On the Evidence of Certain Phenomena, &c. 311 
conjectural hypotheses adduced by able writers, as satifactory dis- 
proof of a series of well observed facts. But to return to the “ Notes 
of an Observer,’ who proceeds to particularize his exceptions as 
follows. 
“For example: In p. 132 he says, ‘In large portions of the Pacific Ocean, the 
tides are exempt from the lunar influence. At Tahiti and the Georgian group, 
near the centre of the Pacific Ocean, the tide rises but one or two feet, and it is 
high water at noon and midnight throughout the year, and this, too, in the very 
region where the established theory would lead us to expect the lunar tides to be 
meaning, if I understand _ Psa paragraph, that this is the prevailing direc 
tion of the wind at that place.’ 
Without inquiring whether the closing inference here quoted be 
justly warranted by the paragraph to which he alludes, I have to re- 
mark that itis possible that my statement in regard to the tides at the 
Society Islands, and certain other parts of the Pacific, may prove not 
to have been sufficiently guarded. We should naturally think that, 
even in the absence of such lunar influence, the momentum of the 
tides from other portions of that great ocean would necessarily affect 
the equilibrium of the surface at these islands; and Prof. Whewell, 
in his able elucidation of the cotidal lines, has given the time of high 
water at these islands, without any direct intimation of such phe- 
nomena. But, we have the authority of gentlemen who have_ been 
attached for many years to the English missions at these islands, 
and who, from their known habits of life, must be supposed to be 
thoroughly conversant with the facts of the case, in support of the 
statement which I have made. ‘The following statement of -the 
Rev. William Ellis, one of the gentlemen alluded to, and who has 
returned to England, may be found in his Polynesian Researches, at 
p- 289, Vol. I, of the second London edition. 
“ 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 in a very 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. The sea, however, often rises to an unusual height, 
but this appears to be the effect of a strong wind blowing some time 
one quarter, or the heavy swells of the sea, which flow from 
