394 A QUESTION FOR THE SAYANS. 



some part of our own coast. This variation of the 

 chronometer was very strange to us. During the 

 whole voyage we had found it perfectly trustworthy ; 

 and, of course, after so long an acquaintance with its 

 exactness, we had learned to place implicit conii- 

 dence in it. At St. Helena it was correct, and so 

 also off Cape St. Roqne only three weeks before. 

 But the present was precisely the case with it on the 

 last voyage, when Captain James Allen commanded 

 the ship. Then, likewise, there had not been a mile's 

 variation in it until he had crossed the Gulf Stream, 

 homeward-bound, wheii an error of fifty miles was 

 discovered — a pilot-boat giving him his true where- 

 abouts. Wow, the question is, what was the cause 

 of this singular variation ? "Was it the Gulf Stream, 

 or what was it ? Here is a question for the savans, 

 and should they solve it, I will be happy to hear of 

 their explanation. 



