that the Spaniards of this country are naturally much less indolent than
they have been represented.[A3]

When we were in the open sea we had favorable winds from the N.N.E.

In the night of the 29th of June the frigate caught fire between decks, by
the negligence of the master baker; but being discovered in time, the fire
was extinguished. In the following night the same accident was repeated;
but this time it was necessary, in order to stop the progress of the fire,
to pull down the oven which was rebuilt the next day.

On the 1st of July we descried Cape Bayados, situated in latitude 26° 12'
30", and in longitude 16° 47'. We then saw the skirts of the immense desert
of Zaara, and we thought we perceived the mouth of the river St. John [A4],
which is very little known. We passed the tropic at ten o'clock in the
morning; the usual ceremony was there performed with a certain pomp; the
jokes of the sailors amused us for some moments; we were far from thinking
of the cruel event which was soon to deprive of their lives a third of the
persons who were on board the frigate. This custom of tropical baptism is
strange enough; the chief object of it, is, to procure the sailors some
money.

From St. Croix, we had constantly steered to the S.S.W. During the ceremony
at the tropic we doubled Cape Barbas, situated in lat. 22° 6', and long.
19° 8': two officers suddenly had the course changed, without informing the
captain; this led to a pretty warm dispute, which however had no serious
consequences. These two officers affirmed that we were running upon a group
of rocks, and that we were already very near to the breakers. We had sailed
the whole morning in the Gulph of St. Cyprian, the bottom of which is
strewed with rocks, so that at low water, brigantines cannot frequent these