Page:A voyage to New Holland - Dampier.djvu/132

I could stretch off to sea; so that I jogged on courageously. The 27th of April we saw a small brigantine under the shore plying to the southward. We also saw many men-of-war-birds and boobies, and abundance of albicore-fish. Having still fair weather, small gales, and some calms, I had the opportunity of trying the current, which I found to set sometimes northerly and sometimes southerly: and therefore knew I was still within the verge of the tides. Being now in the latitude of the Abrolho Shoals, which I expected to meet with, I sounded, and had water lessening from 40 to 33 and so to 25 fathom: but then it rose again to 33, 35, 37, etc., all coral rocks. Whilst we were on this shoal (which we crossed towards the further part of it from land, where it lay deep, and so was not dangerous) we caught a great many fish with hook and line: and by evening amplitude we had 6 degrees 38 minutes east variation. This was the 27th of April; we were then in latitude 18 degrees 13 minutes south and east longitude from Cape Salvador 31 minutes. On the 29th, being then in latitude 18 degrees 39 minutes south, we had small gales from the west-north-west to the west-south-west often shifting. The 30th we had the winds from west to south-south-east, squalls and rain: and we saw some dolphins and other fish about us. We were