POSlTiOX or CUBA. 
161 
^irector of the Deposito Indro^rafico of Madrid, at 5° 38 
^1", in a table of positions -n'liich he communicated to me 
leaving Madrid. M. de Churruca fixed the Morro at 
5 39' 1". I met at the Havannah with one of the most 
officers of the Spanish navy, Captain Don Dionisio 
^aleano, who had taken a survey of the coast of the strait of 
Magellan. We made observations together, on a series of 
Eclipses of the satellites of Jupiter, of which the mean result 
gave 5'' 38' 50". M. Oltmauns deduced m 1805. the whole 
of those observations which I marked for the Morro, at 
^ 88' 52 5" — 84° 43' 7 '5" west of the meridian of Paris, 
f his longitude was confirmed by fifteen occultations of stars 
observed from 1809 to 1811, aiid calculated by M. Ferrer : 
that excellent observer fi.xes the definitive result at 5 ' 38' 
o0’9". With respect to the magnetic dip, 1 found it by the 
ooinpass of Borda (Dec. 1800), 5.3° 22' of the old sexa- 
Sesiina! division : twenty-two years before, according to the 
'"ery accurate observations made by Captain Sabine, in his 
oieinorable voyage to the coasts of Africa, America, and 
“pitzbergen, the dip was only 51° 55' ; it had therefore 
oimiiiislied 1° 27'. 
, The island of Cuba being surrounded with shoals and 
leakers, along more than two-thirds of its length, and 
ships keep out byond those dangers, the real shape of 
‘he island was for a long time unknown. Its breadth, 
^Specially between the Havannah and the port of Bata- 
has been exaggerated ; and it is only since the 
"^^posito liidroqrafico of Madrid published the observations of 
^ptain Don Jose del Kio, and lieutenant Don Ventura de 
"^reaiztegui, that the area of the island of Cuba could be 
Calculated with any accuracy. Wishing to furnish in this 
^ork the most accurate result that can be obtained in the 
Resent state of our astronomical knowledge, I engaged 
M. Bauza to calculate the area. He found, in June, 1835, 
he surface of the island of Cuba, without thelslados Pinos, 
p be 3520 square sea leagues, and with that island 3615. 
Com this calculation, wliich has been twice repeated, it 
exults, that the island of Cuba is one-seventh less than has 
Alniirante, a plantation of the Countess Buenavista ; San Antonio da 
• tjjg viijagg 0f Managua ; San Antonio de Bareto ; and the Fonda- 
"epO. n Aa*. XI A. I.' . j_ I — 
near the town of San Antonio de ios Banos. 
III. 
M 
