The ship was consequently, at the time we saw the pic, in 26 deg. 35’ 45” lat. and 16 deg. 39’ 10” long. and as, according to Borda and Pingre, the pic lies in 28 deg. 17’ N. lat. and 19 deg. 00’ W. long. of Paris, or 16 deg. 40’ of Greenwich, we must have seen it at six o’clock at the distance of 101 miles, and due north of us, in which direction it in fact bore.  In very dear weather the pic may be seen 25 miles farther off from the mast-head; but this is the greatest distance which it is visible even from that height, and under the most favourable circumstances.  The elevation of the pic has been determined by several observations.  Borda’s calculation, which is founded on a geometrical admeasurement, and is conceived to be the most correct, makes It 19O5 toises, or 11,430 feet.”  The relations which some authors have given of the height of this famous pic or peak, are extravagant beyond all credibility.  The reader will meet with some of them in Crutwell’s Gazeteer.—­E.]

On the next day, Saturday the 24th, we came into the north-east trade-wind, and on Friday the 30th saw Bona Vista, one of the Cape de Verd Islands; we ranged the east side of it, at the distance of three or four miles from the shore, till we were obliged to haul off to avoid a ledge of rocks which stretch out S.W. by W. from the body, or S.E. point of the island, to the extent of a league and a half.  Bona Vista by our observation lies in latitude 16 deg.  N. and longitude 21 deg. 51’ west.

On the 1st of October, in latitude 14 deg. 6’ N. and longitude 32 deg. 10’ W. we found the variation by a very good azimuth to be 10 deg. 37’ W. and the next morning it appeared to be 10 deg..  This day we found the ship five miles a-head of the log, and the next day seven.  On the 3d, hoisted out the boat to discover whether there was a current, and found one to the eastward, at the rate of three quarters of a mile an hour.

During our course from Teneriffe to Bona Vista we saw great numbers of flying fish, which from the cabin-windows appear beautiful beyond imagination, their sides having the colour and brightness of burnished silver; when they are seen from the deck they do not appear to so much advantage, because their backs are of a dark colour.  We also took a shark, which proved to be the Squalus Carcharias of Linnaeus.

Having lost the trade-wind on the 3d, in latitude 12 deg.14’, and longitude 22 deg.10’, the wind became somewhat variable, and we had light airs and calms by turns.

On the 7th, Mr Banks went out in the boat, and took what the seamen call a Portuguese man of war; it is the Holuthuria Physalis of Linnaeus, and a species of the Mollusca.  It consisted of a small bladder about seven inches long, very much resembling the air-bladder of fishes, from the bottom of which descended a number of strings of a bright blue and red, some of them three or four feet in length, which upon being touched sting like a nettle, but with much more force.  On the top of the bladder is a membrane which is used as a sail, and turned so as to receive the wind which way soever it blows:  This membrane is marked in fine pink-coloured veins, and the animal is in every respect an object exquisitely curious and beautiful.