sini, however, calls them " very exact and very accordant*". I cite these examples, not for the sake of discrediting astronomers who have so many titles to our esteem, but to prove that a sextant of five inches radius would have been more useful to the Abbé Chappe than his quadrant of three feet radius, difficult both to place and to verify. Don Vicente Doz placed San Jose at 23° 5' 15" latitude. The longitude of this celebrated village in the annals of astronomy was deduced from the transit of Venus, and from the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, observed by Chappe, and compared with the tables of Wargentin. M. Cassini fixed it by a medium at 7h 28′ 10′′, or 112° 2' 30". Father Hell adopted 71 37′ 57′′ for San Jose. The longitude which results from Chappe's observations is 3° 12′ farther east than the one adopted in 1768 in the map of Alzate t. M. Velasquez too, the Mexican astronomer, constructed a small observatory in the village of St. Anne, where he observed by himself the transit of Venus, communicating the result of his observation to M. Chappe and Don Vicente Doz. This result, published by M. de Cassini, agrees very well with the manuscript observations which I procured at Mexico, and might * Voyage en Californie, p. 106. + Nouvelle Carte de l'Amérique Septentrionale, dediée à l'Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris par Don Joseph Antoine de Alzate et Ramiret, 1768. serve to determine the longitude of St. Anne. Moreover, M. Velasquez, before the arrival of the Abbé Chappe, knew the enormous error in the longitude of California; he had observed eclipses of Jupiter's satellites in 1768 at the mission of Santa Rosa *; and he communicated to the European astronomers the true longitude before they had time to make the slightest observations. The position of Cape San Lucas, called in Cortez's time Santa de San Jago †, has been determined by the Spanish navigators. I found in manuscripts preserved in the archives of the vice Estado de la Geografia de la Nueva España y modo de perfeccionar la por Don Jose Antonio de Alzate (Periodico de Mexico, Diciembre 1772, No. 7, p. 55.) + Mapa de California por Domingo de Castillo, 1541. M. Aranza, viceroy of Mexico, employed M. Casasola, lieutenant de frégate of the royal marine, to unite in four manuscripts whatever was connected with the navigations performed to the north of California, under the viceroys Bucarelli, Florez, and Revillagigedo. These works consist, 1st, in an atlas of twenty-six maps drawn up from the observations of MM. Perez, Canisarez, Galeano, Anadra, and Malaspina; 2d, in a large folio volume, entitled, Compendio historico de las Navegaciones sobre las costas septentrionales de California ordenado en 1799 en la ciudad de Mexico; 3d, in the voyage to the north-west coast of America, performed by Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, commanding the frigates Sta. Gertrudis, Aranzasa, Princesa, and the goëllette Activa, 1792; and, 4th, in a Riconociemiento de los quatros Establecimientos Russos al Norte de la California en 1788, a curious expedition executed by order of the viceroy Florez, and described by. royalty of Mexico, and compiled by order of the Chevalier d'Aranza, that M. Quadra found Cape: St. Lucas 22° 52′ of latitude, and 4° 40′ to the west of the port of S. Blas, which, in placing S. Blas with Malaspina in 107° 41′ 30′′, gives 112° 21' 30" for the most southern cape of California. The expedition of Malaspina fixed (according to M. Antillon) Cape S. Lucas at 22° 52′ of latitude, and 112° 16′ 47′′ of longitude. This chronometrical position was also adopted in the atlas which accompanies the voyage of the Spaniards to the. Straits of Fuca; it is, however, 17′ 15′′ more western than that published (on what authority I know not) in the Knowledge of Times for 1808. I have adopted a difference of meridian between San Jose and the Cape of 14' 17"; but it is to be observed, that these two points having never been connected together, but fixed singly by independent observations, there may be an error in the distance. From what I have gathered from those who have visited these arid desert regions, it would appear that the difference of longitude is somewhat greater. In the time of Cortez, Cape S. Lucas was believed to be 22° of latitude, and 10° 50′ to the west of the meridian of Acapulco, a relative longitude which is correct to within nearly half a degree. Don Antonio Bonilla. Part of these valuable materials has been given to the public in the Relacion del Viage de las Galetas Sutil y Mexicana, published at Madrid in 1802. * The coast of New California has been explored with the greatest minuteness by the Spanish expedition of the galleys Sutil and Mexicana in 1792, and the country from 30° of latitude, or from the mission of S. Domingo, by the expedition of Vancouver. Malaspina and the unfortunate La Peyrouse had also made observations at Monterey. Though it may be supposed that the direction of the coasts and the differences of longitudes of several points are perfectly determined, it is difficult to fix their absolute longitudes; for the observations of lunar distances by Vancouver place the north-west coast of America 28′ to the east of the position in longitude assigned to it by Cook and Malaspina's expedition *. It would be very curious to examine the influence of the new lunar tables of Bürg on these observations of the English navigator. I have given the preference to the absolute longitude of Monterey, deduced from the operations of Malaspina, not only because it is founded on eclipses of stars and satellites, but particularly because the Spanish observations connect as it were, by transference of the time, New California with the old. The corvettes la Discubrerta and l'Atrevida, commanded by Don Alexandro Malaspina, determined chronometrically the difference of longitude between Acapulco, S. Blas, Cape S. Lucas, and Monterey. In adopting * Voyage de Vancouver autour du monde, T. II. p. 46. As the more eastern position of the latter port, that is to say, what is given by Vancouver, the geogra pher is uncertain as to the situation of the southern coast. To avoid this difficulty, I have followed Malaspina in placing Monterey at 36 35' 45' of latitude, and 124° 23′ 45′′ of longitude*. La Peyrouse† found the longitude by lunar distances 123° 34' 0", by the chronometer 124° S'O'‡. Vancouver deduced a longitude of 123° 54' 30" from 1200 distances of the moon from the sun. the latter had leisure to survey the situation of the coast with the most scrupulous accuracy, I have ventured to rely on the difference of longitude indicated by him between Monterey and the missions of S. Diego, S. Juan, S. Buenaventura, S. Barbara, and S. Francisco. In this manner the positions of all these points have been connected with that of Monterey. Had I, however, traced all the north-west coast from the sole observations of Vancouver, I should have been tempted to render the longitude of Cape S. Lucas more eastern. It is sufficient to have here indicated the striking difference which yet subsists, notwithstanding the great pains bestowed, between the English and * Analysis de la Carta de Antillon, 1803, p. 50. ↑ M. Triesnecker, in correcting the result obtained by La Peyrouse, found by means of the lunar observations of Greenwich the longitude 123° 42′ 12′′ in place of 123° 34' 0" (Zach Corr. T. 1. p. 173.) |