568 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 
tides and the limited rise prevailed in the other islands of the 
Pacific. In a note in the Voyages, speaking of the Friendly 
Tslands, he said, ‘‘ At these islands the tides are more considerable 
than at any other of Captain Cook’s discoveries in this ocean— 
that are situated within either tropics. At Annamooka it is high- 
water near 6 o’clock on the full and change of the moon, and the 
tide rises and falls about six feet upon a _ perpendicular. 
In the harbour of ‘Tongataboo the tide rises and 
falls four feet and a half at the quadratures.” (Cook's, 
Voyages, fol. ed. p. 470). The -Rev. Mr, ile ya 
missionary who spent some years in the Sandwich and Society 
Islands, falls into a similar mistake. In his Polynesian Researches, 
he says, “Among the natural phenomena of the South Sea 
islands, the tide is one of the most singular, and presents as great 
an exception to the theory of Sir Isaac Newton as is to be met 
with in any part of the world. The rising and falling of the 
waters of the ocean appear, if influenced at all, to be so ina small 
degree only, by the moon. The height to which the water rises 
varies but a few inches during the whole year, and at no time is 
it elevated more than a foot, or a foot anda half.” (Vol. 4, 
p- 28). The writer on the subject of ‘‘ Waves,” in the Penny 
Cyclopedia, speaking of the tide-wave in the Pacific, says, “In 
the Pacific Ocean the general direction of the tide-wave is 
from east to west; but the heights of the tides are small, 
not exceeding two feet at the islands of the South Sea. 
It is observed, however, by Mr. Whewell (P22. Zrans., 1833) 
that this must not be understood to be the tide which would be 
raised if the whole earth were covered with water, on account of 
the modifications produced by the form of the continent of South 
America. The most eastern part of New South Wales,* between 
25 deg. and 30 deg. south lat., has the high-tide earlier than 
points which are situated towards the north or south of that 
tract. Peculiarities in tides, arising from the interference of 
waves, occur in many different places. In the middle of the 
North Sea there is supposed to be a considerable space, within 
which the tide produced by the waves coming from the north and 
south takes place at one time. And Mr. Whewell states, on the 
authority of Captain Hewett, that about the Ower Shoal there is 
no sensible rise of the tide till three hours after the time of low 
water; but, when the ebb-stream has nearly ceased, there is a 
sudden rise of five or six feet, so that nearly the whole rise of the 
tide occurs in the last three hours.” This writer has repeated the 
misleading statement that the phenomenon noticed in the eastern 
islands is the rule throughout the Pacific. Such is far from being 
the case, and the oscillations of the tide-wave in all the other 
islands I find are governed by the lunar and solar influences as 
* Formerly ; now north of New South Wales and south of Queensland. 
