Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/357

Torres' Strait.]

Booby Isle was in sight from the mast head at one o'clock, bearing nearly W.S.W.; and soon after three we anchored one mile to leeward of it, in 7 fathoms, soft sand. A boat was sent on shore, which presently came back loaded with boobies; and fresh turtle tracks having been perceived, the crew returned to watch, and at midnight we received five turtle. These appeared to be of the species called hawkes-bill; the shells and skins, as also their fat, were of a red tinge, and they had longer necks than the turtle procured at Wellesley's Islands, to which they were much inferior, both in size and quality.

When entering the Gulph of Carpentaria in the Investigator, I had remarked what appeared to be a considerable error in the relative positions of Booby Isle and the flat-topped York Island, as they are laid down by captain Cook; and to obtain more certainty, the longitude of the flat top had been observed this morning from the time keeper, and I anchored here this afternoon to do the same by Booby Isle. The result showed the difference of longitude between them to be 43½′, differing less than 1′ from what had been deduced in the Investigator, whereas, by captain Cook, they are placed 63′ asunder. The high respect to which the labours of that great man are entitled, had caused me to entertain some doubt of the reality of this error until the present verification. It is to be wholly ascribed to the circumstance of his not having had a time keeper in his first voyage; and a more eminent proof of the utility of this valuable instrument cannot be given, than that so able a navigator could not always avoid making errors so considerable as this, when deprived of its assistance.

A meridian altitude of the moon placed Booby Isle in latitude 10° 36′ south; and the longitude from a medium of the Investigator's and Cumberland's time keepers, was 141° 56½′ east. A morning's amplitude taken after quitting the isle when the schooner's head was W. by S., gave the uncorrected variation 5° 38′ east.

At daybreak next morning, having a fresh trade wind, we