177«5« ROUND THE WORLD. %$1 



their coming on shore to lay their eggs, which is al- 

 ways in the night, and then to turn them on their 

 backs, till there be an opportunity to take them off 

 the next day. It was recommended to us to send a 

 good many men to each beach, where they were to 

 lie quiet till the turtle were ashore, and then rise and 

 turn them at once. This method may be the best 

 when the turtle are numerous ; but when there are 

 but few, three or four men are sufficient for the largest 

 beach ; and if they keep patroling it, close to the 

 wash of the surf, during the night, by this method 

 they will see all that come ashore, and cause less noise 

 than if there were more of them. It was by this 

 method we caught the most we got ; and this is the 

 method by which the Americans take them. Nothing 

 is more certain than that all the turtle which are 

 found about this island, come here for the sole pur- 

 pose of laying their eggs ; for we meet with none 

 but females ; and of all those which we caught, not 

 one had any food worth mentioning in its stomach ; 

 a sure sign, in my opinion, that they must have been 

 a long time without any ; and this may be the reason 

 why the flesh of them is not so good as some I have 

 ate on the coast of New South Wales, which were 

 caught on the spot where they fed. 



The watch made 8° 45' difference of longitude 

 between St. Helena and Ascension -, which added to 

 5° 49', the longitude of James Fort in St. Helena, 

 gives 14° 34/ for the longitude of the Road of Ascen- 

 sion, or 14° 30' for the middle of the island, the lati- 

 tude of which is 8° S. The lunar observations made 

 by Mr. Wales, and reduced to the same point of the 

 island by the watch, gave 14° 28' 30" west longi- 

 tude. 



On the 31st of May we left Ascension, and steered 

 to the northward, with a fine gale at S. E. by E. I 

 had a great desire to visit the island of St. Matthew, 

 to settle its situation ; but as I found the winds would 

 not let me fetch it, I steered for the island of Fer- 



