Toicards the Cape.] TERRA AUSTRALIS. 3.5 
The fresh western winds continued, with short intervals of isoi. 
calm, as far as the latitude gg° 23', and longitude 13 0 o' west; when s °mi°ay 4 
they died away, and a breeze sprung up from the eastward. With 
this wind we could do little more than look up for the isles of 
Tristan d'Acunha, whose bearing was then S. i6°E., and distance 
seventy-seven leagues. From the description given by sir Erasmus 
Gower * of the anchorage, and the convenience with which water 
may be obtained, and his account of the animals which resort there, 
I should not have considered it to be lost time, had the wind made 
it advisable to put in at Tristan d'Acunha, for a few days ; but it 
veered round to the north-west, on the 6th, and we resumed our Tuesdays, 
former course to the Cape of Good Hope. 
In the morning of the 14th, the variation by mean of amplitude Wednes. 14, 
and azinrith. was 25 0 10' west; the ship's head being E. by S., and 
our latitude 35° 4' south, and longitude 12 0 50' east. It is worthy of 
being mentioned, that in the year 1797, an d near the same place, I 
observed the variation to be 19 0 40' west, on board His Majesty's 
ship Reliance ; and as the compass was upon the binnacle in both 
cases, the sole cause to which I can attribute this great difference is, 
that the ship's head was west, instead of E. by S. The true variation 
could not be far from the mean of the two observations, since it was 
26" at the Cape of Good Hope. In the English Channel, the com- 
" September 22, 1809, at five p. m., saw the island of Saxonburg, bearing E. S. E., 
" fir.t about 4± leagues distant : clear weather. Steered for the said island, and found it 
" to be in the latitude of 30° 18' south, longitude 2S° 20' west, or thereabout. 
" The island of Saxonburg is about four leagues in length, N. W. and S. E., and about 
" 2i miles in breadth. The N. W. end is a high bluff of about 70 feet, perpendicular 
" form, and runs along to the south-east about 8 miles. You will see trees at about a 
" mile and a half distance, and a sandy beach." 
The situation of Shxemberg in the common tables and charts, was 30° 45' south and 
19° 40' west, almost 9° of longitude too little; and therefore it is not surprising that ships 
have missed it. At the time so many birds were seen, on the 28th, the Investigator was 
not more than eighty miles from the position of the island, as above given from Mr. Long. 
* Lord Macartney's Embassy to China, by sir G. Staunton, Vol. I. p. 198—201. 
