HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
' 324 
India. Hence it is, that I have marked it on my chart in 49° 30' longitude, rela¬ 
tively to the track of those who have fallen in with it on quttting Madagascar. 
" On losing sight of this island, M. Morphey continued his course to the west¬ 
ward, and three days after, on the 13th of August, they perceived several islets on 
a large reef, which they approached very fast, in consequence of a violent current, 
which was observed to run to the west. These isles consist of a kind of chalk stone 
covered with shrub-wood, and, according to the plan which I had traced from the 
rough draught and remarks of M. Morphey, it appears that these are the islands 
known on the ancient charts under the name of Cosmoledo , situate to the north- 
north-west of Cape d’ Ambre. 
“ On the following day, being the 14th of August, they saw a small triangular 
island, and on the 16th, in the morning, they anchored there, and named it L’lsls 
de l' Assumption. According to an observation, the middle of the island is in 9 0 47' 
latitude. They landed on it, but found nothing worthy of remark: it is one chalky 
rock, full of caverns, with some sandy spots covered with shrubs. The access to this 
island is very difficult. 
“ On the 17th, in the evening, the vessels having driven, they set sail. It appears 
that this island is the same which the boats, the Charles and the Elizabeth, saw on the 
57th of October, and which they took for Agalegd , or the Isle Astove ; although 
it appears that their observed latitude is 18' more south. This difference is the less 
surprising, as the navigators on board those vessels,— ist. Made use of an arrow;* 
2d, They did not correct the declination; and 3d, The sun was very near their 
zenith. 
<4 Qn the 18th of August, M. Morphey discovered another island, or rather two 
islands, joined together on the western side by intervening islets, and ranged along 
them close in shore. He determined their latitude between 9 0 24' and 9 0 35', and 
considered them to be the same which the boats, the Charles and Elizabeth, had 
visited, and named Jean de Nove. I have supported the same opinion; but in what 
degree of longitude am I to place them ? According to the navigators in the boats, 
they should be in 49 0 30'; and according to M. Morphey, in 47V and the result of 
this determination would be, that the islets of the Assumption and Cosmoledo would 
lay in the track of all our vessels going to the Indies, although they have never fallen 
in with them. 
* Unejleche, a sort of instrument, sometimes used for observation, called also un baton de Jacob . 
