with an Eaſterly wind; when, from the general bad ſtate of my ſails, I ordered the top-ſails to be furled, and lay to under ſtay-ſails. Dec. 22.On the twenty-ſecond of December the weather became moderate, with ſettled North Eaſterly winds and frequent ſhowers, which continued without any variation to the end of this year. I ſhall not, however, omit to mention that, after the example of my firſt commander and patron Captain Cooke, 25.I did not ſuffer our Chriſtmas, the grand feſtival of the Chriſtian world, to paſs by without a ſincere, though imperfect celebration of it.
We had now an alternate ſucceſſion of calms and light winds, which blew from the North Weſt quarter, and at times thunder and lightening. We proceeded down the coaſt under top-ſails 28.during the day, and lay to at night. When we ſaw any ſpouting fiſh, we ſtood off and on to aſcertain their claſs, but of theſe there were very few, which proved to be hump-back and fin-back whale, black-fiſh and porpoiſes, but there were great numbers of albicores, bonnettas, dolphins and turtle, and of the two latter we caught as many as were neceſſary for our conſumption.
31.On the thirty-firſt of December our Latitude was 14° 53′ and we had paſſed over the ground where we had reaſon to expect the greateſt ſucceſs in fiſhing, but had been driven off by