ed
in spreading his blanket or rug, for the purpose of saving as
much water as he could for his own use; for, as we had no means
of providing a quantity for the general good, every one did the
best he could for himself. The sun being almost vertical, and the
weather exceedingly sultry, the scarcity of water was very much
felt.

It continued this squally and unsettled weather until the
30th, during some part of which time it blew so strong as to
bring the ship under her reefed courses: after the 30th, the wind
shifted to west and west by south, with which we stood to the
south-ward; for with this wind we could not now fetch the Bashee
Islands, and upon the southern tack we could not reach in with
any part of the coast of the Philipine Islands; it was therefore,
in our situation, judged best to keep as near in with the
parallel of Cape Espiritu Sancto as possible, that being the
nearest land, which with a hope of a short spurt of wind from the
eastward, or a slant either from the northward or southward,
would serve to carry us in with the coast: we were then in
latitude 13 deg. 25' north; longitude 128 deg. 37' east; Cape
Espiritu Sancto bearing south 75 deg. 00' west, 58 leagues
distant.

It was very clear to me, from the winds we had experienced
since we came to the northward of the Line, that at this time of
the year, and generally during the height of the south-west
monsoon, in the China seas, these winds do sometimes extend far
to the eastward of the Philipine Islands, and frequently blow in
very heavy gales. The easterly winds, which we had after crossing
the Line, had been constantly so very light, that the run for the
twenty-four hours, seldom exceeded from twenty to fifty
miles.

The wind now became very variable, but chiefly from the
south-west quarter. On the 2d of August, it shifted to
west-north-west, and we stood to the south-west. On the 4th, we
made the land, bearing west-south-west twelve leagues; the next
morning, it bore from west-south-west to west, and at noon we saw
it from south-west to west half south; this proved to be the
north end of the island of St. John, and is in latitude 9 deg.
30' north; longitude 126 deg. 32' east. From the 31st of July to
this time, we had been set to the southward one hundred miles.
The wind being again set in at south-west, we could only now
stand to the southward, and avail ourselves of the strong
southerly current which we every day experienced so much
assis