exactly fitted a place in the Ballast made for it, they consequently could not get at the bottom of it to put in a tap by which the water might be drawn out. To remedy this dificulty they made use of a cane about three feet long hollow and open at each end; this the man who wanted to drink desired his neighbour to fill for him, which he did by putting it into the cask, and laying the palm of his hand over the uppermost hole hinderd the water from running out of the other, to which the drinker applyd his mouth and the other taking off his hand lett the liquor run into the drinkers mouth till he was satisfied.
Soon after we came on board a Sphynx was taken which provd to be quite a new one, and a small bird also who was the Tanagra Jacarini of Linn; it seemd however from Linnaeus description as well as Edwards's and Brissons that neither of them had seen the Bird which was in reality a Loxia nitens.
The fish Brought on board provd to be Scomber anxia and Falcatus, Coryphoena Hipparis Sparus pagrus and Sciaena rubens; the second and last not being before describd we calld them by these names.
Afternoon the wind came about South and South by East and it soon came on to blow fresh which we were not at all accustomd to, so we Boarded it along shore without gaining much.
This morn wind continued South and South by west but is more moderate, but still more sea than we should chuse were we directors of the winds and waves.
We however stood in with the land till we found ourselves in a large bay the shores of which were very flat; in the middle of this bay were some large hills which lay far inland and made the prospect very remarkable, as expressd in the view. At this time we were by guess within five miles of the shore and our water had decreasd gradualy till we had less than five fathom; it was about four in the Evening so our Captain thought proper to put about and stand off to sea; in the Evening the wind freshend a little but was not near so troublesome as last night.
Wind more moderate this morn; we stood in with the land and made it nearly in the same place as we left it last night, our soundings being from 15 to 10 fathoms.
After dinner the wind came more to the Eastward and freshend, and little peices of Seaweed now came floating by the ship which we took and it provd to be Sargaso fucus natans, which is generaly supposd to increase upon the surface of the sea in the same manner as duck weed Lemna does on fresh water without having any root; this however plainly shewd that it had been rooted in the Coral rock on the bottom, as two specimens particularly had large lumps of the coral still adhering to their bottoms. Among the weed we got were some few animals but scarcely worth mentioning, one Balistes but quite a fry so young that it was impossible to referr it to its species; a worm also was in it which provd to be Neireis pelagica.
In the course of this night we ran over a small bank on which the water suddenly shoald to 7 fathom and kept thereabouts for some time, it however deepend gradualy.
Light breezes to day, the wind much more fair than it has been so that we began to get to the Southward. The Thermometer today was no more than 72, so that we felt cold or cool at least, tho we could [not] prevail on ourselves to shut the cabbin windows as we are soon to come into much warmer weather.
Just before dark the Land was seen ahead which we supposed to be an Island off Cape Frio so we hoped to be the lengh of Cape Frio by tomorrow morn.
This morn we were abreast of the land which proved as we thought last night to be the Island just without Cape Frio, which is calld in some maps the Isle of Frio; the wind was fair and we passd it with a pleasant Breeze hoping tomorrow to get into the harbour. About noon we saw the hill calld Sugar Loaf which is just by the harbours mouth, but it was a long way off yet so there were no hopes of reaching it this night.
The shore from Cape Frio to this place has been one uninterruptd beach of the whitest Colour I ever saw which they tell me is a white sand.
This Evening wind still continued fair but very little, we now saw the Sugar Loaf very plain but could not tonight reach it, so shortend sail; we had seen for some time a small vessel under the land which seemd to steer into the harbour as well as we.
The Land all along this Coast has been exceedingly high inland except in the bay mentiond on the 7th: the mountains seen now about Rio Janeiro were immensely high so that some of our people compared them with the Pike of Tenerife, tho I do not myself think they deserve a comparison so much higher is the Pike. Notwithstanding the hills are high and begin to rise near the shore the beach is sandy and appears to be of a firm sand.
In the Course of this Evening we aproachd very near the Land and found it very cold, to our feelings at least; the Thermometer at ten O'Clock stood at 68¼ which gave us hopes that the countrey would be cooler than we should expect from the accounts of travellers, especially Mr Biron who says that no business is done here from 10 till 2 on account of the intense heat.
This Morn the Harbour of Rio Janeiro was right ahead about 2 leagues off but it being quite Calm we made our aproaches very slowly. The sea was inconceveably full of small vermes which we took without the least dificulty; they were almost all new except Beroe labiata, Medusa radiata, fimbriata and Chrystallina, Dagysa []. Soon after that a fishing boat Came a board and sold us three Scombers which proved to be new and were calld Salmoneus; his baites were Clupea Chinensis of which we also procurd specimens.
As soon as we came well into the River the Captn sent Mr Hicks his first Leutenant with a midshipman to get a pilot and stood up the river expecting him down very soon. He did not nor did the boat till we were on the point of dropping an anchor just under the town; the boat then came without either of our officers, in exchange for whom came a Subaltern Portugese who seemd to have no kind of Business with us; the Cockswain brought word from the Leutenant that he was detaind on shore till the Captain should go off. Soon after we came to an anchor a ten Oard boat came alongside the ship with 12 or 14 soldiers in it who rowed round us without taking any notice of us or saying a word; a quarter of an hour after came a boat in which was a Disembargador and a Colonel of a Portugese rejument who askd us many questions which at first seemd to discourage our stay, as telling us that the Governor would furnish us with any quantity of water in two days. In the conclusion however he was immensely civil telling us that the Governor would give us every assistance in his power; that the Leutenant had not been confind but on account of the Practica had not been allowd to go on shore, he should now however be sent on board immediately; that the Captain was welcome to go on shore now but he wishd the rest of the crew might remain on board till the Paper they drew up had been delivered.
