XXVI 
INTRODUCTION. 
on fpeculative arguments, had been maintained to be ne~ 
ceffary 
If 
Tented, I fhall next attempt to demonftrate, that it is utterly improbable M. Bouvet 
could be out, in his account of longitude, To much as is here fuppofed, in the Ihort run 
which had been made from the ifland of St. Catherine, the place they took their depar¬ 
ture from: on the contrary, that there is fufficient reafon to believe the error, of what¬ 
ever magnitude it might be, was of a different nature from that contended for, and that 
the two Blips, inftead of being to the Weft ward of their account of longitude, were ac¬ 
tually to the Eaftward of it. For, according to their Journals, extracted from the archives 
of the French Eaft India Company, by M. D’Jpres , printed under his infpection, and 
publilhed by Mr. Dalrymple, F. R. S. amongft other voyages made for the purpofe of 
examining the Southern parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the longitude, according to the- 
Eagle’s run from St. Catherine’s, was 26° 27', and according to the Mary’s, 26° 20' 
Eaft of Teneriff; that is, 9 0 57', and 9 0 50' Eaft of Greenwich, or 27 0 43', and 27 0 
36 / Eaft of Ferro. But the Mary, which went to the Cape of Good Hope, made 7 0 13^ 
Eaft longitude from the land in queftion, to that place. Confequently, the Cape of Good 
Hope being in longitude 18 0 23' Eaft of Greenwich, Cape Circumcifton will be in n° 
ic/ Eaft of Greenwich, or i° 2c/ more to the Eaftward than the run by the fame fhip 
from the ifland of St. Catherine’s makes it. Again, the Eagle made the difference of 
longitude between Cape Circumcifton, and the ifland of Rodrigues, 49 0 44/; and by the 
obfervations of M. Pingre , this ifland is in 62° 5c/ of Eaft longitude from Green¬ 
wich : Cape Circumcifton is therefore in 13 0 W Eaft of Greenwich, or 2 0 9' more to 
the Eaftward than by the Eagle’s run from St. Catherine’s. Hence, therefore, as the 
longitude of this land, refulting from a comparifon of that {hewn by each of the {hips,, 
on their making land at places where the longitude is exceedingly well determined, is 
greater than that which refults from their run from St. Catherine’s, the longitude of 
which is not known with certainty within feveral degrees, we may infer, with great 
fafety, that whatever the quantity of M. Bouvet’s error might be, when he is fuppofed to, 
have feen Cape Circumcifton, it muft have been in defect, and Hot in excels, as M„ Le 
Monter fuppofes it. 
Christ’s Hospital, 7 W. WALES, 
April 20, 1784. 3 
* The judgment of the ingenious Author of Rechcrches fur les A?n'ericains , on. this quef¬ 
tion, feems to be very deferving of a place here : “ Qu’on calcule, comme on voudra,. 
u on fera toujours contraint d’avouer, qu’il y a une plus grande portion de continent 
y fttuee dans la latitude feptentrionale, que dans la latitude auftrale. 
“ C’eft 
