which the ancient had turned back in dismay but which he regarded with animated hope as indicating the vicinity of land not that he had any idea of yet reaching the object of hb search the eastern end of asia for according to his he had come but three hundred and sixty since leaving the islands and he placed the main land of india much farther on on the th of september the same weather continued a soft steady breeze from the east filled every sail while to use the words of the sea was as calm as the at he had fancied that he perceived the water of the sea to grow as he advanced and he noticed this as a proof of the superior sweetness and purity of the � the were all in high spirits each ship striving to get in the to catch the first sight of land the from the informed him that fi om the flight of a great number of birds which he had seen and firom certain indications in the northern horizon he thought there was land in that direction as his vessel was a fast therefore he crowded canvas and kept in the advance there was in fact a in the north such as often hangs over land and at sunset it assumed such shapes and of twenty to the degree of latitude the unity of distance used throughout this work t ind l cap lai that many fancied they beheld islands there was a therefore to steer for that quarter however was persuaded that they were mere illusions every one who has made a sea voyage must have witnessed the caused by clouds resting upon the horizon especially about sunset and sunrise which the eye assisted by the imagination and desire easily into the wished for land this is particularly the case within the where the clouds at sunset assume the most appearances on the following day there were showers by wind which considered favourable signs two also flew on board the ships birds which he observed seldom fly from land he sounded therefore with a of two hundred but found no bottom he supposed he might be passing between islands which lay both to the north and south but he was unwilling to waste the present by going in search of them beside he bad affirmed that land was to be found by keeping to the west bis whole expedition had been founded on such a presumption he should therefore risk all t and with his people were he to appear to doubt and water and to go groping blindly point to point of the he resolved therefore to keep one bold course always westward until he should reach the coast of india and afterwards if to seek these islands on his return notwithstanding the precaution which had been taken to keep the people ignorant of the distance they had sailed they were now growing extremely uneasy at the of cap from journal of t life and voyages op the voyage they bad advanced much farther west than ever man had sailed before and though beyond the reach of still they continued daily leaving vast tracts of ocean behind them and pressing onward and on ward into that apparently boundless abyss it is true they had been flattered by various indications of land and still others were but all them with vain hopes ai er being hailed with a transient joy they passed away after another and the expanse of sea and sky continued to extend before them even the wind which seemed as if sent to to the new world with such bland and gentle was now by their ingenious fears into a singular cause of alarm for they began to imagine that the wind in these seas always prevailed from the east and if so would never permit them to return to spain endeavoured in every way to soothe these ing fears sometimes by argument and sometimes by awakening fresh hopes and pointing out new signs of land on the twentieth of september the wind with light breezes from the these though m verse to their progress had a cheering upon the pie as they the wind did not always prevail the east several birds also visited the ships three of which were of a small kind which keep about groves and and which came singing in the morning and flew away again in the evening their song was cheering to the hearts of the dismayed who hailed me mi no i journal of t p it as the v � ce of land the lai tbey observed were of wing and might venture far to sea but small birds were too feeble to fly far and g tbey were not by their flight on following day there either a profound calm or fight winds from the the sea as far as the eye reach was covered with weeds a often observed in this part tf the ocean which hat some the appearance of a vast meadow tut has been attributed to immense of plants which grow at the bottom of the tea until when they are detached by the of the waves and and rise to the sur ce these fields of weeds were at first regarded with great but at length they became in many places so dense and as in some degree to the of the ships which most have been under very little the ever ready to conceive the most absurd alarm now called to mind some tale about the frozen ocean where ships were said to be sometimes fixed they endeavoured therefore to avoid at m as possible these floating masses some disaster os kind t happen to considered these weeds as proof that the sea was and began to talk of lurking rocks and and treacherous and of the danger of running at it were in the midst of the ocean 