Today we passed the 8 degrees South latitude, without seeing land, which put the captain in the best of humours.

He explained to us, that if we had seen land, we should have been obliged to retrace our course almost to the line, because the current sets in with such violence towards the land, that the voyage could only be made at a proper distance.
7th September.

Between 10 and 20 degrees South latitude we again met with very peculiar prevalent winds.

They are called vamperos; and oblige the sailor to be always on his guard, as they spring up very suddenly, and are often extremely violent.

We were overtaken by one during the night, but, luckily, it was not of the worst kind.
In a few hours it had entirely passed over, but the sea did not become calm again for a considerable time.
On the 9th and 11th of September, we encountered some short gusts of the vamperos, the most violent being the last.
12th and 13th of September.