318 
A VOYAGE TO 
[At Mauritius. 
1803 ] ‘ out, it would be proper to apply to the general for a permission ; and 
Wednes.28. on my objecting to ask any thing like a personal favour, he promised 
with some degree of feeling to take the application on himself. 
No mention was made this day of the books and papers, to be 
Thurs. 29. delivered from the sealed trunks ; blit next morning I was conducted 
to the government house, and took out all my private letters and 
papers, the journals of bearings and astronomical observations, two 
log books, and such charts as were necessary to completing the 
Gulph of Carpentaria; for which a receipt was required, without 
any obligation to return them. The third log book, containing 
transactions and remarks in different vessels during the preceding 
six months, was important to me on many accounts, and espe- 
cially for the observations it contained upon Torres’ Strait and the 
Gulph ; but it was said to be in the hands of the general, who 
could not be disturbed, and two boxes of despatches from governor 
King and colonel Paterson had been taken away. All the other 
books and papers, including my passport, commission, &c., with 
some accounts from the commissary of New South Wales and many 
private letters from individuals in that colony, were locked up in a 
trunk and sealed as before. 
Saturday 3i. On the gist. I sent to the town-major’s office an open letter ad- 
dressed to the secretary of the Admiralty, giving a short account of my 
embarkation and shipwreck in the Porpoise, voyage in the Cumber- 
land, and situation in Mauritius ; with two private letters, and a re- 
1804 - quest that they might be forwarded by the first opportunity. Next 
Sunday i. day the receipt of them was acknowledged, and a promise given to 
inform me of the means by which they should be sent, and it was 
done accordingly ; but not one of the letters, or of their duplicates, 
was ever received. 
Having calculated with Mr. Aken the observations previously 
taken for the rate of the time keeper,'* I now worked earnestly upon 
* The rate from December 19 to 25, was 36", 9 losing, or only 0",16 more than that 
previously found at Coepang in Timor ; but the longitude deduced from the first observa- 
