st Cape, and at nine I set Mount De
Witt over it at N. 22 deg. W., our distance from the cape being then about
three miles.

Seven islands and rocks were counted to the eastward, lying at different
distances from the coast; and the wind having veered to west, permitted
us to pass within them. At noon, the shore to the north being too near
for the sun's altitude to be observed, its supplement was taken to the
south, and gave the latitude 43 deg. 271/2'. A steep head which lies N. 79 deg. E.
four or five miles from the south-west Cape, then bore S. 74 deg. W., three
miles;* whence the latitude of the Cape should be 43 deg. 29', which is 10
_less_ than given by captain Furneaux, and 8' by captain Cook. This
difference naturally excited some suspicion of an error in the
observation, and I measured the supplement in the same manner on the
following noon, when it gave 2' 40" _less_ than the latitude determined
by D'Entrecasteaux in Storm Bay. The South-west Cape is therefore placed
2' 40" further south than my observation gave it; that is, in latitude
43 deg. 32'.** The longitude of the Cape, from the observations taken off
Rocky Point and brought forward by the survey, would be 145 deg. 47'; but its
situation in 146 deg. 7', by captain Cook, appears to be preferable:
D'Entrecasteaux places it in 146 deg. 0'.

[* This head opened round the Cape at E. 14 deg. N.. magnetic, the sloop's
head being E. by N.; and shut at W. 20 deg. S., when the head was north. In
the first case I allow 31/2 deg. east variation, and in the last, 8 deg.; which
makes them agree as nearly as can be expected from bearings taken under
sail.]

[** Captain Furneaux says (in _Cook's second Voyage_, Vol. I. page 109),
that on March 9, 1773, at noon, the South-west Cape bore _north, four
leagues_; and by referring to the _Astronomical Observations_, p. 193, I
find that his latitude was 43 deg. 45 2/3', which would place the Cape in 43 deg.
33 2/3'; nevertheless the captain says it is in 43 deg. 39', and it is so
laid down in his chart. The observation by which captain Cook appears to
have fixed the South-west Cape, is that of Jan. 24, 1777, at noon; when
he says, "our latitude was 43 deg. 47' south" (_Third Voyage_, Vol. I. p.
93.) But the _Astronomical Observations_ of that voyage show (p. 101),
that the observed latitude on board the Resolution was 43 deg. 421/2'; which
would make the Cape in 43 deg. 321/2' south. I consulted captain King's journal
at th