126 Observations relating to the Operations underiaken 
finished at the Fort it was necessary to go and repeat them in 
the Orkneys, the uttermost limit of the English arc. But Col. 
Mudge perceived that it was possille to connect the Orkneys 
with the Shetland isles, by triangles whose apices should rest 
upon the isles, or rather upon the intermediate rocks, of Faro 
and Foula. This plan extended the new arc two degrees to the 
north, and this was sufficient to decide the matter. The ar- 
rangement had still another advantage, of very different im- 
portance, which consisted in carrying the English line of opera- 
tion two degrees towards the east, almost upon the meridian of 
Formentera. By this fortunate change the English operation 
became the prolongation of ours, and the two together form an 
are almost equal to the fourth part of the distance from the pole 
to the equator. If one might hope that the different nations of 
Europe would agree to choose the base of a common system of 
measures in nature, is there not here an element. the most’ beau= 
tiful and the most certain that could be adopted? And _ this 
are, which leaving the Balearic isles, traverses Spain, France, 
England, Scotland, and stops at the rocks of the ancient Thule, 
being taken in combination with the flattening of the earth, 
which is deduced from the measurement of the pendulum, or 
from the theory of the moon,—will it not give for fundamental 
unity, a measure the most complete, and I dare say the most 
European that can ever be expected ? 
‘When the possibility of this great project was conceived, it 
absorbed all our thoughts: but the delicate health of Colonel 
Mudge did not permit him to realize these hopes in person, and 
he intrusted the execution to one of his officers. He gave me 
his son, whose assistance had been of such service, and which 
might still be of much more. My apparatus, the portable ob- 
servatory, the large stones and the iron chains were all embarked, 
with the instruments of the English operation, in the Investigator 
brig-of-war, commanded by Captain George Thomas, whose ac- 
tivity and skill do not certainly stand in need of any praise of 
mine, but whose politeness demands all my gratitude. This 
officer was so good as to take me on board his ship to Aberdeen, 
where, during a short stay, I experienced the most distinguished 
hospitality. On the 9th of July we sailed for Shetland. We 
were long at sea, and bitterly regretted the loss of so many fine 
nights for observations. Leaving the Orkney mountains upon 
our left, on the sixth day we discovered the Isle of Faro, which 
saw the vessel of the Invincible Armada broken to pieces upon 
her rocks. The peaks of Shetland appeared, and on the 18th 
of July we landed near the southern point of the isles, where the 
Atlantic billows uniting with those which come from the séa of 
Norway, cause a continual swell and a perpetual tempest. 
. The 
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