we have done, and many of them arrived at this place in a far worse State; and yet not one of the Ships took any water in at Princes Island. The same may be said of the Harcourt Indiaman, Captain Paul, who sail'd from Batavia soon after our arrival, directly for the Coast of Sumatra; we afterwards heard that she, in a very short time, lost by Sickness above 20 men; indeed, this seem to have been a year of General Sickness over most parts of India, the Ships from Bengal and Madrass bring Melancholly Accounts of the Havock made there by the united force of Sickness and famine.
Some few days after we left Java we saw, for 3 or 4 evenings succeeding one another, boobies fly about the ship. Now, as these birds are known to roost every night on land they seem'd to indicate that some Island was in our neighbourhood; probably it might be the Island Selam, which Island I find differently laid down in different Charts, both in Name and Situation.
The variation of the Compass off the West Coast of Java is about 3° W., which Variation continues, without any sencible difference in the Common Track of Ships, to the Longitude of 288° W., Latitude 22° 0′ S. After this it begins to increase apace, in so much that in the Longitude of 295°, Latitude 23°, the Variation was 10° 20′ W.; in 7° more of Longitude and one of Latitude it increased 2°; in the same space farther to the W. it increased 5°; in the Latitude of 28° and Longitude 314° it was 24° 20′; in the Latitude 29° and Longitude 317° it was 26° 10′, and continued to be much the same for the space of 10° farther to the W.; but in the Latitude of 34°, Longitude 333° we observed it twice to be 284° W.; but this was the greatest Variation we observed, for in the Latitude of 354°, Longitude 337°, it was 24°, and continued decreasing, so that of Cape Laguillas it was 22° 30′, and in Table Bay it was 20° 30′ W.
From what I have observed of the Current it doth not appear that they are at all considerable until you draw near the Meridian of Madagascar, for after we had made 52° of Longitude from Java head we found, by observation, our Error in Longitude was only 2°, and it was the same when we had made only 19°. This Error might be owing partly to a Current setting to the Westward, or, what I thought most likely, that we did not make sufficient allowance for the set of the Sea before when we run, and, lastly, the assum'd Longitude of Java head might be wrong. If any Error lays there it Arises from the imperfection of the Charts I made use of in reducing the Longitude from Batavia to the above mentioned Head, for it cannot be doubted but the Longitude of Batavia is well Determined. After we had passed the Longitude of 307° we began to find the Effects of the Westerly Currents, for in 3 days our Error in Longitude was 1° 5′; its Velocity kept increasing as we got to the Westward, in so much that for 5 days successively, after we had made the land,
