Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/250

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every thing connected with the defence of the island would be committed to them. This was the state of things when I took leave of captain Bowen and of colonel Clinton.

Water, wine, and fresh beef, were the supplies procured at Madeira. Wine for the ship's company was charged at the enormous price of 5s. 8d. per gallon, and the beef at 10d. per pound; I therefore took only small quantities of each. For good Madeira, we paid as much as £42. the pipe. Fruit and onions were in abundance, and probably were not of less advantage to the health of the people than the more expensive articles.

The latitude observed in Funchal Road was 32° 37′ 44″ north. The longitude, as given in the Requisite Tables, is 17° 6′ 15″ west; but in the Connoissance des Temps for 1792, it is laid down by a member of the Academy of Sciences, probably the Chevalier de Borda, at 16° 56′ from Greenwich. Arnold's watch No. 1796, in my care, gave 16° 22′ 42″, and the greatest longitude shown by any of the six time keepers was 16° 54′ 26″. This was given by Earnshaw's watch No. 465, which had kept an uniform rate during fifteen months previously to its being brought on board. We made use of this watch to reduce some lunar observations taken a few days before arriving, and others after sailing, to the place of anchorage; and the result was as follows: