Jacques Labillardière

“ The water held in a state of solution by the atmosphere, in consequence of the heat which it acquires from the perpendicular rays of the sun, is so much greater in quantity than what it can retain in situations not exposed to an equal degree of heat, that every thing that is not exposed to the direct rays of the sun, becomes covered with a great degree of moisture ”

“ A slight breeze from the south-east led us to hope that we should soon be delivered from the calms, that prevail to a greater extent in these situations than in any other part of the ocean. These differences are particularly observable upon a voyage to India, and appear to depend chiefly upon the vicinity of the African coast, to which ships, sailing from Europe to the Cape, approach much nearer, than those which sail from the Cape to Europe: thus the former voyages generally require a longer space of time to be accomplished than the latter. ”

“ Nature has amply provided it with the means of securing its prey; for besides several rows of teeth formed in the manner most adapted for penetrating the hardest bodies, the internal part of the mouth is likewise furnished with various asperities that serve to prevent the egress of any substance that it has laid hold of.
Had we been trading to India, we should not have failed to collect a quantity of the fins of this fish, as they are in great request amongst the Chinese, who believe them to be a very powerful aphrodisiac. ”

“ Though nature has given the flying-fish the power of living both in the water and in the air, it is very difficult for them to escape from their numerous enemies. If they evade the pursuit of the bonitos and dorados, by quitting the water, the pelican awaits them in the air. Some of them, reduced to this dilemma, were obliged to light upon our vessel. ”

“ Some seals, of the species called by Linnæus phoca pusilla, approached very near to our vessel in quest of their food amongst the large masses of fucus pyriformis, which floated upon the water. These animals often escaped from our sailors by taking several successive leaps over the water. This they perform by placing their hinder paws together, so as to resemble the broad tail of a fish, and act with considerable resistance against the surface of the water, over which they bound like a nimble quadruped over a level plain. ”

“ As soon as they had hauled him on deck, he was immediately cut in pieces, and every one had his share. The shark however is very poor food; for besides the natural abhorrence which the flesh of an animal that devours human bodies must excite, it is very difficult of digestion: but at sea we cannot choose our dishes, and fresh provisions are always preferable to salted.
I found attached to the higher orifice of his stomach a number of worms of the genus doris of Linnæus. They were about an inch and a half in length, and did not easily let go their hold, although the shark was dead. ”

“ We were pleased to observe that most of our men took very good aim, though they had never been accustomed to the use of fire-arms. It was a matter of consequence, in an expedition like ours, in the course of which we might sometimes be under the necessity of defending ourselves against the attempts of the savages, that every one of our company should understand the use of such arms as we had on board. ”

“ With a little practice an observer may take the longitude within 10, or 15,000 toises; and there is reason to believe, that when the lunar tables shall have attained a greater degree of perfection, the observations will approximate still nearer to the truth. ”

“ The currents carried us somewhat eastward of our former course. The principal cause of the different currents in the wide ocean is known to arise from the action of the winds. We had every reason to expect a long passage. The Esperance, however, kept her luff much better than our vessel. We were apprehensive lest our want of water might put us under the necessity of steering for the coast of Brazil. ”

“ It appears that in these parts the thermometer affords a very inadequate standard of the sensible heat of the atmosphere; for though it indicated several degrees lower than what we frequently experience in the warm summer weather of Europe; the heat threw us into a most profuse perspiration, which gave rise to very troublesome effervescences of the blood.
Between the tropics, the mercury in the barometer stands at a very uniform height. We never observed it to vary more than an inch and a half, more or less. ”

“ Water that is kept for a long time on board, undergoes the same sort of decomposition which takes place in stagnant pools; and this process is considerably accelerated by the influence of a hot climate. ”

“ It cannot be doubted that the change of situation with respect to longitude has a much greater influence upon the variation of the needle, than change of latitude. The variation increased sensibly in proportion as we advanced farther eastward. ”

“ Table Bay was then about 20,000 toises distant from us.
The currents, which had made us fall off so much from our course whilst we were in the track of the regular winds, having fortunately taken an opposite direction where we met with the variable ones; what we had lost to the west was very nearly made up to us by what we gained to the east, as appeared when we made the land of the Cape of Good Hope. ”

“ As this gas, the specific gravity of which was first determined by Priestley, is considerably lighter than atmospherical air, and has likewise very little attraction for the water; it is very easily separated, so as to restore water to its former purity; nothing more being necessary than to agitate the fluid for the space of a quarter of an hour. ”

“ It is evident that the tendency of the seas to preserve the level, some few irregularities proceeding from the variable winds excepted, ought to induce mariners, in the parts where these winds prevail, to bear down to the east in proportion as the general winds determine the currents to the west. ”

“ It generally stood at 28 inches 2 lines, although the atmosphere was often agitated by violent storms, which being generated in the interior of Africa, from the coast of which we were not more than about 360,000 toises distant, were brought over to us by winds from N.E. and E.N.E.
12th. We here caught the fish known among the ichthyologists by the name of ballistes verrucosus. A great number of a small species of whales (souffleurs) swam about our ships, followed in their tardy course by sharks which fed upon their excrements. ”