HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
345 
till you get a sight of it; and having neared the land at the distance of four leagues, 
you must stretch on till you see Cape d'Ambre. 
“ The currents at the opening of the cape, take their course with great rapidity 
towards the west, so that the ships which are bound to Querimbe or Mozambique, 
in passing to the north of Madagascar, must reckon on a difference towards the 
west, proportioned to the time employed in the passage. Many voyagers have 
found it twenty leagues in twenty-four hours. An inattention to this circumstance 
has indeed proved fatal to several vessels, who have run upon the coast of Africa 
during the night, when it was supposed that they were at a considerable distance 
from it. 
“ As to the vessels which proceed to India, after having made Cape d'Ambre, 
they must make good their course due north, and continue it till within 5 0 of latitude : 
they must afterwards proceed to the north-east, as far as the Equinoctial line, when 
the course must be regulated according to the principles laid down in the beginning 
of this instruction.” 
of Mozambique, to the islet Mafemale , situate in 16 0 18' latitude, and 37 0 30' longitude, while its 
reckoning was in 46° 30'longitude, is singular in its kind; and whatever might be the cause of 
6uch an error; when, by an examination, in the journal of this ship, of the variations which were 
daily observed, even at the land-fall, it must appear very extraordinary, that it had not been 
discovered long before, that it had not got sufficiently to the eastward; and that it was in the 
Mozambique channel, rather than to the east of Madagascar.” 
Yy 
