xxvi INTRODUCTION. 



mafs of land, which, on fpeculative arguments had been 

 maintained to be necelTary *. 



If 



fairly reprefented, I fiiall next attempt to demonftrate, that it is utterly improbable 

 M. Bouvet could be out, in his account of longitude, fo much as is here fuppofed, in 

 the ftort run which had been made from the ifland of St. Catherine, the place they 

 took their departure from : on the contrary, that there is fufficient reafon to believe 

 tiie error, of whatever magnitude it might be, was of a different nature- from that 

 contended for, and that the two fliips, inflead of being to the Weftward of their ac- 

 count of longitude, were actually to the Eaftward of it. For, according to their Jour- 

 nals, extracted from the archives of the French Eaft-India Company, by M. D'Apres, 

 printed under his infpeftion, and publiflied by Mr. Dalrymple, F. R. S. amongft 

 other voyages made for the purpofe of examining the Southern parts of the Atlantic 

 Ocean, the longitude, according to the Eagle's run from St. Catherine's, was 26° 27', 

 and according to the Mary's, 26° 20' Eaft of TenerifF; that is, 9° 57', and 9° 50' 

 Eafl of Greenwich, or 27" 43', and 27° 36' Eaft of Ferro. But the Mary, which- 

 •went to the Cape of Good Hope, made 7° 13' Eaft longitude from the land in 

 quellion, to that place. Confequently the Cape of Good Hope being in longitude 

 18' 23' Eaft of Greenwich, Cape Circumcifion will be in 11° 10' Eaft of Green- 

 wich, or 1° 20' more to the Eaftward than the run by the fame fliip from the ifland 

 of St. Catherine's makes it. Again, the Eagle made the difference of longitude be- 

 tween Cape Circumcifion, and the ifland of Rodrigues, 49° 44' ; and by the obferva- 

 tions of Al. Pingre, this ifland is in 62° 50' of Eaft longitude from Greenwich : 

 Cape Circumcifion is therefore in 13* 6' Eaft of Greenwich, or 2° 9' more to the 

 Eaftward than by the Eagle's run from St. Catherine's. Hence, therefore, as the 

 longitude of this land, refulting from a comparifon of that fhewn by each of the fhips, 

 on their making land at places where the longitude is exceedingly well determined, is 

 greater than that which refults from their run from St. Catherine's, the longitude of 

 which is not known with certainty within feveral degrees, we may infer, with great 

 fafety, that whatever the quantity of M. Bouvet's error might be, when he is fuppofed 

 to have feen Cape Circumcifion, it muft have been in dcfed, and not in excefs, as AL 

 Le Monkr fuppofes it. . 



I^hrist's Hospital, \ 

 April 20, J 784. y 



W. WALES, 



* 



The judgment of the ingenious Author of Recherches fur les A?nericains, on this 

 queftion, feems to be very deferving of a place here : " Qu'on calcule, comme on 

 *' voudra, on fera toujours contraint d'avouer, qu'il y a une plus grande portion de 

 *' continent fituee dans la latitude feptentrionale, que dans la latitude auftrale. 



" Ce'ft fort mal a-propos, qu'on a foutenu que cette repartition inegale ne fauroit 

 ?' exifter, fous pretexte quelegkjbe p?rdroit fon equilibre, faute.d'un contrepoids fuf- 



" fifant 