This morn Captn Cooke went ashore, Dr Solander and myself impatiently waiting for his return which he promisd should be the moment he had spoke with the viceroy, who would no doubt tell him that the practica paper had been deliverd and we were all at liberty to come ashore when we pleasd. About twelve he came on board with a Portugese officer in his boat who had been put there by order of the viceroy, out of a compliment as he termd it, and an English gentleman Mr Forster by name a Leutenant in the Portugese service. The Captn told us that we could not be allowd to have a house or sleep ashore, so the Viceroy had told him, but Mr Forster told us that he had given orders that no person but the Captn and such common sailors as were requird to be upon duty should be permitted to go ashore, and that we the passengers were probably particularly objected to. We however in the Evening dress'd ourselves and attempted to go ashore under pretence of a visit to the Viceroy, but were stopd by the Guard boat whose officer told us that he had particular orders, which he could not transgress, to Lett no officer or Passenger except the Captain pass the boat; after much conversation to no purpose we were obligd to return on board and the Captn went ashore to remonstrate to the viceroy about it, but could get no answer but that it was the King of Portugals orders and consequently must be.
This morn the Captn went again ashore and told the viceroy that it was nescessary to give the ship a heel, in which case it would be almost impossible for the gentlemen who were passengers to stay on board her; the viceroy as I suppose misunderstood him, and supposing that he wanted to have the ship hove down said that if the ship was reported by one of his carpenters ( who should be sent on board) to want such repairs he would give her all nescessaries for so doing; in that case the Gentlemen should have a house ashore, but gave him to understand that a centinel would be put at the door with orders not to let us stir out or any one come in on any pretence whatever.
The Captn went ashore again and remonstrated particularly against the Centinel that was put in his boat whenever he landed or came aboard, which he was told was a compliment but now found to be a guard. He received no satisfactory answers or rather none at all but that it is the King of Portugals orders.
Tird with waiting and remonstrating only in words, both the Captn and myself sent ashore written memorials (of which mine is subjoind as well as another with the answers) which complain of his excellency the viceroys behaviour to us as a Kings ship as almost a breach of treaty.
Answers to our memorials came on board in which the Captn is told that he has no reason to complain, as such usage as he has receivd has been constantly the custom of the Ports of Brasil and that the Viceroy himself servd an English ship just in the same manner at Bahia; as for me I am told that as I have not brought proper credentials from the Court of Lisbon it is impossible that I can be permitted to land.
Both the Captn and myself sent answers to his excellencys memorials this morn by the Leutenant, who had orders not to suffer a guard to be put into his boat but if the Guard boat insisted upon it to return on board. The boat let him pass, but the viceroy as soon as he heard that he had come ashore without a guard orderd Centinels to be put into the boat, and on the Leutenant refusing to go on board unless the Centinels are taken out, orderd the boats crew to be taken into custody, the boat detaind and the leutenant to be sent on board in a guard boat under care of an officer. When he came on board he reported what he has seen, that the men in our pinnace made not the least resistance, notwithstanding which the soldiers who took them into custody behavd with great indecency, striking them many times and thrusting them out of the boat. The same guard boat also brought back the letters unopend.
This Evening it blew very hard at about South, Puffs coming off about three minutes distant from each other, which seldom lasted above half a minute but in that time were as violent as I ever saw.
At this time Our long boat came on board with 4 cask of rum in her, she with difficulty fetchd the ship and soon after by some mismanagemen[t] which I cannot account for broke adrift, carrying with her my small boat which was made fast to her; we had now no boat on board but a small 4 oard yawl, which was immediately sent after her and took her in tow, but notwithstanding all that could be done by the people who rowd in the long boat and those who towd in the yawl she was very soon out of sight, and we were under the greatest uneasiness well knowing that she drove directly upon the reef of Rocks which Runns out from the point of Ilhoa das Ferreiras, just to Leward of where we lay. After remaining in this situation till two in the morning our people cam[e] onboard and told us that the Long boat was sunk, but that they had left her riding to her grapling tho full of water; as for my boat they had in returning to the ship faln in with a reef of rocks, in which dangerous situation they had been obligd to cut her adrift: this was poor comfort tho we were glad to find the people safe, yet the Loss of our long boat which we much feard was perhaps the greatest misfortune that could happen to people who were going as we were upon discoverys.
I should have mentiond that on the detainder of our boats crew a petty officer was sent ashore with the memorials and a letter from the Captn demanding the Boat and men, who was sufferd quietly to go ashore on taking a soldier out of the guard boat; the only answer he got was verbal that the affair could not be settled as yet.
This morn the yawl, now the only boat we had, was sent ashore to ask assistance: they returnd about nine and brought with her our boat and crew that had been detaind, as well as another of the Viceroys which had orders to assist us in searching for our boats.
The people who came in the Pinnace declard that they never made the least resistance but said that the soldiers struck them often, that they were confind in a loathsome dungeon where their companions were cheifly Blacks who were chaind, but the Cockswain purchasd a better apartment for seven petacks (about as many shilling English).
Our situation this whole day was better imagind than describd: the Shore boat came onboard at noon that the people might have their victuals but brought no news of the Longboat. Tird with expectation I confess I had almost given over all hopes of ever seeing her again, when Just at dark night the pinnace came bringing with her both the boats and all their contents: we now immediately passd from our disagreable though[t]s to a situation as truly happy, and concluded with defying the Viceroy and all that he could do to us.
