42 GEOGEAPHICAL POSITIONS. 



NOTES. 



1. Cape Spartel. — The remarks of Mr. William Chapman, master of H. M.S. Ilhistrious, 

 ajipeared to confirm the longitude of Tofiilo, from wliom he differs only 40 seconds in 

 latitude, which he represents as so much more to the southward. The observations of 

 Captain Smyth gave the lat. 35° 47' 15", and the long. 5° 65' 45", by chronometer and 

 lunars. The coast, from Cape Spartel to Cape Bojador, was surveyed in the Etna and 

 Raven, under Lieutenants Arlett and Kellett, 1835. 



2. Empire of Marocco. — The points determined by Captain "Washington we owe to an 

 excellent Paper, entitled " Geograjihical Notice of the Empire of 3Iorocco ; by the late 

 Lieutenant (afterwards Rear- Admiral) John Washington, E.N.," given in the first volume 

 of the " Journal of the IiO>/al Geographical Society ;" a communication replete with 

 interesting and useful information. Captain Washington afterwards became Hydro- 

 grapher to the Navy. 



3. City of Marocco. — The scientific traveller, DoJi Juan Badia y Leblich, commonly 

 called Ali Bey, from his observations in 1808-4, gave the centre of Marocco as in lat. 

 31° 37' N., long., long. 7° 35' 30" W. On reference to tl;e Astronomical Journal of 

 Captain Washington, there appear upwards of 100 sights for determining the longitude 

 of the city. Distances between moon and sun; moon and stars East and West of her; 

 and altitudes of the moon when in the prime vertical — the mean results of which give 

 the longitude of a garden at the S.W. angle of the city as 7° 36' W. ; lat. 31° 37' 20", the 

 mean of about 20 meridian altitudes of the sun. 



4. Cape Geer, &c. — M. le Chevalier Jean Chas. de Borda was charged, in 1776, by 

 Louis XVI., with a commission to the Canary Islands and the West Coast of Africa, for 

 the express purpose of makmg observations, and determining the chief points of the 

 Canary Islands, &c. He was furnished with time-keepers, by which he ascertained the 

 positions, as they appeared in the earlier Charts and Tables. On this expedition, 

 M. de Borda, in the ship La Boussole, was accompanied bj' the Espieyle, M. le Chastenet 

 Puysegur, who afterwards composed the Pilot for St. Domingo ; also by Captain 

 Don Josef Varela, and another intelligent officer of the Spanish marine ; all of whom 

 assisted in the operations. 



But in the years 1817-18, Captain (afterwards Baron) Roussin was employed bj-^ the 

 French Government in surveying the coast between Cape Bojador, in 26° 7' N.. and the 

 Isle de Los, in 9^° ; and this officer gave, most satisfactorily, many points not before 

 ascertained. 



Again, in 1820 and 1821, Captain William FitzWilham Owen, in H.M.S. Leven, was 

 commissioned by the English Admiralty to examine and settle the coast from Cape Noon 

 southward ; and his observations still further, and in a much more important degree, 

 tended to perfect the h^'drography of Western Africa. To Captain Owen's work, there- 

 fore, we refer most particularly in the Tables ; and have onlj' to add that there is a re- 

 markable coincidence, in general, in the results of the two commanders ; and that even 

 in comparing either with those of M. de Borda, the differences, practicall}' considered, 

 are of little moment. > 



Most of the positions given in the Tables are as they appear on the most recent charts, 

 though there still exists some amount of uncertainty as to the exact longitude of the 

 various points on the West Coast of Africa, and in many parts even as to the latitude. 



A survey of the Canary Islands, and the continental coast thence northward to Cape 

 Spartel, was made by Lieutenants William Arlett and H. Kellett, commanders of the 

 Etna and Haven, in 1835 ; the particulars of which are given in the " Journal of the 

 Royal Geographical Society," vol. vi. 



5. Sierra Leone, &c. — In preparing former editions of this work, we collected a large 

 number of observations, which had been made, from time to time, on the coast of Guinea, 



