The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. V. Being the First of the Third VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. V. Being the First of the Third Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
“Its circumference, I think, must be at least half a mile; as it took us
above half an hour to walk round it, including every allowance for the
bad road, and stopping a little. At its highest part, which is the south
end, comparing it with a known object, it seems to equal the dome of St.
Paul’s church. It is one uninterrupted mass of stone, if we except some
fissures, or rather impressions, not above three or four feet deep, and
a vein which runs across near its north end. It is of that sort of stone
called, by mineralogists, _Saxum conglutinatum_, and consists chiefly of
pieces of coarse _quartz_ and _glimmer_, held together by a clayey
cement. But the vein which crosses it, though of the same materials, is
much compacter. This vein is not above a foot broad or thick; and its
surface is cut into little squares or oblongs, disposed obliquely, which
makes it look like the remains of some artificial work. But I could not
observe whether it penetrated far into the large rock, or was only
superficial. In descending, we found at its foot a very rich black
mould; and on the sides of the hills, some trees of a considerable size,
natives of the place, which are a species of _olea_.[102]
“In the morning on the 20th, we set out from the _Pearl_; and going a
different road from that by which we came, passed through a country,
wholly uncultivated, till we got to the _Tyger_ hills, when some
tolerable corn-fields appeared. At noon, we stopped in a hollow for
refreshment; but, in walking about here, were plagued with a vast number
of musquitoes or sand-flies, which were the first I saw in the country.
In the afternoon we set out again, and in the evening arrived at the
Cape Town, tired with the jolting waggon.”
On the 23d, we got on board the observatory, clock, &c. By a mean of the
several results of the equal altitudes of the sun, taken with the
astronomical quadrant, the astronomical clock was found to lose on
sidereal time, 1ʹ 8ʺ, 368 each day. The pendulum was kept at the same
length as at Greenwich, where the daily loss of the clock on sidereal
time, was 4ʺ.
The watch, by the mean of the results of fifteen days’ observations, was
found to be losing 2ʺ 261, on mean time, each day; which is 1ʺ 052 more
than at Greenwich: and on the 21st, at noon, she was too slow for mean
time by 1^h 20ʹ 57ʺ 66. From this, 6ʹ 48ʺ, 956, is to be subtracted, for
what she was too slow on the 11th of June at Greenwich, and her daily
rate since; and the remainder, viz. 1^h 14ʹ 08ʺ 704, or 18° 32ʹ 10ʺ,
will be the longitude of the Cape Town by the watch. Its true longitude,
as found by Messrs. Mason and Dixon, is 18° 23ʹ 15ʺ. As our observations
were made about half a mile to the east of theirs, the error of the
watch, in longitude, is no more than 8ʹ 25ʺ. Hence we have reason to
conclude, that she had gone well all the way from England, and that the
longitude, thus given, may be nearer the truth than any other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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