CHAPTER IV 



THE SOUTHERN HEAVENS 



" A million torches lighted by Thy hand 



Wander unwearied through the blue abyss; 

 They own Thy power, accomplish Thy command, 

 All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss." -Derzhavin. 



AT night, when we were not watching the clouds 

 and the sea, we gazed at the stars. Less than a 

 week after sailing the Polestar sank so low toward the 

 misty horizon behind us that we could no longer see it. 

 One by one the familiar constellations of the north 

 disappeared from view. We began to look for the 

 appearance of the Southern Cross. One evening just 

 after sunset we saw * the pointers, ' Alpha and Beta 

 Centauri, but the Cross had already set. On the 

 following evening we made out the Cross just above the 

 horizon. It was a distinct disappointment to many 

 who beheld it for the first time. ; The flaming Southern 

 Cross, " about which so much has been said and written, 

 cuts a rather sorry figure in the sky. The captain of 

 the ship said to me as we stood looking at the constella- 

 tion : ' It is not a true cross. ' The stars are not located 

 in relation to each other in such a way as at first glance 

 to suggest the outline of a symmetrical cross; and 

 furthermore they are too widely separated from each 

 other to make the constellation impressive. In fact 

 there are a couple of other groups of stars in the south- 

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