On the North ſide of the Weſternmoſt iſle, at half a mile diſtance from the ſhore, there was ſafe anchorage, with a ſoutherly wind, which now blew: but as we had ſo lately experienced an heavy Northerly gale, which is the prevailing wind in winter, and blows directly into the anchoring birth, the general opinion was to make ſail back to the Northward, to get into better weather or in with the main land, and endeavour to ſtop the leak.—In ſhort, any ſituation however inconvenient, or even dangerous, was preferred by the whole crew, to the putting into a Spaniſh port, and truſting to the tender mercies we might find there. It becomes an act of juſtice in me to declare that, in every awkward and unpleaſant circumſtance, in which we ſometimes found ourſelves, every perſon on board, from the whaling-maſter to the loweſt ſeaman, manifeſted a perfect confidence in me, and paid an implicit obedience to my opinion.—But the ſuperſtition of a ſailor's mind is not eaſily ſubdued, and it was with ſome difficulty that I could preſerve an hen who had been hatched and bred on board, and who at this time was accompanied by a ſmall brood of chickens, from being deſtroyed, in order to quit the ill omen that had been occaſioned by the unexpected crowing of the animal during the preceding night.
