the tide in the Matarai Bay differs entirely from
the ordinary rules, and appears wholly uninfluenced by the moon, to
which it is everywhere else subject. The rise and fall is very
inconsiderable. Every noon the whole year round, at the moment the sun
touches the meridian, the water is highest, and falls with the sinking
sun till midnight. This phenomenon serves, as well as the sun's motion,
to supply the place of clocks to the inhabitants.

According to Humboldt, the altitude of the highest mountain in Tahaiti
is ten thousand feet; according to the barometrical measurement of Mr.
Long, only eight thousand feet above the level of the sea.

Our first observation by chronometers, on our arrival at Matarai, gave
the longitude of Venus Point as 149 deg. 20' 30"; the true one, as given
by Admiral Krusenstern on his map, is 149 deg. 27' 20"; consequently, the
error of our chronometers was 6' 50". This correction has been made in all
the longitudes taken by us in the dangerous Archipelago. From our
observatory on Venus Point, we found its latitude 17 deg. 29' 17", and
its longitude 149 deg. 29'.

The variation of the needle was 6 deg. 50' east, and its inclination 29
deg. 30'.

The barometer ranged from 29' 80" to 29' 70"; Reaumur's thermometer from
twenty-three and a half to twenty-four and a half.

The islands which I discovered on my former voyage in the ship
Rurik,--the Romanzow, Spiridow, Dean's Islands, the Rurik's Chain, &c.
whose longitude I had not then an opportunity to rectify upon Venus
Point, lie 5' 36" more to the west than I at first supposed.

The longitude given by Captain Bellingshausen for the island which he
discovered, appeared to us by 3' 10" too great.

On the morning of the 24th of March, we broke up our tent on the Venus
Point, left our dwelling-house, and shipped all our instruments and
effects. The afternoon was appointed for our departure. The Tahaitians
now boarded the ship, bringing as many provisions as they could carry.
They expressed great regret at losing us; and, to prove the
disinterestedness of their good-will, would accept no presents in
return. They unanimously assured us, that of all nations whose ships had
visited their island, none pleased them so well as the Russians. They
took leave of us with the most cordial embraces, and many of them shed
tears. They accompanied us in their canoes to the mouth of the Bay, and
were standing out to sea, when a sudden and violent gust of wind