were any ships between that island and the continent, and likewise to
look out for a stream of fresh water reported to be there, returned
without having seen any ship, or finding any water. At three in the
afternoon point Manta bore S.E. by E. seven miles distant; and there
being a town of the same name in the neighbourhood, Captain Mitchell
took this opportunity of sending away several of his prisoners
from the Gloucester in the Spanish launch. The boats were now daily
employed in distributing provisions on board the Tryal and other
prizes, to complete their stock for six months; and, that the
Centurion might be the better prepared to give the Manilla ship (one
of which we were told was of immense size) a warm reception, the
carpenters were ordered to fix eight stocks in the main and fore-tops
for the mounting of swivel guns.

On the 25th we had a sight of the island of Gallo, bearing E.S.E. 1/2
E. four leagues distant; from hence we crossed the bay of Panama with
a N.W. course, hoping that this would have carried us in a direct line
to the island of Quibo. But we afterwards found that wrought to have
stood more to the westward, for the winds in a short time began to
incline to that quarter, and made it difficult for us to gain the
island. And now, after passing the equinoctial on the 22d, leaving the
neighbourhood of the Cordilleras, and standing more and more towards
the isthmus, where the communication of the atmosphere to the eastward
and the westward was no longer interrupted, we found, in a few
days, an extraordinary alteration in the climate. Instead of uniform
temperature, we had, for several days together, close and sultry
weather, resembling what we had met with between the tropics on the
eastern side of America. We had besides frequent calms and heavy
rains, which we at first ascribed to the neighbourhood of the line,
where this kind of weather is found to prevail; but, observing that it
attended us to the latitude of seven degrees north, we were induced
to believe that the stormy season, or, as the Spaniards call it, the
Vandevals, was not yet over; though many positively assert, that it
begins in June, and is ended November.

On the 27th Captain Mitchel's largest prize being cleared, was
scuttled, and set on fire, and as the remaining five ships were all
good sailers, so we never occasioned any delay to each other. Being
now in a rainy climate, which we had been long disused to, we found
it necessary to