permit, and kept a look-out for the islands of Sebald de
Wert,[16] which, by all the charts we had on board, could not be far
from our track: A great number of birds were every day about the ship,
and large whales were continually swimming by her. The weather in
general was fine, but very cold, and we all agreed notwithstanding the
hope we had once formed, that the only difference between the middle of
summer here, and the middle of winter in England, lies in the length of
the days. On Saturday the 15th, being in latitude 50 deg.33'S. longitude
66 deg.59'W. we were overtaken about six in the evening by the hardest gale
at S.W. that I was ever in, with a sea still higher than any I had seen
in going round Cape Horn with Lord Anson: I expected every moment that
it would fill us, our ship being much too deep-waisted for such a
voyage: It would have been safest to put before it under our bare poles,
but our stock of fresh water was not sufficient, and I was afraid of
being driven so far off the land as not to be able to recover it before
the whole was exhausted; we therefore lay-to under a balanced mizen, and
shipped many heavy seas, though we found our skreen bulk-heads of
infinite service.

[Footnote 15: For an account of his voyage, and of his supposed
discovery, see vol. x. page 217. It seems impossible to reconcile the
veracity of his narration with the non-existence of the island here
spoken of, which is not now allowed to hold a place in our maps. But the
reader will be better able to form a correct opinion on this subject,
after he has read the 5th Section, where the discovery of Cowley is
pretty fully discussed.--E.]

[Footnote 16: These may be considered the same as what are now called
Falkland's Islands, the name said to have been given them by Captain
Strong, in 1639; but they had been frequently seen before that period,
as by Sir Richard Hawkins in 1594, and Davis in 1592. They have various
other names, and are pretty well known.--E.]

The storm continued with unabated violence the whole night, but about
eight in the morning began to subside. At ten, we made sail under our
courses, and continued to steer for the land till Tuesday the 18th,
when, at four in the morning, we saw it from the mast-head. Our latitude
was now 51 deg.8'S. our longitude 71 deg.4'W. and Cape Virgin Mary, the north
entrance of the Streights of Magellan, bore S. 19 deg.50'W. distant nineteen
leagues. As we had little or no wind, we coul