oyed--the land of my birth, where in the charming form of
woman is "garnered up" the happiness of my life, and where I hope to
rest at last in the haven of friendship and love, till I set out on that
final voyage from which I shall never return.

We had so little wind, that we were only able on the following morning
to double the eastern promontory of Staten-land, Cape John; which our
chronometers fixed, almost precisely, in the same longitude assigned to
it by Captain Cook. I now steered a westerly course along the south
coast of Staten-land, contrary to the usual practice of navigators, who
run from hence to 60 degrees South, expecting in that latitude to meet
with fewer impediments to their passage into the South Sea. Experience
has taught me, moreover, that Cape Horn may be doubled with least loss
of time by keeping near land, where in the summer months good east winds
will often blow, when westerly winds prevail at a distance of forty
miles to sea-ward. When we had passed Staten-land, the Terra del Fuego
lay in equally fearful form to our right. We continued our course with a
moderate north-east wind, and remarked a strong current to the north.

On the noon of the following day we perceived the terrible Cape Horn at
a distance of twenty-five miles, lying in the form of a high, round
mountain before us. A calm, of which we took advantage to shoot some
albatrosses, delayed us for a few hours; but on Christmas-day we doubled
the Cape without the slightest difficulty. In the evening, after sailing
close alongside the little rocky island of Diego Ramirez, inhabited by
immense numbers of sea-birds, we found ourselves in the South Sea. A
favourable east wind swelling our sails, on the 28th of December, we did
our best to clear the island of Terra del Fuego, before a west wind
should impede our progress; but in this we were disappointed, for a
sudden storm drove us out of our course to latitude 59-1/2 deg. Here, for
a New Year's gift, we fell in with a fresh south wind, which helped us
forward at the rate of eleven miles an hour, and continued to swell our
sails, till on the 5th we lost sight of the Terra del Fuego, and
joyfully continued our voyage northwards. At Cape Horn, Reaumur's
thermometer stood at four degrees; a temperature rendered very
disagreeable by our having so recently suffered from oppressive heat. We
now hailed with renewed enjoyment the daily increasing warmth.

My sailors had heard much of the dreadful