A Voyage to 



arid a Third in others ,- for there are about nine Degrees op 

 Longitude between the Ifland and the rieareft Land. 



From what I have faid, it is eafy to conclude what an 

 Error they muft be in, who had taken their Meafures by 

 the Charts ; for having taken their Departure from Le 

 Conception, 5 or 6 Degrees too far to the Weft, and the 

 Coaft of Brafil being advanced too far Eaft by as many 

 Degrees, they found an Error of at leaft 200 Leagues, 

 according to which they muft have penetrated into the 

 Land, as happen' d to the Ships of our Squadron, by their 

 own ConfeiTion. Thefe Errors have always been much 

 the fame with all Ships that have put into Brafil, or the 

 Ifland of Fernando de Noronha, in their Return from the 

 South-Sea. 



The Ignorance of the Theory, > which prevails among 

 our Navigators, made them afcribe this Difference in Judg- 

 ment, and the Charts, to the Currents, which they faid 

 did fet Eaft, without being undeceiv'd by a fort of uni- 

 form Error, not only in their making the Land of Brafil, 

 but even that of France, after a Navigation of 14 Years, 

 tho' they faw they found the Lands of Brafil too far to the 

 Weft; and that correcting their Point on the Charts, they 

 found the Land of Europe too far to the Eaft, much about 

 the fame Quantity or Diftance, as they had made their 

 Reck'ning. In this they at leaft difcover their want of Cu- 

 riofity in not feeking to be better inform'd but they are 

 ftill more excufable than their principal Hydrographers^ 

 who ought to make their Advantage of the Obfervations 

 which the Gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences publifli 

 in their Connoiffance des Temps. But thofe things being 

 too far above their Reach, to underftand and reduce them 

 to the common Calculation of the Dutch Maps, which are 

 commonly madeufeof, they are guilty of fo much Folly, 

 as to defpife them, as the Productions of Learned Men 

 who want Experience. Thus in a Manufcripc Inftruftion 

 D. G. of S. Malo affirms, that the Coaft of Brafil is right 

 Laid down on thofe fame Charts^ wherein^ neverthelefs, 



according 



