Feb. 20. 1879I 



NATURE 



Zll 



The commemoration of the centenary of Cook's death 

 by the Paris Geographical Society on Friday seems to 

 have been thoroughly successful. Several addresses 

 were given, showing the services done by Cook to 

 geography, to humanity, to navigation, and to science. 

 M. Huber gave an account of Cook's career, showing how 

 he dispelled the tenacious notion of an Antarctic conti- 

 nent, gave England New Zealand and Australia, discovered 

 a multitude of islands, simplified nautical astronomy, 

 studied oceanic currents,the variations of the compass, and 

 the '■' Aurora Australis," laid down principles of hygiene, 

 still of value, and opened new horizons to civilisation and 

 religion. He paid a tribute to Cook's care of his crews, 

 his mildness and forbearance towards the natives, his 

 resort to reprisals only when the interests of the expedi- 

 tion or the lives of his men were imperilled, his intrepidity 

 and inventiveness. In connection with Cook' s death, M. 

 Huber briefly adverted to the native account of the 

 tragedy, as published four years ago by M. de Varigny, 

 fourteen years a member of the Sandwich Islands Govern- 

 ment. It is in the shape of a poem on Captain Cook, 

 attributed to Kupa, an eye-witness of what happened. It 

 describes how two forests were seen gently floating on the 

 waters ; how Kupa and others were ordered to swim up to 

 them ; how they found Goords, who breathed out fire and 

 smoke from their nostrils and mouths, had dazzling white 

 skins and sparkling eyes, wore skins of various colours, 

 with holes in the sides, into which they plunged their 

 hands, and which appeared full of treasures. A god with 

 his thunderbolt kills Kupa's father, whereupon the other 

 swimmers take to flight. The priest declares that the 

 floating island is the war vessel of the god Lono, who, 

 aftermurdering his wife through jealousy, left Hawaii long 

 ago to explore the seas, and had now returned, according 

 to his promise, after six generations. He bids the natives 

 take them bananas, cocoa-nuts, and oranges, which are 

 accepted. At night Lono and his fellow-gods shoot 

 hissing arrows of fire at the stars, making some of them 

 fall into the sea. Flames of strange colours descending 

 from the trees of the floating islands and extraordinary 

 sounds alarmed the natives. Next morning Lono lands ; 

 is treated as a god, with sacrifices and prostrations ; but 

 whether from anger, or from having forgotten the lan- 

 guage, he makes no answer. Several of his inferior gods 

 seize on sacred fish destined for the altar. Others begin 

 pulling up the palisades surrounding the sacred inclosure, 

 the Morai, where the elders meet. King Kalaimano re- 

 monstrates, but they laugh and persist. Lono comes up, 

 crosses the sacred boundary, and is about to enter the 

 Morai. Kalaimano intercepts his progress, but Lono 

 rudely pushes him away. Kalaimano takes Lono up in 

 his arms, and, on his struggling to free himself, presses 

 him lightly. Lono cries out with pain. " He cries, so 

 he is not a god," exclaims Kalaimano, and kills him. The 

 other gods, who were pulling up the stakes, fly, but the 

 natives fall on them, and, strange to say, their blood flows 

 like that of mortals. Kalaimano, however, while launching 

 arrows from the shore is killed by the invisible fire. Thus 

 your fathers, concludes Kupa, saw the death in one day 

 of their god and their chief. In this song the two visits 

 of the vessels are fused into one. This confirms the story 

 we referred to last week, and the impression that it was 

 not treachery but vexation and disappointment that led to 

 Cook's death. Much surprise, the Times correspondent 

 states, was expressed in conversation at the inaction of the 

 London Geographical Society. In Paris not only was a 

 special festival organised with collections, which remained 

 (m view till Monday, but the Society has inserted in its 

 Bulletin Mr. James Jackson's catalogue of the 300 works 

 published in various languages relating to Cook. Dr. 

