408 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
“ It was not till we had got into 4 0 of latitude, that the sea would allow me to 
make the first observation on the inclination of the needle ; we then approached 
the Strait, and were in a small archipelago, where the sea was more tranquil. 
“ My observations from that time, till we arrived at Negapatam, are very exact, 
and serve reciprocally to verify each other; for when we had once got out of the 
Gulf of China, my observations were confined between 4 0 and 11° of latitude : now, 
as the course of the ship was several times in the same latitude, I had frequent 
opportunities to verify my observations. 
“ When I passed from Pondicherry to the Isle ef France, on board the Com¬ 
pany’s ship the Dauphin, I continued to make my observatioas with the same care 
that I had given to those which had preceded them. The needle became hori¬ 
zontal at 8f° north latitude; very nearly the same as I had seen it in the seas of 
Siam and Camboia; and it is to be remarked, that in these two positions, I was 
from fifty to sixty leagues from the great continent. 
“ On the coast of Coromandel I found no inclination in 10L 0 of latitude, 
and I was half a league at least from the coast: so that these 2 0 of difference that 
I found in the Indian Sea, proceeds probably from the vicinity of the great con¬ 
tinents. 
“ When we arrived at the line, in the same ship, the Dauphin, I found the incli¬ 
nation 18°; and at 15-^° south latitude, which is that of the Bay of Antongil, I 
found the inclination 45 0 I have observed already that it was 46£° in this Bay; 
but, on board the Dauphin, I was six hundred leagues to the east of it. The 
inclination, therefore, from the meridian of the Bay of Antongil from the place of 
my reckoning, was but i^°; then it is only i^° for six hundred leagues difference 
in longitude. The difference was much greater on board the ship of war, the Bon 
Conseil, it being about 6° for eleven or twelve hundred leagues; but I was then 
very near the Isles of Sunda, which might in some degree, affect the inclination. 
“ It would be equally curious and interesting to know the effects in the South 
Sea, between the Philippine Islands and America, in the northern part of that vast 
ocean; where there are only a few small islands scattered here and there, in an 
extent of longitude of two thousand leagues. It appears by an observation of Father 
Fueillee, made at Lima, that the needle should be horizontal at about 8°, 9 0 , or 
lo° of north latitude. 
