The winds had now begun to Weſtern on me, and knowing it, to be an object of the board of Admiralty, that I ſhould viſit the Gallipagoes Iſles, it became me to exert my beſt endeavours to do ſo, before I got further to the Northward; when, if the wind ſhould Weſtern more upon us, which it frequently does in this Latitude, I ſhould not have been able to fetch them.
On the ſame day I took my departure from Cape Saint Helena for Gallipagoes Iſles, for the reaſons already mentioned, the wind weſting on us; but, at thirty leagues diſtance from the coaſt, it returned to the South Eaſt quarter, and continued there, till we made the iſles. On the ſecond day, after we had left the coaſt, we fell in with a large flinched whale, which could not have been killed more than three days. June 24.On the twenty-fourth, at four A. M., we made one of the Gallipagoe Iſles, bearing Weſt by North, ſix or ſeven leagues.
In the courſe of our paſſage, we fell in frequently with ſtreams of current, at leaſt a mile in breadth, and of which there was no apparent termination. They frequently, changed the ſhip's courſe, againſt her helm, half the compaſs, although running, at the rate of three and a half miles an hour. I