In
This Manner We Continued To Run All Night; And, At Six O'clock The Next
Morning, I Called Her On Board, And Hoisted Her In.
For it did not appear
she would be wanted again for this purpose, as we had now a large swell
from the south, a sure sign that we were clear of the low islands;
therefore I steered for Otaheite without being apprehensive of meeting with
any danger.[9]
[1] Great shoals of cetaceous fish, of a perfectly black colour, with
a white spot before the back-fin, passed by us. They were fired at
from our vessel, and one of them being shot through the head, could no
longer plunge under water, but began to beat about furiously on the
surface, and tinged the sea with its blood. It seemed to be about
three yards long, and was slender and blunt-headed, from whence our
sailors called it the Bottle-nose, a name which Dale applies to a very
different fish, the beaked whale, of which the beak or nose resembles
the neck of a bottle." - G.F.
[2] "Beds of sea-weeds frequently were seen floating on the sea, but
we were now too much accustomed to their appearance, to attempt to
draw any conclusions from it. The thermometer, which at our departure
from New Zealand, stood at 51 deg. at eight o'clock in the morning, sunk
in proportion as we came to the southward to 48 deg., and sometimes to
47 deg., at the same time of day; but the temperature of the air upon the
whole was extremely variable, and the weather equally unsettled. From
thence it arose, that we daily observed rainbows, or parts of them
about the horizon, especially in the morning. The wind during this
time was likewise very changeable, and veered round the compass in a
direction contrary to the course of the sun, that is, from west round
by the north towards east, and so further on; but it chiefly prevailed
from the easterly quarter, where we least expected it, so that our
situation became tedious, and was made more irksome by frequent fogs,
rains, and heavy swells." - G.F.
[3] According to Sir G.F., it seems that the venereal disease made its
appearance on some of the Adventure's crew, as was intimated by
Captain Furneaux to Captain Cook, during a visit paid to the latter.
In the opinion of Mr F., who is at some pains to investigate the
subject, this disease was indigenous in New Zealand where the sailors
contracted it, and not imported there by Europeans. This opinion is,
no doubt, in confirmation of what the writer has elsewhere stated to
be his own as to the general question respecting the origin of the
disease; but he is bound in candour to admit, that it seems to rest on
rather slender evidence and insufficient reasoning, in the present
instance - so that he is less disposed to avail himself of it. Mr F.
himself is not positive as to the facts on which he founds his
opinion, and consequently is not so as to the opinion.
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