ABSTRACT
Jan. f 9th ]) Very fine & mild weather, little wind, & very little hopes of seeing Land: many dread to fall in with Land, for fear that this might retard our early arrival at the Cape: but as a new Land might perhaps have new plants, bird & fish, & as the little Store of Brandy will of course necessitate the Cap1 to return in time to the Cape, I am quite impartial, especially as the new Land might probably give us new Supplies of fresh Meat, & as hardly anybody is so sick on board, that a longer stay out at Sea, might be prejudicial to him, The hopes soon to put an End to all our Disagreable Situations, & wants, to hear agreable news from our Friends & Relations, to have soon the Opportunity of embracing all what is Dear to us, revive our Spirits, & rekindle in our breasts the social tender feelings of Father, Husband, Brother, Friend 8c Relation; which by a long disuse, among the Stern Aspect of the boisterous Sea, the dashing of the enraged Waves, &: the Fury of the Winds, among the Sight of so various & strange Nations, the harsh Manners of rough, cursing, & often cruel Sailors, & the unnatural Life we lead after so long an Absence from any European Port have almost extinguished every Spark of humanity & the Softer feelings of social Life, & made us, as if it were, insensible to the Enjoyments & Comforts of Life: were it not for this sweet congenial hope, we should certainly feel the weight of our more than disagreable Situations, by far more. In the Evening
1 See Journals, n, 617.
