and Adventure; so that if any island lay between the
parallels in which these ships sailed, we might have a chance of
falling in with them. We have bad very variable weather for some
days past, with equally variable winds, and a confused jumble of
a sea, which the very frequent shifting of the wind
occasioned.

On the 2d of November, by a lunar observation, we were in
longitude 214 deg. 27' east; the time-keeper gave 214 deg. 19'
east, and by account 213 deg. 02' east; the latitude 55 deg. 18'
south, the variation was here 11 deg. 00' east, and the height of
the thermometer was 50 deg.. From the 2d to the 6th, we had the
winds from north by west to north-north-east: on the 6th and 7th,
we had very good observations for the longitude by the sun and
moon; the former gave 223 deg. 57' east, and the latter 227 deg.
58' east; the longitude by account was 226 deg. 20' east, the
latitude 56 deg. 12' south: the variation increased again, being
in this situation 12 deg. 20' east, thermometer 46 deg..

From the 7th until the 17th, the weather was very variable,
and the wind very unsettled, between the south-east and
south-west quarters, attended with strong gales and dark hazy
weather, with frequent showers of snow and hail; the thermometer
was down at 42 deg. in the cabin, where we sometimes had a fire,
but in the open air it was at 35 deg.; the showers were commonly
accompanied with heavy gusts or squalls of wind. Notwithstanding
we were, with these winds from the southward, subject to snow and
hail, yet we frequently found that some of the gales which had
blown from the northward were attended with a more piercing
degree of cold. On the 18th, the weather became more moderate and
fair, and the wind shifted to west, with a moderate breeze: we
were now in longitude 261 deg. 50' east, and latitude 55 deg. 23'
south, and had 14 deg. 43' east variation. On the 19th, we found
that the variation had increased, in a run to the eastward of 25
leagues, to 17 deg. 30' east.

On the 22d, we had several good distances of the sun and moon,
and found our longitude to be at noon 280 deg. 22' east, by the
time-keeper 281 deg. 08' east, and by account 283 deg. 09' east;
the latitude was 57 deg. 15' south; the variation of the compass
increased very fast as we approached Cape Horn, being now 20 deg.
30' east; and on the next day (23d) 22 deg. 30' east; but a table
of the variation will be inserted at the end of the chapter,
where it will a