Friday 12»
completed fuch obfervations as were wanted, the obfervatory with the
inftrumenls were, on the gth, fent on board.
By the 11th all our tranfa&ions were finilhed with the lhore; having
obtained for each veffel a fupply of provifions, which completed our
{lock for eighteen months at full allowance, and a due proportion o f
ftores for the like period. I took on board alfo feven ewes and fix rams;
an affortment of garden feeds, vine cuttings, and other plants that were
likely to grow, and prove valuable aequifitions tq our friends in the
South-Sea iflands. As. I intended putting to fea the next day, we were
bufily employed in preparing the {hip for that purpofe, which on the
morning of the 12th we attempted; but the wind fluffing to the s . s .e .
permitted our taking only a more outfide birth for the better convenience
of fading when the wind Ihould prove more favorable.
It is cuftomary at the cape o f Good Hope for fo many of the officers as
can conveniently be fpared, to take up their refidence on lhore. In this
refpeft I had conformed to old praHices, but was exceffively morufied, at
my return on board, to find that feveral of our people had within a few
days become indifpofed with a dyfentery, which at firft feemed of little
importance,' but had now put on a very ferious appearance ; and fome of
the patients were extremely ill. The caufe o f this unfortunate malady it
was hard to afcertain: the crew had not been fubjeft to inebriety-, them
provifions had been of thebeft quality, and moft wholefome-nature; and
every precaution had been taken to prevent their fleeping on deck or ex-
poling themfelves to the dew or night air. No negleft of the falutary
meafuxes generally obferved, or individual indifcretion of any fort feemed
to have produced this lamentable vifitation, whofe contagious influence
fuffered no one to efcape unattacked; although myfelf and officers did
not feel its rffefts fo violently as they were experienced by the peopk.
The fame diforder had not only appeared on board the Chatham, and the
tranfports bound to port Jackfon, but on lhore; and at length it was
attributed to a large Dutch {hip lately arrived from Batavia from which
many men had been fent on lhore to the. hofpital very ill, and dying
with that and other infeffious diforders. The furgeon of the Difcovery
was feized in a very fudden and lingular manner, and reduced to an extreme
Hate of delirium, without any other fymptoros which indicated fever.
T o perfons, fituated 6s we were, on the eve of quitting the civilized
world, and deftitute o f all help and refources, but fuch as we Carried <...- - ’ ■
with us, fuch a calamityTeas o f the moft ferious and diftreffing nature;
and was not only feverely felt at the moment, but tended to deftroy the
good effeffs We had every reafon to expccl from the very excellent and
abundant fupply of refrethments the Cape had afforded. I now became
exceffively anxious to get to fea, left the Batavian ffiip fhould communicate
any other diforder, or a worle fpecies of that with which we were
already attacked. This earneft defire, a s . e . wind and calms prevented
our accomplifhing until the 1 7th, when, about noon, a light breeze fpring- Wednef. 17.
ing up from the n .w . we failed, in company with the Chatham, out of
Simon’s Bay, and faluted the garrifon with eleven guns which were
equally returned.
Few of our tranfaftions, whilft at our laftftation, appeared worthy of
recording excepting the occurrences at the obfervatory, where I did not
think any obfervations were at all neceffaryfor afcertaining the longitude
; as that muft have been accurately determined long ago by perfons
of greater information and fuperior abilities. The latitude; the rate
and error of the chronometer, and the variation and dip of the magnetic
needle were die principal objefils that occupied our attention. The
former would not have attrafted much of my notice had it not appeared
by the firft day’s obfervations, that a very material difference exifted between
the latitude (hewn by my obfervations, and the latitude of Simon’s
Bay as Hated by Captain King in the 3d voi. o f Cook’s Voyage te-the
northern hemifphere, where, in page 484, it is {aid that “ the lati-
“ tude of the anchorage place in Simon’s Bay is, by obfervation, 34°. 20'
“ fouth.” This however is, moft probably, an error of the prefs, fince,
immediately afterwards, We find the Cape point is faid to be in 340 23'
fouth; which point is at leaft 12 or 13 miles to. the fouth ward of
Simon’s Bay. Our obfervatory was fituated near the fouth point of
this bay, and its latitude, deduced from 26 meridional altitudes o f the
fun and liars, was 34° 11' 40"; this, on allowing the diftance to the Cape
point, will be nearly found to agree with its latitude; which was further
confirmed by our obfervations cm paffing it the day we entered Falfe Bay.
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