124
VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS.
ſauſages, indeed they became our ordinary food. Sea ſnakes were alſo in great plenty, and many of the crew made a pleaſant and nutritious meal of them.
We kept along the ſhore, under an eaſy ſail, during the day and at night lay to. The winds were generally light and very variable, and we did not get off Acapulco till the Dec. 19.nineteenth of December, the moon having then paſſed its full near three days, and the ſun approaching to its greateſt Southern declination. As we had not lately experienced any changeable or bad weather, we entertained the pleaſing hopes that the unfavourable ſeaſon was nearly paſſed, but at ſun-ſet the blackeſt clouds I ever ſaw, gathered around us, and the ſucceeding night produced rain, with thunder, lightning, and heavy ſqualls of wind from all points of the compaſs, but chiefly from South to Eaſt. The rain continued to pour, in never-ceaſing torrents, throughout the 20.following day; but on the winds inclining to the North of Eaſt the rain began to abate, and towards the evening it fell only in heavy ſhowers, and faint lightning continued to gleam through the night; but it was not till 21.ten o'clock A. M. on the twenty-firſt, that the ſhowers became moderate and we got ſight of land: as we were within nine or ten leagues of it, with dark and unpromiſing weather, we made ſail off ſhore