ead, Var. 3 deg. 25' E. Dip 53 deg. 20' S.
West, three yards from it, 6 10
S. E. three yards, 10 5
S. S. E., ten yards, 8 6 52 19
North, four, 6 55
N. E., twenty, 6 50 50 35
N. N. E., one-sixth mile, at the water side, 7 6 50 28
S. E., one-third mile, at ditto, 8 2 50 50

There are here no differences equal to those found by captain Cook; but
it is to be observed, that he used a ship's azimuth compass, probably not
raised further from the ground than to be placed on a stone, whereas my
theodolite stood upon legs, more than four feet high. The dipping needle
was raised about two feet; and by its greater inclination at the top of
the hill, shows the principal attraction to have been not far from
thence. The least dip, 50 deg. 28', taken at the shore on the north side of
the head, was doubtless the least affected; but it appears to have been
half a degree too much, for at Port Bowen, twenty-two miles further
south, it was no more than 50 deg. 20'. An amplitude taken on board the ship
in the Sound by lieutenant Flinders, when the head was S. S. W., gave
variation 8 deg. 39', or corrected to the meridian, 7 deg. 40' east. As Pier Head
lay almost exactly in the meridian, from the ship, its magnetism would
not alter the direction of the needle; and I therefore consider 7 deg. 40' to
be very nearly the true variation, when unaffected by local causes: in
Port Bowen, it varied from 7 deg. 40' to 8 deg. 30' east.

Notwithstanding this very sensible effect upon the needle, both
horizontally and vertically, I did not find, any more than captain Cook,
that a piece of the stone applied to the theodolite drew the needle at
all out of its direction; nevertheless I am induced to think, that the
attraction was rather dispersed throughout the mass of stone composing
Pier Head, than that any mine of iron ore exists in it. The stone is a
porphyry of a dark, blueish colour.

MONDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 1802

On the 6th, at noon, when the observations were finished and I had
proposed to quit Thirsty Sound, the wind and tide were both against us.
To employ the rest of the day usefully, I went over in the whale boat,
accompanied by the landscape painter, to the 6th, 7th, and 8th
Northumberland Islands, which, with many low islets and rocks near them,
form a