Letters came from the Viceroy to both the Captn and myself, in which he told me very politely that it is not in his power to permit to go ashore; in the captns he raises some doubts of our ship being a Kings ship, so I who could ground my pretensions to going ashore on no other Foundation thought it best to drop them, hoping that by and by when things were more quiet I might have an opportunity of smugling myself ashore.
This morn I sent my servants ashore at day break who stayd till dark night and brought off many plants and insects.
The viceroys answer to the Captns last memorial came on board in which the Captn is accusd of smugling, which made us all angry but our venting our spleen against the Viceroy will be of very little service to us.
My servants went ashore again and brought off many plants etc.
This morn Dr Solander went into the town as surgeon of the Ship, to visit a friar who had desird that the surgeon might be sent to him; he receivd civilities from the people rather more than he could expect.
I myself went ashore this morn before day break and stayd till dark night; while I was ashore I met several of the inhabitants who were very civil to me, taking me to their houses where I bought of them stock for the ship tolerably cheap, a porker midlingly fat for 11 shill, a muscovy duck something under two shils etc.
The countrey where I saw it abounded with vast variety of Plants and animals, mostly such as have not been describd by our naturalists as so few have had an opportunity of coming here; indeed no one that I know of even tolerably curious has been here since Marcgrave and Piso about the year 1640, so it is easy to guess the state in which the nat hist of such a countrey must be.
To give a Cataloge of what I found would be a trouble very little to the purpose, as every particular is mentiond in the general catalogues of this place. I cannot however help mentioning some which struck me the most and consequently gave me particular pleasure: these were cheifly the parasitick plants especialy renealmias, for I was not fortunate enough to see one epidendron, and the different species of Bromelia, many not before describd had I been fortunate enough to see fructifications which I did of very Few. B. Karratas I saw here growing on the decayd trunk of a tree 50 feet high at least, which it had so intirely coverd that the whole seemd to be a tree of Karratas. The growth of the [] also pleasd me much tho I had before got a very good Idea of it from Rumphius, who has a very good figure of the tree in his Herb: Amboin. Tab: Add to these the whole Contrey Coverd with the Beatifull blossom of Malpigias, Bannisterias, Pasifloras, not to Forget Poinciana and Mimosa sensitiva and a beatifull species of Clutia of which I saw great plenty, in short the wildest Spotts here were varied with a greater quantity of Flowers as well as more beatifull ones than our best devisd gardens, a sight infinitely pleasing to the Eye for a short time tho no doubt it would soon tire with the continuance of it.
The birds of many species especialy the smaller ones sat in great abundance on the bough's, many of them coverd with most Elegant plumage. I shot Loxia Brasiliensis and saw several specimens of them. In sects also were here in great abundance, many species very fine but much more Nimble than our Europaeans especialy the Butterflies, which almost all flew near the topps of the trees and were very difficult to come at except when the sea breeze flew fresh, which kept them low down among the trees where they might be taken. Humming birds I also saw of one species but could not shoot them.
The banks of the Sea and more remarkably all the Edges of small brooks were coverd with innumerable quantities of small Crabbs, cancer vocans Linn, one hand of which is very large. Among these were many both whose hands were remarkably small and of equal size: these my black servant told me were females of the others, and indeed all I examind, which were many, provd to be females tho whether realy of the same species with vocans I cannot determine on so short an acquaintance.
I saw but little cu[l]tivation and that seemd to be taken but little pains with; grass land was the cheif on which were many Lean cattle feeding and lean they might well be, for almost all the species of grass which I observd here were creepers, and consequently so close to the ground that tho there might be upon them a sufficient bite for horses or sheep yet how horned cattle could live at all was all that appeard extraordinary to me.
I also saw their gardens or small patches in which they cultivate many sorts of European garden stuff as Cabbage, peas, beans, kidney beans, turnips, white raddishes, pumkins, etc. but all much inferior to ours except perhaps the last; here also they grow water melons and pine apples the only Fruits which I have seen them cultivate. The water melons are very good but the Pines much inferior to those I have tasted in Europe; hardly one I have yet had could have been reckond among the midling sort, many were worse than I have seen sent from table in England where nobody would Eat them, tho in general they are very sweet they have not the least flavour; but more of their Fruits by and by.
In these gardens grow also Yamms and Mandihoca or Cassada which supplys the place of Bread here, for as our Europaean bread corn will not grow here all the Flour they have is brought from Portugal at a large expence, too great for even the midling people to purchase much more the inferior ones.
This morn when the Boats returnd from watering they brought word that they heard it said in the town that people were sent out in search of some of our people who were ashore without leave: this we concluded meant either Dr Solander or myself which made it nescessary for us to go no more ashore while we stayd.
These three days nothing material hapned, Every thing went on as usual only we if possible increasd our haste to be gone from this place.
This Morn our boat returning from shore brought us the very disagreable news that Mr Forster, who I before mentiond, was taken into custody chargd with having smuggled things ashore from our ship: this charge tho totaly without foundation was lookd upon as a sufficient reason for his being put into prison, but we beleive the real cause to be his having shewn some countenance to his Countrey men, as we heard at the same time that five or six Englishmen residing in the town and a poor Portugese who used to assist our people in buying things were all put into prison also without any reason being given.
This Morn thank god we have got all we want from these illiterate impolite gentry, so we got up our anchor and saild to the point of Ilhoa dos cobras, where we were to lay and wait for a fair wind which shoud come every night from the Land. We were fortunate in the arrival of a Spanish Brig comeing from Buenos Ayres with Letters for Spain which arrivd about a week ago; her officers were receivd ashore with all possible politeness and allowd to take a house without the least hesitation. The Captn Don Antonio de Monte Negro y Velasco with all possible politeness offerd to take our letters to Europe which we accepted of as a very Fortunate circumstance and sent them on board this morn.
