Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/199

 COASTS O &SraALA. 13 them of the destructive power of our weapons, wkich they must first experience before they can dread their fatal effects. During our stay at Coepang the thermometor ranged betweon 75 and 01 �e latitude of the fiag-statf was observed by several observations to be 10 �40". No observations were taken for the longitude, on account of my being eoofined to my bed with an attack of ague, tho effects of which remained upon me for some time at&or- wards; but the result of those made by Captain Flinders and ommodore Baudin were so satis- factory, that I had no hesitation in taking the mean of the two, 19.3 � 46', for the correction of my chronometers, and for the purpose of comparing w/th the longitudes I had assigned to several parts of the coast that we had just left. Before we sailed from Coepang, the departure- d a vessel for Batavia furnished me with the portunity of acquainting the Lords Commission- ers of the Admiralty of my progress; and the- letter fortunately arrived in time to contradict a report that had reached England, of our" having been wrecked on the South Coast at Cape Nor- thumberland, and that all hands had perished."--- This report could never be satisfactorily traced to its author, but it was supposed to have been spread by the man who commanded the Mermaid

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