20 MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Hilo ou May 29, we arrived at Honolulu tbe next day. Here Mr. Preston and Mr. Beown left 

 the party in order to undertake pendulum observations on tlie island of Maui. On the evening of 

 June 3 the rest of the party embarked on Pacific Mail steamship Zealandin (Captain Webber) and 

 after a disagreeable passage arrived at San Francisco on June 11. 



We had been absent from the United States for one hundred and one days, during which we 

 had traveled some 1,500 miles; seventy days had been i)assed at sea. We had undertaken the 

 exi)edition with a willingness to undergo any hardships or discomforts for the sake of the astro- 

 nomical opportunity, but the difficulties vanished as we saw them nearer. Not a mishap of any 

 kind occurred to interfere with the success of our work, and the entire voyage and the stay on the 

 island was a beautiful snrprise to us. 



Fifty days of our journey were spent on the U. S. S. Hartford, and it is a pleasure for me to 

 return the thanks of the expedition to the officers and men of this vessel for their constant and 

 thoughtful kindness and willingness. We have especially to thank Captain Carpenter and 

 Lieut. Commander Edwin White for their promptness in landing our bulky cases under rather 

 exceptional difficulties. Four of the officers of the Hartford volunteered to aid us in our observa- 

 tions on Caroline Island, and l>y the courtesy of Captain Carpenter they were detailed for the 

 service. Their reports follow in order, and they will show how intelligent and valuable assistance 

 was given. To these gentlemen. Lieutenant Qualtrough, Dr. Dixon, Midshipmen Fletcher 

 and Doyle, we desire to make this formal tender of our sincere thanks. 



It should appear that while Congress and the National Academy appropriated an adequate 

 sum for our current expenses, we still owe to the Navy an aid at least equal. We had the intelli- 

 gent assistance of four trained observers ou the island and the willing aid of the officers and crew 

 of a large war vessel, and without these our difficulties and expenses would have been greatly and 

 seriously increased. 



IV.— CAROLINE ISLAND. 



^ 1. HISTORY.— By Prof. E. S. Holden. 



The sum of our knowledge of Caroline Island, before the arrival of the Eclipse Expedition, was 

 given in the following extract from Findlay's South Pacific Directory (1877, page 742) : 



'• Caroline or Thornton Island, is 7 to 8 miles long, N.NE. and S.SW., and from 2 to 3 miles 

 wide, well covered with cocoanut and other trees, of tolerable height, which render it visible at a 

 distance of 16 to 20 miles. It consists of many islets of various sizes, encircling a lagoon. The 

 reef on the windward side breaks, except at the NE. point, to the distance of a mile from the south 

 point of the island. This reef sends out two branches to a distance of 1^ miles — one toward the 

 SE., the other toward the S W. and is consequently dangerous to appi'oach at night. The reef is 

 close to the islets on the west side, and no breakers were seen on the NW. point. There is no an- 

 chorage, but a landing (not always safe) may be effected on the north side of the SW. bifurca- 

 tion, described above and uear the spot where the English flag is hoisted on a mast. There are 

 about thirty inhabitants and the resident European is Mr. Brown. It was taken possession of by 

 Captain Nares, H. M. S. Reindeer, for the English, and its latest assigned position is lat. 9° 5i' S., 

 long. 150° 6' W." 



From various hydrographic notices we also learned that Caroline Island was first seen by Cap- 

 tain Boughton in 1795. He assigned the position long. 150° 25' W., and lat. 9° 57' S., and he 

 gave it the name it now bears. At one time it was called Thornton Island. It was visited in 1870 

 by Lieutenant ChauviniJire, of the French transport Somme, and in 1868 by Captain Nares, R. N., 

 who took possession of it for the British. The chief occupation of the inhabitants, who numbered 



