VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS.
107
Santo Berto, when our Latitude by obſervation was 19° 15′, and Longitude corrected, 109° 54′. At this point, the iſland had a barren appearance, with little or no vegetation. It lay in a North Eaſt, and South Weſt direction, is about ſix miles in length, and two or three in breadth, with a few rocks juſt appearing above water off different parts of it. Its ſurface is uneven, and its appearance romantic; and, at the diſtance of nine or ten miles, has the reſemblance of two ſeparate iſles. We ſaw ſome ſeals there, and a great number of men-of-war hawks on the bluff, at the South end. On the Weſt ſide, is a ſmall bay, but, as it diſappointed my expectations, I did not land, or try for ſoundings in it. As the hurricane month and unſettled weather were not as yet over, and I knew of no ſecure anchoring place at Socoro, where I could with ſafety overhaul my rigging, and break up the hold, which we ſtood in great need of, prepondering at the ſame time in my mind, that the Iſle St. Thomas's did actually exiſt, and was not far diſtant: I ſtretched away to the Weſtward in ſearch of it, till we made 7° weſting, and reached the Longitude 118° Weſt, in Latitude 20° 30′. I adminiſtered to the crew who were afflicted with the ſcurvy, twenty drops of elixir of vitriol, and half a pint of wine, three times a day, with ſome preſerved fruits, freſh bread, and pickles, from my own
