1774- fhall perhaps find this method of finding the longitude of
<_®----1 places as accurate as mod others; at leaft it is the mod eafy,
Wednef. 31. atten(jed w ith the leall expence to the obferver. Every
fhip that goes to foreign parts is, or may be, fupplied with a
fufficient number of quadrants at a fmall expence ; I mean
good ones, proper for making thefe obfervations. For the
difference of the price between a good and bad one, I apprehend,
can never be an object with an officer. The mod
expenfive article, and what is in fome meafure neceffary, in
order to arrive at the utmoft accuracy, is a good watch;
but for common ufe, and where that ftridfc accuracy is
not required, this may „be difpenfed with. I have ob-
ferved before, in this journal, that this method of finding
the longitude is not fo difficult but that any man, with proper
application, and a little practice, may foon learn to make
thefe obfervations as well as the aftronomers themfelves. I
have feldom known any material difference between the obfervations
made. by Mr. Wales, and thofe made by the
officers at the fame time *.
In obferving the variation of the magnetic needle, we
found, as ufual, our compaffes differ among themfelves,
fometimes near 2°; the fame compafs too, would fometimes
make nearly this difference in the variation on different
days, and even between the morning and evening of the
fame day, when our change of fituation has been but very
little. By the mean of the obfervations which I made about
Erromango, and the S. E. part of thefe illands, the variation
of the compafs was 10° j' 48" Eaft; and the mean of thofe
made about Tierra del Efpiritu Santo, gave is° 5' 30" Eaft.
This is confiderabjy more than Mr. Wales found it to be at
* See Vol. I. p. 40;
Tanna. I canot fay what might occafion this difference in
the variation obferved at fea and on Ihore, unlefs it be influenced
by the land; for I rnuft give the preference to that
found at fea, as it is agreeable to what we obferved before
we made the iflands, and after we left them.
Wednef. 31.
C H A P . VIJI.
An Account of the Difcovery of Neva Caledonia, and the
Incidents that happened while the Ship lay in Balade.
A T fun-rife on the ift of September; after having flood September.
to S. W. all night, no more land was to be feern; The Thar(aay j|
wind remaining in the S. E. quarter, we continued -to ftand
to S. W. On the ad, at five o’clock P. M., being in the lati- Fr,day *’
titude i8° 22', longitude 165° 26'; the-variation was io° 50'
Eaft; and at the fame hour on the 3d; it was 10° 51', latitude Saturday 3,
at that time 190 14', longitude 165? Eaft. The next morn- Sunday 4.
ing, in the latitude of 19° 49', longitude 164° 53', the amplitude
gave io° 21', and the azimuths io° 7 'Eaft. At eight
o’clock, as we were fleering to the South, land was discovered
hearing s. S. W.. and at noon it extended from S. S.
E. to W. by S., diftant about fix leagues. We continued to
fleer for it with a light breeze at Eaft, till five in the evening,
when we were flopped by a calm. At this time we were three
leagues-from the land, which extended from S. E. by S. to
W. by N., round by the S. W. Some openings appeared in
the Weft, fo that we could not tell whether it was one connected
land or a group of iflands. To the S. E. the coaft
feemed to terminate in a high promontory, which I named