520 RODRIGUE ISLAND. 



squally, and on one or two occasions managed to 

 screw as much as eleven knots out of the old craft. 



A little after noon on the 27th we saw Rodrigue 

 Island sooner than we expected, in consequence 

 of our finding it placed seven miles to the westward 

 of its true position, even with reference to the 

 meridian of the Mauritius. Our observations, in 

 passing to southward, made the eastern end of it 

 5° 59' East of Port Louis, and 63° 31 1 East of Green- 

 wich, lat. 19° 42' S. I was rather surprised to find 

 this error in the position of Rodrigue, as it is quite 

 a finger-post for ships on their voyage from India to 

 Great Britain. It trends east and west for seventeen 

 miles, and is in width about six. For a volcanic island 

 its features are not very remarkable ; the highest 

 part is a peak or excrescence, 1700 feet high, rising 

 towards the eastern end out of a rather level ridge. 



On the morning of the 29th, the high land of 

 the Mauritius was seen breakino- throutrh the mass 

 of clouds. Passing round the north end of the 

 island, in the evening we reached Port Louis, 

 where we found a French man-of-war that had just 

 brought in the crew of a vessel foundered at sea. 

 Their escape had been one of the most remarkable 

 on record. The ship was from Liverpool, and 

 was rounding the south-eastern point of Africa 

 with a strong north-west wind, when she sprang a 

 leak, which increased so fast, that the crew were 

 ultimately obliged to abandon her and take to the 

 boats. The sea was so great that they were compelled 

 to run before the wind, with the prospect only of 