We remaind without any Sea breeze.
This Morn early a dead calm, we attemptd to tow down with our boats and came near abreast of Santa Cruz their cheif Fortification, when to our great surprize the Fort fird two shot at us one of which went just over our Mast: we immediately brought to and sent ashore to enquire the reason, were told that no order had come down to allow us to pass without which no ship was ever sufferd to go below that fort. We were now obligd to send to town to know the reason of such extraordinary behavior, the Answer came back about 11 that it was a mistake, for the Brigadier had forgot to send the letter which had been wrote some days: it was however sent by the boat and we had leave to proceed. We now began to weigh our anchor which had been droppd in foul ground when we were fird at, but it was hung so fast in a rock that it could not be got out while the Land breeze blew, which today continued almost till four in the Even; as soon as the Sea breeze came we filld our sails and carrying the ship over the anchor tripd it but were obligd to sail back almost as far as we had towd the ship in the Morn.
This day and yesterday the air was crowded in an uncommon manner with Butterflies cheifly of one sort, of which we took as many as we pleasd on board the ship, their quantity was so large that at some times I may say many thousands were in view at once in almost any direction you could look, the greatest part of them much above our mast heads.
No land breeze today so we are confind in our disagreable situation without a possibility of moving: many curses were this day expended on his excellence.
This morn weighd and stood out to sea. As soon as we came to Santa Cruz the pilot desired to be dischargd and with him our enemy the guard boat went off, so we were left our own masters and immediately resolved to go ashore on one of the Islands in the mouth of the harbour: their ran a great swell but we made shift to land on one calld Raza, on which we gatherd many species of Plants and some insects. Alstromeria salsilla was here in tolerable plenty and Amarillis mexicana, they were the most specious plants; we stayd till about 4 oClock and then came aboard the ship heartily tired, for the desire of doing as much as we could in a short time had made us all exert ourselves in a particular manner tho exposd to the hottest rays of the sun just at noonday.
Now we are got fairly to Sea and have intirely got rid of these troublesome people I cannot help spending some time in describing them tho I was not myself once in their town, yet my intelligence coming from Dr Solander who was, and our Surgeon Mr Monkhouse a very sensible man who was ashore every day to buy our provisions, I think cannot err much from truth.
The town of Rio de Janiero the capital of the Portugese dominions in America situate on the banks of the River of that name, both are call'd I apprehend from the Roman saint Januarius accord[in]g to the Spanish and Portugese custom of naming their discoveries from the Saint on whose feast they are made.
It is regular and well built after the fashion of Portugal, every house having before its windows a Lattice of wood behind which is a little balcony. For size it is much larger and I could have thought, probably little inferior to any of our Countrey towns in England Bristol or Liverpool not excepted; the streets are all straight intersecting each other at Right angles and have this peculiar Convenience, that much the greater number lay in one direction and are commanded by the Gunns of their citadel calld St Sebastian which is situate on the top of a hill over looking the town.
It is supplyd with water by an aqueduct which brings it from the neighbouring hills upon two stories of arches, said in some places to be very high; the water that this brings is conveyd into a fountain in the great square immediately opposite the Governors palace, which is guarded by a sentry who has sufficient work to keep regularity and order among so many as are always in waiting at this place; there is also water laid into some other part of the town but how it is brought there I could not hear, only that it was better than the fountain which is exceedingly indifferent, so much so as not to be likd by us tho we had been two months at sea in which time our water was almost continualy bad.
The Churches here are very fine dressd out with more ornaments even than those in Europe, and all parts of their religion is carried on with more shew; their processions in particular are very extrordinary, every day one or other of the parishes go in solemn order with all the insignia of their church, altar, host etc. through their parish, begging for what they can get and praying in all form at every Corner of a street.
While we were there one of the largest churches in the town was rebuilding and for that reason the parish belonging to it had leave to walk through the whole City, which they did once a week and collected much money for the carrying on of their Edifice: at this ceremony all boys under a certain age were obligd to attend nor were the gentlemens sons ever excusd. Each of these were dressd in a Black cassock with a short red Cloak reaching half way down their shoulders, and carried in his hand a Lanthorn hung on the End of a pole about 6 or 7 feet long, the light caused by this (for there were always at least 200 Lights) is greater than can be imagind; I myself who saw it out of the cabbin windows call[d] together my mess mates and shewd it to them imagining that the town was on fire.
Besides this traveling religion a man who walks the streets has opportunity enough to shew his attachment to any saint in the Calendar, for every corner and almost every house has before it a little cupboard in which some Saint or other keeps his Residence, and least he should not see his votaries in the night he is furnishd with a small lamp which hangs before his little glass window: to these it is very customary to pray and sing hymns with all the vociferation imaginable, as may be imagind when I say that I and every one Else in the Ship heard it very distinctly every night tho we lay at least half a mile from the town.
The Goverment of this place Seems to me to be much more despotick even than that of Portugal tho many precautions have been taken to render it otherwise. The Cheif Magistrates are the Viceroy, the Governour of the town and a Council whose number I could not Learn, but only that the Viceroy had in this the casting vote: without the consent of this Council nothing material should be done, yet every day shews that the Viceroy and Governour at least if not all the rest do the most unjust things without consulting any one. Puting a man into prison without giving him a hearing and keeping him there till he is glad at any rate to get out without asking why he was put in, or at best sending him to Lisbon to be tried there without letting his family here know where he is gone to, is very common.
