vations, and the first day's rate was almost exactly the same as
that with which we had quitted Upper Head; whilst No. 543 differed
greatly, both in longitude and rate. A similar discordance had been
noticed at the Cumberland Island, marked _l2_, twenty days after leaving
Upper Head; No. 520 then differed only 1' 1.2" from the survey, but No.
543 erred 7' 2.2" to the east. I have therefore been induced to prefer
the longitude given by No. 520, to the mean of both time keepers; and
accordingly, the positions of places before mentioned or laid down in the
charts, between Upper Head and Sweers' Island, including Torres' Strait,
are from this time keeper alone; with such small correction equally
proportioned; as its error from the lunars, 2' 50.2" to the east in
fifty-two days, made necessary.

No. 543 had undergone some revolution on the passage, but seemed at this
time to be going steadily; whereas No. 520, which had kept its rate so
well, now varied from 18.79" to 25.39", and ceased to be entitled to an
equal degree of confidence.

Mean _dip_ of the south end of the needle, observed upon the west point
of Sweers' Island, 44 deg. 27'.

_Variation_ of the theodolite in the same place, 4 deg. 7' E.

_Variation_ of the surveying compass in the Road, 2 deg. 28' with the ship's
head E. N. E, and 4 deg. 30' with the head northward; the mean corrected to
the meridian, will be 4 deg. 31' E.

In bearings taken on the east side of Bentinck's Island, the variation
appeared to be a full degree greater than on the west side of Sweers'
Island.

The _tides_ in the Investigator's Road ran N. N. E. and S. S. W., as the
channel lies, and their greatest rate at the springs, was one mile and a
quarter per hour; they ran with regularity, but there was only one flood
and one ebb in the day. The principal part of the flood came from N. N.
E.; but according to lieutenant Fowler's remarks on shore, between the
23rd and 27th, it was high water three hours after the opposite tide had
set in; or about _three hours and a quarter before_ the moon came to the
meridian. At the Prince of Wales' Islands, and at Coen River, it had also
appeared that the tide from south-west made high water. The time here
happened between 81/2h and 111/2h at night, from the 23rd to the 27th; but
whether high water will always take place at night, as it did at King
George's Sound on the South Coast, I cannot be certain. About twelve feet
was the greatest rise, which I