afternoon. 



26 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



" Wednesday, 8th, p.m. : Fresh breeze at N.N.W., and 

 hazy, rainy weather ; the remainder a gentle breeze at W.S. W. 

 and clear weather. ... At noon I observed the sun's 

 meridian, zenith distance, by the astronomical quadrant, 

 which gave the latitude 36° 47' 43" S. ; this was in the river 

 before mentioned, that lies within the south entrance of the 

 bay. 



" Thursday, 9th : Variable light breezes and clear weather. 

 At 8 Mr. Green and I went on shore with our instruments to 

 observe the transit of Mercury, which came on at 7h. 20' 58" 

 apparent time, and was observed by Mr. Green only. I at 

 this time was taking the sun's altitude, in order to ascertain 

 the time. The egress was observed as follows :— 



-r, ,, r, ( Internal contact at 



By Mr. Greenj ^ x ^ 



-d -.o J Internal „ 



y ^ { External „ 



Latitude observed at noon, 36° 48' 28". The mean of this and 

 yesterday's observation gives 36° 48' 5h" S. the lat. of the 

 place of observation, and the variation of the compass was at 

 this time found to be 11° 9' E." 



Locally the place pointed out as the site of the observatory 

 is on the promontory immediately above Shakespeare Cliff. 

 Captain Gilbert Mair informs me that when he was there 

 about 1862 an old Maori showed him a bare spot on this hill 

 as the place where Captain Cook had his instruments. I have 

 examined this spot, and I find that the surface soil has been 

 removed for a few square yards, leaving the solid rock ex- 

 posed ; but whether this has been done by the hand of man 

 or has been denuded by the wind and rain at this lapse of 

 time it is impossible to say. Against this testimony Mr. Percy 

 Smith, late Surveyor-General, to whom I wrote to see if he 

 could throw any light on the subject, says that he was at 

 Mercury Bay in the early " sixties," and the Maoris working 

 on his party pointed out a position on the sandy flat near the 

 mouth of Oyster Eiver (Purangi) as the place where the 

 observations were taken. However, owing to the dispersion 

 of the original inhabitants, I think it very doubtful if any 

 reliance can be placed on native testimony given ninety years 

 after the event, as it would be at that date, and about a mat- 

 ter that would hardly be likely to impress itself upon the 

 aboriginal mind in comparison with the many other incidents 

 in connection with the " Endeavour's " visit. So that we are 

 at last brought back to the log, and have to try what can be 

 got from it and the surrounding circumstances. 



We have a minor trig, station, marked " 0," on the point 

 above Shakespeare Cliff, a few yards to the west of the 