This we experien[c]d while here, for every one who had interpreted for our people, and some who had only assisted in buying provisions for them, were put into Jail merely I suppose to shew us their power. I should however except from this one John Burrish an officer in their customs, a man who has been here 13 years and is so compleatly become a Portugese that he is known by no other name than Don John: he was of service to our people, tho what he did was so clogd with a suspicious fear of offending the Portugese as renderd it disgustfull. It is nescessary that any one who should Come here should know his Character, which is mercenary tho contented with a little as the present given to him demonstrated, which consisted of 1 dozn of beer 10 galls of Brandy 10 peices of ships beef and as many of Pork: this was what he himself askd for, and sent on board the Cagg for the spirit and with this he was more than satisfied.
They have a very extrordinary method of keeping people from traveling --to hinder them I suppose from going into any districk where gold or diamonds may be found, as there are more of such than they can possibly guard, which is this: there are certain bounds beyond which no man must go, these vary every month at the discretion of the Vic[e]roy, sometimes they are a few sometimes many Leagues Round the City: Every man must in consequence of this come to town to know where the Bounds are, for if he is taken by the guards who constantly patrole on their edges he is infallibly put in prison, even if he is within them, unless he can tell where they are.
The inhabitants here are very numerous, they consist of Portugese, negroes, and Indians aborigines of the countrey. The township of Rio, whose extent I could not learn but was only told that it was but a small part of the Capitanea or province, is said to contain 37,000 whites and about 17 negroes to each white, which makes their numbers 629,000 and the number of inhabitants in all 666,000. As for the Indians they do not live in this neighbourhood tho many of them are always here doing the Kings work, which they are obligd to do by turns for small pay for which purpose they come from their habitations at a distance. I saw many of them as the guard boat was constantly rowd by them, they are of a light copper colour with long lank black hair; as to their policy or manner of living when at home I could not learn any thing about it.
The military here consist of 12 regiments of Regulars, 6 Portugese and 6 Creolians and as many of Provincial militia who may be assembled upon occasion. To the regulars the inhabitants shew great deference, for as Mr Forster an English Gentleman in their service told me, if any of the people were not to pull off their hatts when they meet an officer he would immediately knock them down, which custom renders the people remarkably Civil to strangers who have at all a gentlemanlike appearance. All the officers of these regiments are expected three times a day to attend at the Sala or Viceroys levee, where they formaly ask for commands, where their constant answer is there is nothing new: this policy is Intended as I have been told to prevent them from going into the countrey which it most effectualy does.
This town as well as all others in South America belonging either to Spanyards or Portugese has long been infamous for the unchastity of its women; the people who we talkd with here confirmd the accounts declaring, especialy Mr Forster, that he did not beleive there was one modest woman in the township, which I must own appeard to me a most wonderfull assertion but I must take it for granted as I had not even the least opportunity to go among them. Dr Solander who was ashore declares however that as soon as it was night the windows were every one furnishd with one or more women, who as he walkd along with two more gentlemen gave nosegays to which ever of them each preferrd, which Complement the gentlemen returnd in kind, notwithstanding which each of them threw away whole hatfulls of flowers in their walk tho it was not a long one.
Assassinations are I fancy more frequent here than in Lisbon as the churches still take upon them to give protection to criminals: one accident of the kind happned in the sight of S. Evans our Cockswain, a man who I can depend upon, who told me he saw two people talking together to all appearance in a freindly manner, when one on a sudden drew a knife and stabbd the other twice and ran away pursued by some negroes who saw the fact likewise, but what the farther Event of this was I could not learn.
Thus much for the town and its inhabitants. I shall now speak of the countrey which I know rather more of than of the other as I was ashore one whole day: in that time I saw much Cleard ground but cheifly of an indifferent quality, tho doubtless there is such as is very good as the sugar and tobacco which is sent to Europe from hence plainly testifies; but all that I saw was employd in Breeding cattle of which they have great plenty, tho their pastures are the worst I ever saw on account of the shortness of the grass, and consequently the beef sold in the market tho it is tolerably cheap is so lean that an Englishman can hardly Eat it. I likewise saw great plantations of Iatropha manikot, which is calld in the West Indies Cassada and here Farina de Pao, i.e. wooden meal, a very proper name, for the cakes they make with it taste as if they were made of Sawdust and yet it is the only bread which is Eat here--for European bread is sold at nearly the rate of a shilling a pound, and is also exceeding bad on account of the flour which is generaly heated in its passage from Europe.
The Countrey produces many more articles but as I did not see them or hear them mentiond I shall not set them down, tho doubtless it is capable of bringing any thing that our West India Islands do, notwithstanding this they have neither Coffee or chocolate but import both from Lisbon.
