Where we rode at anchor the water by the ship's side was very fresh at high water, and very salt at low water, contrary to what might have been expected; and at high water it was very fresh on one side of the ship, and very salt on the other. In a gust of wind at N.W. on the 25th, our ship drifted and broke a cable, by which we lost the anchor. We bought this day a calf, a sheep, and a lamb, the sheep having a great tail; all three costing us _2s. 3d._ I found certain spiders, whose webs were as strong as silk. All along the low land from E. to W about half a mile from the shore, there runs a ledge of rocks on which the sea continually breaks, between which and the shore are two fathoms water, wonderfully full of fish, and having a fine beach on which to haul the nets. The 28th in the morning we got under sail to put to sea. This bay of St Augustine is a very unfit place for ships to touch at for refreshments, as these are to be had only in small quantities; and the bay is very untoward for riding at anchor, the water being deep and pitty and the ground foul, as appeared by cutting our cable. By the 15th March we had only got into lat. 15° 40' S. and I knew not what course to take to get out of the current, which was very swift setting to the south, as keeping mid-channel may endanger us upon _In. de Nova_;[163] and in keeping near shore God knows what danger may befal, as it is indiscreet to continue where the wind does not stem the current. The 17th we were in, lat. 14° 57' S. so that we have got 25 leagues farther north, and the main power of the current seems now lessened. My master is of opinion that the age of the moon may have peculiar influence over the currents, causing them to be strong till three or four days after the full: but I rather think that the deep bay between Cape Corientes and Mozambique causes an indraught or eddy of some stream or current, coming either from the N.E. or more easterly, and entering the channel of Mozambique at the N.W. of Madagascar, and so along the land to Cape Corientes; or else the stream from the N.W. of Madagascar, meeting with the land of Mozambique, may be drawn that way by the falling in of the land. If this supposition be true, we committed an error in falling in with the land till we had got to the north of Mozambique point, which bends far into the sea.[164] [Footnote 163: This I understand to be the island of Juan de Nova, in the narrowing between Madagascar and the coast of Africa towards Mozambique.--ASTL. I.317.] [Footnote 164: This is by no means the case, and we may therefore conjecture that Cape St Andrew in Madagascar is here meant, which is of that description, and is in some measure opposite Mozambique.--E.] * * * * *