170 COOK S VOYAGE TO DEC. 



how went to superintend this duty in the room of Mr. 

 King, who remained on board, to attend the observ- 

 ation of the eclipse. 



The next day, Mr. Williamson dispatched the two 

 boats back to the ship* laden with turtle. At the 

 same time, he sent me a message, desiring that the 

 boats might be ordered round by sea, as he had 

 found a landing-place on the & E. side of the island, 

 where most of the turtle were caught ; so that, by 

 sending the boats thither, the trouble would be saved 

 of carrying them over the land to the inside of the 

 lagoon, as had been hitherto done. The boats were 

 accordingly dispatched to the place which he pointed 

 out. 



On the morning of the30th, the day when the eclipse 

 was to happen, Mr. King, Mr. Bayly, and myself 

 went ashore on the small island above-mentioned, 

 to attend the observation. The sky was over-cast till 

 past nine o'clock, when the clouds about the sun dis- 

 persed long enough to take its altitude, to rectify 

 the time by the watch we made use of. After this 

 it was again obscured, till about thirty minutes past 

 nine, and then we found that the eclipse was begun. 

 We now fixed the micrometers to the telescopes, and 

 observed or measured the uneclipsed part of the sun's 

 disk. At these observations, I continued about three 

 quarters of an hour before the end, when I left off, 

 being, in fact, unable to continue them longer, on 

 account of the great heat of the sun, increased by 

 the reflection from the sand. 



The sun was clouded at times, but was clear when 

 the eclipse ended) the time of which was observed as 

 follows : 



h. m. s. 

 ( Mr. Bayly 1 (0 26 3). i irr . 



By J Mr. King I at J 26 1 L A PPajent lime 



(Myself ) (0 25 37 ) 

 Mr. Bayly and 1 observed with the large achromatic 

 telescopes, and Mr. King with a reflector, As Mr. 