Their fruits however I must not pass over in Silence, they have several I shall particularly mention those that were in season while we were there, which were Pine apples, Melons, water melons, oranges, Limes, Lemons, sweet Lemons, citrons, Plantanes, Bananes, Mangos, Mamme apples, acajou apples and nutts, Jamboira, another sort which bears a small black fruit, Coco nutts, Palm nuts of two kinds, Palm berries. Of these I must seperately give my opinion, as no doubt it will seem strange to some that I should assert that I have eat many of them and especialy pine apples better in England than any I have met with here. Begin then with the pines as the Fruit from which I expected the most, they being I beleive natives of this countrey, tho I cannot say I have seen or even heard of their being at this time wild any where in this neighbourhood: they are cultivated much as we do cabbages in Europe or rather with less care, the plants being set between bedds of any kind of garden stuff and sufferd to take their chance, the price of them in the Market is seldom above and generaly under a vintain which is 3 halfpence. All that Dr Solander and myself tasted we agreed were much inferior to those we had eat in England; tho in general they were more Juicy and sweet yet they had no flavour but were like sugar melted in water. Their Melins are still worse from the Specimen we had, for we got but one, which was perfectly mealy and insipid; their water melons however are very good for they have some little flavour or at least a degree of acid which ours have not. Oranges are large and very juicy, we thought them good, doubtless better than any we had tasted at home, but probably Italy and Portugal produce as good had we been there in the time of their being in perfection. Lemons and limes are like ours, Sweet Lemons are sweetish and without flavour, Citrons have a sickly faint taste otherwise are like them. Mangos were not in perfection but promisd to be a very fine fruit, they are about the size of a peach, full of a melting yellow pulp not unlike that of a summer peach which has a very gratefull flavour, but in all we had it was spoild by a taste of turpentine which I am told is not found in the ripe ones. Bananas are in shape and size like a small thick sausage, coverd with a thick yellow rind, which is peeld off and the fruit within is of a consistence which might be expected from a mixture of Butter and flour but a little Slimey, its taste is sweet with a little perfume. Plantanes differ from these in being longer and thinner and having less lusciousness in their taste: both these fruits were disagreable to most of our people but after some use I became tolerably fond of them. Acajou or casshou is shapd like an apple but larger, he taste very disagreab[l]e sourish and bitter, the nut grows at the top of them. Mamme apples are bigger than a Codlin in England, Coverd with a deep yellow skin, the pulp on the inside is very insipid or rather disagreable to the taste, and full of small round seeds coverd with a thick mucilage which continualy Cloy your mouth. Jamboira is the same as I saw at Madeira, a fruit calculated more to please the smell than the taste; the other sort are small and black and resemble much the taste of our English bilberries. Coco nutts are so well known in England that I need only say I have tasted as good there as any I met with here. Palm nutts of two sorts, one long and shapd like dates the other round, both these are rosted before their kernels are Eatable and Even then they are not so good a[s] Coco nuts. Palm berries appear much like Black grapes, they are the fruit of Bactris minor, but for Eating have scarce any pulp covering a very large stone and what there is has nothing but a light acid to recommend it. Here are also the fruits of several species of prickle pears which are very insipid. Of Europaean Fruits I saw apples but very mealy and insipid and one peach which was also a very bad one.
Tho this Countrey should produce many and very valuable druggs we could not find any in the apothecarys shops but Pareira Brava and Balsam Copivi, of both which we bought at excessive cheap prices and had very good of the sort. I fancy the drug trade is cheifly carried on to the northward as is that of the Dying woods, at least we could hear nothing of them here.
For manufactures I know of none carried on here except that of Cotton hammocks, which are usd for people to be carried about in as we do Sedan chairs, these are made cheifly by the Indians. But the cheif riches of the countrey comes from the mines, which are situated far up in the countrey, indeed no one could tell me how far, for even the situation of them is as carefully as possible conceald and Troops are continualy employd in guarding the Roads that lead to them, so that it is next to impossible for any man to get a sight of them except those who are employd there; at least no man would attempt it from mere curiosity for every body who is found on the road without being able to give a good account of himself is hangd immediately.
From these mines a great quantity of gold certainly comes but it is purchasd at a vast expence of lives; 40,000 negroes are annualy imported on the Kings accompt for this purpose, and notwithstanding that the year before last they dyed so fast that 20,000 more were obligd to be draughted from the town of Rio.
Pretious stones are also found here in very large quantities, so large that they do not allow more than a certain quantity to be collected in a year, which is done thus: a troop of people are sent into the Countrey where they are found and orderd to return when they have collected a certain quantity, which they sometimes do in a month more or less, then they return and after that it is death for any one to be found in the Countrey on any pretence whatever till the next year.
Diamonds Topazes of several different qualities and amethysts are the stones that are cheifly found. Of the first I did not see any but was told that the viceroy had by him large quantities and would sell them on the King of Portugals account, but in that case they would not be at all cheaper than those in Europe. Topazes and amethysts I bought a few of for specimens; the former were divided into three sorts of very different value, Calld here pinga dogua Qualidade premeiro and segondo, and chrystallos ormerilles; they were sold large and small good and bad together by octavos or the eighth part of an ounce, the first sort 4sh:9d; 2[nd sort] 4:0; 3[rd sort] [] . Amethysts [] [] [] . But it was smugling in the highest degree to have any thing to do with them formerly there were Jewelers here who wo[r]kd stones, but about 14 months ago orders came from the Court of Portugal that no more stones should be wrought here except on his account; the Jewellers were immediately orderd to bring all their tools to the Viceroy which they were obligd to do, and from that time to this have not been sufferd to do any thing for their support. Here are however a number of slaves who work stones for the King of Portugal.
The Coin current here is either that of Portugal especialy 36 shill peices, or Coin made here which is much debasd, especialy the silver which are calld petacks, of which there are two sorts one of less value than the other, easily distinguishable by the number of rees markd on the outside, but they are little used; they also have Copper coin like that in Portugal, 5 and 10 rey peices, two of the latter are worth 3 halfpence, 40 petacks are worth 36 shillings.
