CoLENSo. — Presidential Address. 117 



A few observations from our early scientific and thoughtful 

 voyagers may prove interesting : — 



Captain Basil Hall, during a cruise in the southern ocean, 

 refers to the varying position of the stars of the Southern 

 Cross as seen from his ship at sea. " I have observed it," he 

 remarks, "in every stage, from its triumphant erect position, 

 between 60° and 70° above the horizon, to that of complete 

 inversion, with the top beneath, and almost touching the 

 water. This position, by the way, always reminded me of 

 the death of Sc. Peter, who is said to have deemed it too great 

 an honour to be crucified with his head upwards. In short, 

 I defy the stupidest mortal that ever lived to watch these 

 changes in the aspect of this splendid constellation and not 

 to be m some degree struck by them." 



Again, the remarks recorded by M.M. von Spix and Karl 

 von Martius, in their account of their scientific travels in 

 Brazil in 1817-20, give a very fair specimen of the feelings 

 experienced on these occasions. It is related by them that, 

 " on the 15th June, in lat. 14° south, we beheld for the first 

 time that glorious constellation of the southern heavens, the 

 Cross, which is to navigators the token of peace, and, accord- 

 ing to its position, indicates the hours of the night. We had 

 long wished for this constellation as a guide to the other 

 hemisphere ; we therefore felt inexpressible pleasure when we 

 perceived it in the resplendent firmament. We all contem- 

 plated it with feelings of profound devotion as a type of our 

 salvation." 



The scientific Humboldt has expressed his thoughts in 

 almost similar terms. Eeferring to his first view of the con- 

 stellation, he observes that, " We saw distinctly, for the first 

 time, the Cross of the South, on the night of the 4th and 5th 

 of July, in the 16th degree of latitude. The pleasure felt on 

 discovering the Southern Cross was widely shared by such 

 of the crew as had lived in the colonies. In the sohtude of 

 the seas we hail a star as a friend from whom we have been 

 long separated. Among the Portuguese and the Spaniards 

 peculiar motives seem to increase this feeling — a religious 

 sentiment attaches them to a constellation the form of which 

 recalls the sign of the faith planted by their ancestors in the 

 deserts of the new world." And, again, Humboldt remarks, 

 " How often have we heard our guides exclaim, in the savan- 

 nahs of Venezuela or in the deserts extending from Lima to 

 Truxillo, ' Midnight is past, the Cross begins to bend.' " 



I feel the more inclined to give you those items as not 

 infrequently in my own lonely night-watches on the open 

 plains during my long travels in the olden time, fifty to sixty 

 years ago, I have been visited and impressed with similar 

 thoughts and feelings in looking up and contemplating the 



