eg. 35' _west_. On the south side of Point
Pearce, the head being S. S. W., and the land distant thirteen miles, an
amplitude gave 3 deg. 15' east. These different observations, which were all
taken with the surveying compass, being corrected upon the principles and
by the proportion explained in the Appendix No. II. to the second volume,
will be respectively, 2 deg. 51', 4 deg. 21' furthest from the land, 2 deg. 58', 1 deg.
41' nearest the land, and 2 deg. 1' east. The mean is 2 deg. 46' east; which may
be taken for the true variation at three or four leagues off Point Pearce
in 1802; but close in with the shore, I suspect it was less by 1 deg., or
perhaps 2 deg..

Having remained at anchor until the sun was high enough to admit of
observations for the time keepers, we got under way at half past seven
o'clock; and the coast round Corny Point being found to trend S. 27 deg. W.,
nearly in the wind's eye, I stretched westward across the gulph towards
Thistle's Island, in order to compare the time keepers with the
longitudes of places before settled. Our latitude at noon, observed on
both sides, was 34 deg. 50' 10"; Spilsby Island, the south-eastern most of
Sir Joseph Banks' Group, was seen bearing N. 56 deg. W., and the eastern
bluff of Wedge Island, the central and largest of Gambier's Isles, bore
S. 161/2 deg. W. Gambier's Isles, four in number besides two peaked rocks, had
been first seen from the high land behind Memory Cove. They lie nearly in
the centre of the entrance to the gulph; and the latitude of Wedge Island
is 35 deg.11' south, and longitude 136 deg. 29' east. Soon after four in the
afternoon, I had the following bearings:

Wedge Island, highest part, S. 211/2 deg. E.
Thistle's Island, highest part, S. 29 W.
C. Catastrophe, former station on the S. E. point, S. 531/2 W.
Stamford Hill, former station at the top, N. 86 W.
Sibsey Island, centre, N. 33 W.
Stickney Island, N. 11 W.
Spilsby Island, N. 171/2 E.

The longitude deduced from these bearings was 30 deg. 22" east, from the head
of Port Lincoln, and that resulting from observations for the time
keepers taken in the same place, was 30 deg. 53"; showing a difference of no
more than 0' 31" to the east, since quitting the port. This quantity in a
sea observation is so small and uncertain, that I conside