1773. 



HON. CAPTAIN PHIPPS. 323 



longitude 2° 2' E., lie determined upon return- a.d. 

 ing to England, as soon as he had given the ships 

 such temporary repair as they needed, and re- 

 cruited his crew after the fatigues they had under- 

 gone. And in order that the time which this 

 would require might be employed advantageously, 

 the pendulum was landed upon Amsterdam 

 Island, and the survey of the coast, which had 

 been begun at North Harbour, continued, but, 

 most unaccountably, with as little approach to 

 accuracy as before ; and ships must on no account 

 attempt to sail by the chart which has been pub- 

 lished in the account of this voyage. 



A base was measured with great care, appa- 

 rently, upon Amsterdam Island, for the purpose 

 of comparing the geometrical measurement of 

 the height of a mountain with its altitude by the 

 barometer — in which there was so great a dif- 

 ference, that Captain Phipps expresses himself 

 wholly at a loss to account for it, as both experi- 

 ments were made with the greatest care; the 

 former by himself, and the latter by Dr. Irving. 

 It is a great pity that Captain Phipps has 

 omitted to inform us in his narrative of the posi- 

 tion of this mountain, as Captain Sabine would 

 have been able to determine which of the mea- 

 surements was correct, and his observations 

 would, perhaps, have rescued this and other parts 



Y 2 



