Page:The life of Matthew Flinders.djvu/548

Rh that moment. I pointed out to him defects which I had observed in the chart which he had published of the strait separating New Holland from Van Diemen's Land, etc., etc.

"Mr. Flinders observed to me that he was not unaware that the chart required to be checked, inasmuch as the sketch from which it was prepared had been drawn from uncertain information, and that the means employed when the discovery was made did not conduce to securing exact results. Finally, becoming less circumspect than he had hitherto been, he told me that he had commenced his work at Cape Leeuwin, and had followed the coast to the place where we were met. He suggested that our ships should pass the night near together, and that early on the following morning he should come on board again, and give me some particulars which would be useful to me. I accepted his proposition with pleasure, and we tacked about at a short distance from each other during the night. It was seven o'clock in the evening when he returned to his ship.

"On the 19th Mr. Flinders came on board at six o'clock in the morning. We breakfasted together,