VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS.
33
All the way to the Latitude of Saint Felix and Saint Ambroſe, and alſo running down the Longitude to thoſe iſles, we never ſaw a ſingle ſpermaceti whale, except a flinched one, the day before we quitted ſight of the main; but there were a great number of ſeals along the whole coaſt.
May 20.On the twentieth day of May, at day-light, we ſaw one of the Iſles of Saint Felix and Saint Ambroſe; and ſoon after the other. By four in the afternoon, we were within ſix or ſeven miles of the Eaſternmoſt; when, accompanied by the whaling maſter, I made an attempt to land, as well as to find an anchoring ground. The iſle proved to be a rugged, perpendicular, barren rock, ſixty or ſeventy fathoms in height; and, in its craggy breaks and ſhelvings, ſeals had found a reſting place. There was, indeed, an appearance of verdure on its ſummit, which induced me to conjecture, that it is, by ſome means or other, ſupplied with moiſture. But night coming on, and it beginning to ſniffle and rain, with the wind far to the North, and no place to ſhelter the boat, or where we could land, on the North ſide, we returned on board. It was an equally night, with ſhowers of rain; and, 21.on the twenty-firſt, at day-light, as much wind blew from Weſt North Weſt, as would admit of double reefed top-ſails, with very heavy ſhowers, which continued the whole of the forenoon; ſo that we were obliged to paſs to the Southward of the Eaſternmoſt iſle, which preſents the ſame inhoſpitable aſpect as that of the North ſide. At noon, the rain ceaſed, and the wind became variable with cloudy