The harbour of Rio de Janeiro is certainly a very good one: the Entrance is not wide but the Sea breeze which blows every morning makes it easy for any ship to go in before the wind, and when you get abreast the town it increases in breadth prodigiously so that almost any number of ships might lay in 5 or 6 fathom water oozey bottom. It is defended by many works, especialy the entrance where it is narrow, there is their strongest fortification calld Santa Cruz and another opposite it; there is also a platform mounting about 22 gunns without that just under the Sugar Loaf on the sea side, but that seems intirely calculated to hinder the Landing of an Enemy in a sandy bay from whence there is a passage to the back part of the town, which is intirely void of Defence except that the whole town is open to the Gunns of the Citadel St Sebastian as I said before. Between Santa Cruz and the town are several small batteries of 5 to 10 gunns and one pretty large one calld Berga Leon. Immediately before the town is Ilhoa dos Cobras, an Island fortified all round, which seems incapable of doing much mischeif from its immense size, at least it would take more men to defend it even tolerably in case of an attack than could Possibly be spard from a town totaly without Lines or any defence round itself. As for Santa Cruz, their cheif fortification on which they most rely seems very incaple of making any great resistance if smartly attackd by shipping: it is a stone fort which mounts many gunns indeed, but they lie tier above tier and are consequently very open to the atack of a ship which may come within 2 cable lengh's or less of them. Besides they have no supply of water there but what they have from a cistern in which they catch rain, or in times of Drouth are supplyd from the adjacent countrey; this they have been obligd to build above ground Least the water should taint by the heat of the climate, which a free access of air prevents; a shot consequently which fortunately should break that cistern would reduce the defenders to the utmost nescessity.
I was told by a person who certainly knew and I beleive meant to inform me right, that a little to the southward just without the South head of the harbour was a bay in which boats might land with all facility without an obstruction, as there is no kind of work there, and from this bay it is not above three hours march to the town, which you aproach on the Back part where it is as defenceless as the Landing place; but this seems incredible yet I am inclind to beleive it of these people whose cheif policy consists in hindering people from looking about them as much as possible. It may therefore be as my informer said that the existence of such a bay is but lately found out, indeed was it not for that policy I could beleive any thing of their stupidity and ignorance, when the Governor of the town Brigadier General Don Pedro de Mendoza y Furtado ask'd the Captain of our ship whether the transit of Venus which we were going to observe was not the passing of the North star to the South pole, which he said he always understood it to be.
The river and indeed the whole coast abounds with greater variety of Fish than I have ever seen; seldom a day passd in which we had not one or more new species brought to us, indeed the bay is the most convenient place for fishing I have ever seen for it abounds with Islands between which there is shallow water and proper beaches for drawing the Seine. The sea also without the bay is full of Dolphins and large mackrell of several sorts who very readily bite at hooks which the inhabitants tow after their boats for that purpose, in short the Countrey is Capable with a very little industry of producing infinite plenty both of nesscessaries and luxuries: was it in the hands of Englishmen we should soon see its consequence, as things are tolerably plentifull even under the direction of the Portugese, who I take to be without exception the laziest as well as the most ignorant race in the whole world.
The Climate here is I fancy very good, the Countrey certainly is very wholesome, during our whole stay the Thermometer was never above 83. We had however a good deal of Rain and once it blew very hard. I am rather inclind to think that this countrey has rather more rain than those in the same northern Latitude are observd to have, not only from what happend during our short stay but from Marcgrave who gives us metereological observations on this Climate for 3 years: you may observe that it raind here in those years almost every other Day throughout the year, but more especialy in May and June in which months it raind along without Ceasing.
This morn at day break a dolphin was taken and soon after a shark appeard who took the bait very readily, and during the time that we were playing him under the cabbin window it cast something out of his mouth that either was or appeard very like its stomack, this it threw out and drew in again many times. I have often heard from seamen that they can do it but never before saw anything like it before. (this circumstance which by mistake is attributed to this shark belongs to one taken the 11th).
A very heavy swell last night and this morn: we Judge that it has blown very hard to the Southward and in this particular think ourselves obligd to the viceroy of Brasil who by his dilatoryness in supplying us kept us out of it, the swell however carried away our fore top galant mast. The sea is today coulord with infin[it]e small Particles the same as those seen Novr 7th and laying like them in broad streaks.
Today also we see large quantities of the same small particles.
This morn took a shark who cast up his stomack when hookd or at least appears so to do, it proves to be a female and on being opend 6 young ones were taken out of her, five of which were alive and swam briskly in a tub of water, the 6th was dead and seemd to have been so for some time.
Wind fair today, no events.
Fair wind today likewise, at night a squall with thunder and lightning which made us hoist the Lightning chain.
Wind Foul, blew fresh all day, in the evening saw a sail standing to the northward.
Less wind but a great swell.
Wind fair.
Wind foul, blew rather fresh, so the ship heeld much which made our affairs go on rather uncomfortably.
Calm at night, wind to the northward; we began to feel ourselves rather cool tho the thermometer was at 76 and shut two of the Cabbin windows, all which have been open ever since we left Madeira.
Charming fair wind and fine weather; the people were employd in preparing a new suit of sails for the bad weather we are to expect. Therm 70.
Fair wind today and rather warmer than it has been. During the course of last night we had a very heavy squall which tho it did not last above 10 minutes yet in that time blew as hard as it has done since we have been on board the ship.
Foul wind and little of it.
This morn quite calm. A very large shoal of Porpoises came close to the ship, they were of a kind different from any I have seen but so large that I dared not throw the gig into any of them, some were 4 yards long, their heads quite round but their hinder parts compressd, they had one fin upon their backs like a porpoise and white lines over their eyes also a spot of white behind the fin; they stayd above ½ an hour about the ship. When they were gone Dr Solander and myself went out in the boat and shot one species of Mother Careys chickens and two shearwaters, both provd new, Procellaria Gigantea and sandaliata. The Carey was one but ill describd by Linnaeus, Procellaria fregata. While we were out the people were employed in bending the new set of sails for Cape Horn.
This morn calm again: went out shooting, killd another new procellaria, aequorea, and many of the sorts we had seen yesterday; caught Holothuria angustata, a species of floating helix much smaller than those under the line, Phyllodoce velella very small, sometimes not so large as a silver penny ye: I beleive the common species; in the evening went out again, killd an albatross Diomedaea exulans, who measurd 9 ft 1 inch between the tipps of his wings, and struck one turtle testudo caretta.
