e 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 fetch it, I steered for the island of Fernando de Noronha on the
coast of Brazil, in order to determine its longitude, as I could not
find this had yet been done. Perhaps I should have performed a more
acceptable service to navigation, if I had gone in search of the island
of St Paul, and those shoals which are said to lie near the equator, and
about the meridian of 20 deg. W.; as neither their situation nor existence
are well known. The truth is, I was unwilling to prolong the passage in
searching for what I was not sure to find; nor was I willing to give up
every object, which might tend to the improvement of navigation or
geography, for the sake of getting home a week or a fortnight sooner. It
is but seldom that opportunities of this kind offer; and when they do,
they are too often neglected.

In our passage to Fernando de Noronha, we had steady fresh gales
between the S.E. and E.S.E., attended with fair and clear weather; and
as we had the advantage of the moon, a day or night did not pass without
making lunar observations for determining our longitude. In this run,
the variation of the compass gradually decreased from 11 deg. W., which it
was at Ascension., t