andy beaches, they had
ripped open their bellies, taken out the eggs, and left their carcasses
to putrify; an act as inhuman as injurious to those who came after them.
Part of the account I have given of the interior parts of this island I
received from Captain Greves, who seemed to be a sensible intelligent
man, and had been all over it. He sailed in the morning of the same day
we did.

Turtle, I am told, are to be found at this isle from January to June.
The method of catching them is to have people upon the several sandy
bays, to watch their coming on shore to lay their eggs, which is always
in the night, and then to turn them on their backs, till there be an
opportunity to take them off the next day. It was recommended to us to
send a good many men to each beach, where they were to lie quiet till
the turtle were ashore, and then rise and turn them at once. This method
may be the best when the turtle are numerous; but when there are but
few, three or four men are sufficient for the largest beach; and if they
keep patroling it, close to the wash of the surf, during the night, by
this method they will see all that come ashore, and cause less noise
than if there were more of them. It was by this method we caught the
most we got; and this is the method by which the Americans take them.
Nothing is more certain, than that all the turtle which are found about
this island, come here for the sole purpose of laying their eggs; for we
met with none but females; and of all those which we caught, not one had
any food worth mentioning in its stomach; a sure sign, in my opinion,
that they must have been a long time without any; and this may be the
reason why the flesh of them is not so good as some I have eat on the
coast of New South Wales, which were caught on the spot where they fed.

The watch made 8 deg. 45' difference of longitude between St Helena and
Ascension; which, added to 5 deg. 49' the longitude of James Fort in St
Helena, gives 14 deg. 34' for the longitude of the Road of Ascension, or 14 deg.
30' for the middle of the island, the latitude of which is 8 deg. S. The
lunar observations made by Mr Wales, and reduced to the same point of
the island by the watch, gave 14 deg. 28' 30" west longitude.

On the 31st of May, we left Ascension, and steered to the northward with
a fine gale at S.E. by E. I had a great desire to visit the island of St
Matthew, to settle its situation; but as I found the wind would not let
me fe