Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: INTRODUCTION. It might be looked upon as impertinent in me, who am about to give the life of another, to trouble the reader with any of my own concerns, or the affairs that led me into the South Seas. Therefore, I shall only acquaint him, that in my return on board the Hector, as a passenger, round Cape Horn, for England, full late in the season, the wind and currents setting strong against us, our ship drove more southerly, by several degrees, than the usual course even to the latitude of 75 or 76; when the wind chopping about, we began to resume cnir intended way. It was about the middle of June, when the days are there at the -shortest, on a very starry and moonlight night, that we observed at some distance a very black cloud, but seemingly of no ex- ttraordinary size or height, moving very fast -towards us, and seeming to follow the ship, which then made great way. Every one on deck was very curious in observing its motions; and perceiving it frequently to divide, and presently to close again, and not to continue long in any determined shape, our captain, who had never before been so far to the southward- as he then found himself, had many conjectures what this phenomenon might portend; and every one offering his own opinion; t seemed at last to be generally agreed, that there might possibly be a storm gathering in the air, of which this was the prognostic; and by its following, and nearly keeping pace with us, we were in great fear lest it should break upon and overwhelm us, if not carefully avoided. Our commander, therefore, as it approached nearer and nearer, ordered one of the ship’s guns to be fired, to try if the percussion of the air would disperse it. This was no sooner done, than we heard a prodigious flounce in the water, at but a small distance from the ship…