We ſometimes paſſed great numbers of ſmall birds, lying dead on the water; a circumſtance for which I am not able to aſſign a probable conjecture. The greateſt number of pelicans appeared off Lobas le Mar, and if that place ſhould be their conſtant reſort, they will, in thick weather, determine the vicinity of the iſland.
I tried for ſoundings, in many parts of the coaſt, at the diſtance of five and ſix leagues from the ſhore, but could not obtain any bottom with one hundred and fifty fathoms of line. In thick weather, however, when you draw near land, large quantities of ſea-weed will appear, and birds, in great numbers, ſitting on the water. Seals are no certain criterion for being near the ſhore; as I have often ſeen them, at the diſtance of an hundred and fifty leagues from land, ſleeping in great numbers on the ſurface of the water, with the tail and one fin out of it, ſo as to offer the appearance of a crooked billet. On any part of the coaſt of Chili, or Peru, a ſealing voyage might be made with great proſpect of ſucceſs, as well as at the Iſles of Saint Felix and Saint Ambroſe.
In our paſſage down the coaſt of Chili, we had South Eaſt and Eaſterly winds, with variable, but in general