x ( • 66 ) 
In the mean time I cannot omit to take Notice of two 
Particulars, (eeming to call in Queftion the Truth of my 
aforefaid Map, which I have lately obferved in the Memoirs 
of the Royal Academy of Sciences. 
The one is in the Memoirs of the Year 1700, concerning 
the Variation obferved at Paraiba in Bradle, about 25 
Leagues to the Northwards of Pernambouc , by M. Couplet 
le fils , whofe Words are thefe, 
Le 20 Mai , 1698. ayant auparavant trace feigneufement une 
ligne Meridienne, dont je m’etols fervi pour les Obfervations 
Aflronomiques , jobfervai la declinaicon de V aiguille almantee de 
5 0 35' Nordoueft. And the lame Obferver tells us, that he 
found the Latitude of the Town of Paraiba 6° 38' 18". 
Now it fo fell out, that my (elf was in the River of Paraiba, 
in the Month of March , 1699. and there fitted and cleaned 
my Ship, lo that I had full Opportunity to obferve the Va- 
riation both on Board and on Shore, and found it conftant*- 
ly to be above 4 Gr North- Eajl ; fo that I am willing to be- 
lieve this to be an Error of the Prefs, putting N. W. for 
N. E; or rather of the Memory of M. Couplet, who, it 
feems, loft all his Papers by Shipwreck in his Return. The 
like may be faid of the Latitude of Paraiba, which, though 
I did not obferve my felf, yet at the Fort of Cabo Dello , at 
the Mouth of the River, and which is about 3 Leagues 
more Northerly than the Town, I found the Latitude not 
lefs than 6° 55' South, and by Conlequence that of the 
Town more than 7 Degrees. 
The other is in a Difcourfe of M de Li fie, in the Memoirs 
of 1 7 1 0 j where he compares the Variations obferved in fome 
late Voyages, with my Map of the Variations. Among 
other Things, ’tis there faid, that on the Eaft*fide of the 
Ifland St Thomas , under the Equinodfial Line, M. Bigot de 
la Cante, fecond Lieutenant of the King’s Ship la Sphere, 
had, in the beginning of the Year 1708, found the Variati- 
on iT r Gr. whereas my Chart makes it but yi Gr. Tis 
true, that I never obferved my felf in thofe Parts ; and ’tis 
from 
