Frequent explosions of gunpowder, lighting fires between decks, and a liberal use of that admirable antiseptic, oil of tar, were the preventives we made use of against impure air; and above all things we were careful to keep the men's bedding and wearing apparel dry.

As we advanced towards the Line, the weather grew gradually better and more pleasant.

On the 14th of July we passed the Equator, at which time the atmosphere was as serene, and the temperature of the air not hotter than in a bright summer day in England.

From this period, until our arrival on the American coast, the heats, the calms, and the rains by which we had been so much incommoded, were succeeded by a series of weather as delightful as it was unlooked for.

At three o'clock in the afternoon of the 2nd of August, the 'Supply', which had been previously sent a-head on purpose, made the signal for seeing the land, which was visible to the whole fleet before sunset, and proved to be Cape Frio, in latitude 23 deg 5 min south, longitude 41 deg 40 1/4 min west.
Owing to light airs we did not get a-breast of the city of St.
Sebastian, in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, until the 7th of the month, when we anchored about three quarters of a mile from the shore..