 Hamy referred to Cook's observation of the transit of 

 Venus at Tahiti, the rivalry and attacks of DalrjTnple, 

 and the fate of Cook's collections in being buried in an 

 Austrian museum. He described Cook as ranking with 

 Columbus and Magellan. 



We understand that the forthcoming number of the 

 Monthly Record of Geography, published by the Royal 

 Geographical Society, will contain a full bibliography 

 and cartography of Zulu Land. 



The Russian Geographical Society proposes to give its ' 

 great gold medal to Prof. Nordenskjold. — The Berlin 

 Geographical Society has given its gold medal to M. 

 Prjvalsky. 



We hear that Capt. Henry Sengstacke, who had in- 

 tended to accompany Dr. Otto Finsch in his projected 

 scientific expedition among the islands of the Pacific, 

 is shortly about to proceed to Behrings Straits for the 

 relief of Prof. Nordenskjold. Capt Sengstacke took a 

 leading part in recent German Arctic expeditions, and 

 had but lately returned from the west coast of America. 

 At his special request the Council of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society have, we understand, undertaken to 

 furnish him with copies of the sailing directions for, and 

 the latest and best charts of, the part of the world which 

 he is now about to visit. The latest information, however, 

 with regard to the relief of N or denskj old's party seems 

 to be contained in the following telegram received by the 

 Russian Government from the Governor- General of East 

 Siberia : — " Irkutsk, Januar)- 28. — Sibiriakoff telegraphs 

 to me from Zurich that a steamer belonging to Bennett 

 wUl, immediately after the opening of the navigation, 

 proceed from San Francisco to Behrings Straits to assist 

 Nordenskjold. It is therefore not necessary to send a 

 steamer from Nicolajefsk." 



At the last meeting of the Berlin Academy of Sciences 

 an account ^vas given of the programme of Dr. Finsch's 

 journey, the cost of which will be defrayed by the Hum- 

 boldt Fimd, and which is estimated at about 13,000 

 marks (650/.). Dr. Finsch wiU direct his principal atten- 

 tion to Polynesia, He wiU proceed to Honolulu via New 

 York and San Francisco ; thence he will visit the Mar- 

 shall and King'smill group, the Caroline, Mary Anne, 

 and Bonin Islands, and he intends to return via Japan, 

 China, and the Philippine Islands. 



MOVING OF HEAVY ORDNANCE 



MODELS of the poop and topgallant forecastle decks 

 of H.M.S. IriSy and midship main deck of H.M.S. 

 Dwarfy are now exhibited by T^Ir. George Fawcus at 

 the floating dock, North Shields, to explain how naval 

 ordnance can be traversed and trained round elliptical 

 or circular stems and parabolic bows of vessels, from side 

 to side amidships, or from a point blank or direct broad- 

 side, to a fore and aft range of barbette or over all fire 

 "all round" without any changing of pivots ; and how 

 muzzle-loading guns can be turned round to load in 

 board, to avoid the inconvenience of loading in front, 

 and thus obtain all the presumed advantages of breech- 

 loading ordnance. 



A simple and compact mechanical motion has been 

 developed from the action of the trammel or ellipto- 

 graph, and is communicated rapidly along the diameters 

 or minor and major axis of an ellipse or oval, cis a shorter 

 road than slowly round the circumference, with a small 

 elliptical circuit instead of a circular segment of a larger 

 circle. Two moving pivots replace a single central one. 

 These pivots mutually assist each other to produce a 

 reciprocal compound lever movement, one good graceful 

 turn being succeeded by another, and are kept each in its 

 own track of two intersecting straight lined grooves, which 

 may be adjusted, by various angles of intersection and 

 varied distances of the centres apart from each other, to 

 obtain any imaginable curvilinear movement, so that 

 guns of all kinds can be worked in. less space with greater 

 ease of movement, and therefore with less labour and 

 waste of time, than has ever yet been previously effected. 



