HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
350 
near this island, found the depths so great, that the ships did not attempt to come to 
an anchor off it. 
t( The Portuguese charts of Aleixo da Mota, mention another island of the same 
name, situate in 6° of latitude. He says that he saw it: that it is small, low, and 
covered with wood; and that six leagues to the south-west there are three little islets, 
very flat, with a few trees on them, which lay from east to west. If the error in 
the latitude of these islets is the same as in those which we have seen, they would be 
i° more southward. It is necessary, therefore, that those who may pass these seas, 
should take care not to fall in with them during the night. 
“ I shall observe in general, that in traversing this Archipelago, particular attention 
should be given, both in the morning and evening, to the flight of certain birds, 
which roost on the land, and who seldom fly far from it; as th q goillettes grises 
and blanches , the poules mauves , the/ow .r, and the paille en cul , which are found there 
in great numbers. They are seen in the morning coming from the land, and in 
the evening returning to it: so that the direction of their flight indicates, in a great 
measure, its situation. 
" The Portuguese have always paid great attention, as well to the flight of birds, 
as their kind, and even to the quality of the sea-weed, in order to determine the seas 
where they happened to be. Their charts are full of dissertations and remarks on 
those particulars; which, however, have not appeared sufficiently important to enter 
into a detail of them. 
“ The course which I have just considered and explained, appears to me to be 
preferable to the general track; because, in the first place, it does not require the 
ships to get two hundred and thirty leagues more to the east, in seas where the 
violence and variety of the winds, and the agitation of the waters, expose them to 
frequent accidents; and secondly, by getting up to the northward, the land-fall of the 
Isle of Rodriguez is a point of comparison correctly determined, which regulates 
the remaining part of the passage: whereas in the general track, there is no point 
to which the navigator can refer, and in which it has happened to many ships in 
this season to get among the Maidive Islands, or to the west of Ceylon, while they 
ought, on the contrary, to make the southern part of that island, when the south¬ 
west monsoon prevails in the Indian seas. 