Fair wind and steady tho but little of it.
Christmas day; all good Christians that is to say all hands get abominably drunk so that at night there was scarce a sober man in the ship, wind thank god very moderate or the lord knows what would have become of us.
Blows fresh today. A vast many birds are about the ship cheifly procellarias, all that we shot last week and one more who is quite Black without spot or speck that can be seen as he flies. Towards even many beds of seaweed came past the ship which the seamen call rockweek, but none near enough to the ship for us to catch them tho we were constantly prepard.
Blows strong this evning, at night came to under a balancd mizzen till day light when it grows more moderate. The water has been discoulerd all day 50 fathom. All this day I have smelt a singular smell from windward tho the people in the ship did not take notice of it, it was like rotten seaweed and at some times very strong.
During the whole of this gale we had many procellarias about the ship, at some times immense numbers, who seemd perfectly unconcernd at the badness of the weather or the hight of the sea but continued often flapping near the surface of the water as if fishing.
Less wind, the sea soon falls; the water both yesterday and today has been a good deal discolourd. Sound and find 48 fathom.
Fair wind, water very white, sounded 46 fathom, about 4 in the Even 44. We observd now some feathers and peices of reed to float by the ship which made us get up the hoave net to see what they were; soon after some drowned Carabi and Phalaenae came past which we took and employd the hoave till dark night taking many specimens. Lat. 41:48. This morn a large sphinx [] came off probably from the land and was taken.
This morn fine weather, water whiter than ever almost of a clay colour; sounded 47 fathom. Plenty of insects passd by this morn, many especialy of the carabi, alive, some grylli and one Phalaena. I stayd in the main chaians from 8 till 12 dipping for them with the hoave and took vast numbers. In the evening Many Phalenae and two papilios came flying about the ship, of the first took about 20 but the last would not come near enough to be taken and at last flew away; they appeard Large. We have also both yesterday and today taken several Ichneumons flying about the rigging. All the seamen say that we cannot be less than 20 leagues from the land, but I doubt Grylli especialy coming so far alive as they must float all the way upon the water. They ground their opinion cheifly on the sounding [s] which have been all along sand of different colours, which had we been nearer the land would have been intermixd with shells; their experience on this coast must however be but slight.
This whole day the evening especialy has been a series of calms and squalls, towards night a thunderstorm in which the lightning was remarkably bright, and rangd in long streaks sometimes horizontal and sometimes perpendicular, the thunder was not loud but continued an immence while with a noise in some claps so like the flapping of sails that had I not been upon dcek I should not have beleivd it to be thunder. Just before the storm we had an appearance of land to the westward which all who had not been in these latitudes before imagind to be real; it made like a long extent of lowish land and two Islands to the Northward of it, the South end was buried in the clouds; this lasted about ½ an hour and then rose gradualy up and disapeard.
Lat. 42:31. A sea lion was enterd in the log book of today as being seen but I did not see him. I saw however a whale coverd with barnacles as the seamen told me, he appeard of a reddish colour except his tail which was black like those to the Northward.
No insects seen today; the water changed to a little better colour. On looking over those taken yesterday find 31 species of land insects all so like in size and shape to those of England etc. that they are scarcely distinguishable, probably some will turn out identicaly the same. We ran among them 160 miles by the log without reckoning any part of last night, tho they were seen till dark, and most of this southing. Our latitude made us nearly opposite Baye Sans Fond near which place Mr Dalrymple supposes there to be a passage quite through the Continent of America. It should seem by what we have seen that there should be at least a very large river, and that probably at this time much flooded: if even that could have so great an effect as (supposing us to be 20 leagues from the land) discolouring the water to almost a clay Colour and bringing of insects who never fly 20 yards such as grylli and one aranea.
I lament much not having tasted the water at the time which never occurrd to me, but probably the difference of saltness would have been hardly perceptible to the taste and my Hydrostatick balance being broke I had no other method of trying it.
New years day today made us pass many Compts and talk much of our hopes for success in the year 69. Many whales were about the ship today and much sea weed in large lumps but none near enough to be caught.
In the Evening rather squally; the true sea green colour upon the surface of the water was often to be seen now between the squalls, or rather under the black clouds when they were about half a mile from the ship. I had often heard of it before but never seen it in any such perfection, indeed most of the seamen said the same, it was very bright and perfectly like the stone calld aquamarine.
Fresh breezes today. In the Evening, Lat. about 45:30, met with some small shoals of the red lobsters which have been seen by almost every one who has pass'd these seas. They were however so far from couloring the sea red as Dampier and Cowley say that I may affirm that we never saw more than a few hundreds of them at a time, we took however several in the Casting and hoave netts and describd them by the name of Cancer Gregarius.
Lat: 47:17, all hands looking out for Pepys's Island; about observing time an appearance was seen to the westward so like an Island that we bear away after it almost assurd that it is Land as the midshipman at the mast head declard; for half an hour, which time he had steadily lookd at it, it did not alter its appearance at all, however about 4 we were convincd that we were in chace of Cape fly away as the seamen call it, no signs of Island or any thing else appearing where it ought to have been.
This Evening many large bunches of sea weed came by the ship; we caught some of it with hooks, it was of an immense size every leaf 4 feet long and the stalk about twelve, the footstalk of each leaf was swelld into a long air vessel. Mr Gore tells me that he has seen this weed grow quite to the top of the water in 12 fathom, if so the swelld footstalks are probably the trumpet grass or weed of the Cape of Good Hope; we describd it however as it appeard and calld it Fucus Giganteus. Here were also this Evening large quantities of a small bird somewhat like Mo
