IMcKav.— 0;; Telescopic PJiotognqjhi/. 461 



answer. It uvAy be that Kutherford was a deserter from one 

 of those ships whicli, in the early days, so often visited the 

 northern part of the island for the purpose of procuring kauri 

 spars. Supposing this to have been the case, it would be an 

 object of supreme imjDortance with him that he should escape 

 detection ; and it would be a great help to him in securing 

 this object if he could induce the natives among whom he 

 found a home to confer upon him the honour of a tattooed 

 face ; and it would be with the same object in view that he 

 concocted the plausible story of the capture of the " Agnes,'^ 

 and of his forcible detention in a distant part of the country, 

 to account for his appearance on his emerging once more into 

 the civilized world. 



Art. LIII. — 0)t some Means for increasing the Scale of 

 Photographic Lenses and the Use of Telescopic Powers in 

 connection irith an Ordinary Camera. 



By Alexander McKay, F.G.S. 



[Read before the WeUuiglon Pliilosophical Society, 13tli August, 1S90.] 



Occasionally notices appear in works devoted to, or inci- 

 dentally treating of, advances in photographic art, by which 

 it is evident that telescopic photography in its application to 

 ordinary landscape views is engaging the attention of those 

 aiming at improvements in photographic apparatus. 



There seems also to be a difference of opinion as to how 

 far irzic sharpness and distinctness is a virtue in a landscape 

 photograph. No doubt in this respect the distant parts should 

 be rendered in due subordination to the middle and fore- 

 ground parts of the picture. This matter in most cases takes 

 care of itself, and very frequently the complaint is well 

 founded that the distant parts of the picture are indifferently 

 rendered. In my opinion the defects here spoken of are only 

 too common. 



Again, in approaching the outskirts of a mountainous 

 country, such as the Southern Alps of New Zealand, or the 

 Seaward or Inland Kaikouras in the north-east part of the 

 South Island, there are many excellent combinations which,, 

 on account of the distance, cannot by an ordinary instrument 

 be rendered except on a very small scale, and then totally 

 devoid of anything like detail. This difficulty or impossibility 

 has often been a matter of great regret to myself, since, when 

 the mountain-range is viewed from such a distance as admits 

 of a picture being taken on a scale sufficient to show anything 



