impropriety
of allowing a variation upon the ship's course, from observations taken
elsewhere than at the binnacle.

THURSDAY 30 JULY 1801.

We continued our course for Madeira, with fair winds. Our latitude on the
30th, was 30 deg. 5' north, longitude 15 deg. 31' west; and in the afternoon
Porto Santo was seen, bearing west-north-west; the wind then became light
and variable, and soon afterwards died away. The variation observed on
the binnacle by the master, when the head was south-west-by-south, was
22 deg. 45', but on the booms 19 deg. 51'; the true variation being as I believe,
20 deg. 51' west.

FRIDAY 31 JULY 1801.

It was calm on the 31st, and I had a boat lowered down and went round the
ship with the carpenter, to inspect the seams near the water line, for we
had the mortification to find the ship beginning to leak so soon as the
channel was cleared, and in the three last days she had admitted three
inches of water per hour. The seams appeared sufficiently bad, especially
under the counter and at the butt ends, for the leak to be attributable
to them; and as less water came in when the ship was upright than when
heeling to a beam wind, I hoped the cause need not be sought lower down.
Before hoisting up the boat, a small hawke's-bill turtle was picked up;
and between this time and that of anchoring in Funchal Road, several
others were seen, and a second, weighing about thirty pounds, was caught.

SATURDAY AUGUST 1 1801.

Aug. 1, at noon, Porto Santo bore N. 11 deg. W., and the rocky islands called
_Dezertas_, from N. 65 deg. to S. 85 deg. W. distant three leagues. The south end
of these islands lies, by our observations, in latitude 32 deg. 24' 20"
north, which differs less than one mile from its position in Mr.
Johnston's chart of the Madeiras. There being little wind next morning
[SUNDAY AUGUST 2], I went off in one of the cutters, accompanied by
Messieurs Brown and Bauer, the naturalist and natural-history painter, to
the southernmost island, called _Bujio_, which was not far distant. On
the way, I shot several birds of the puffin kind, one of which had a
fathom of small brass wire attached to its wing. The distance of the land
proved to be more considerable than was expected; and there being a
current setting southward we did not reach the shore until near three in
the afternoon, when it was necessary to think of returning.

[AT MADEIRA--FUNCHAL ROAD]

A small ledge of rocks, which projected a litt