November io, 1892] 



NA TURE 



41 



It may be mentioned that an Astronovtische Nachrichten 

 circular note contains rather a modified edition of the above 

 places deduced from observations made on October i6, 20, and 



25- 



Thus for the 13th, the R.A. is given as 2oh. 54m. 24s. (app.), 

 and declination (app.) + 1° 54''5 ; and for the 17th, R.A. 

 (app.) 2ih. 6m. 39s, and declination (app.) + 0° 46'4. 



Comet Brooks (August 28). — Owing to the rapid 

 brightening of Comet Brooks, we give the following ephemeris 

 continued from the same source as mentioned last week {Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten, No. 3125). 



\2h. Berlin M.T. 



1892. 



Decl. app. 



Log r. 



Log A. 



Br. 



o 0985 ... 9-9861 ... 15-61 



00847 ••• 9"97^2 .. 17-81 



+ 3 i8-7 



2 24-6 



I 29 6 

 + 33-8 



-O 22*9 



1 20-3 



2 18-4 

 OCCULTATION OF MaRS AND JUPITER BY THE MOON. — 



Prof. Barnard communicates his ob-ervations of the occultation 

 of Mars and Jupiter by the moon, which occurred in one week 

 during last September, to the Astronomical Journal, No. 276. 

 The instrument used was the 12-inch equatorial and the seeing 

 was defined as being very fine on both occasions. At the dis- 

 appearance of the former planet, which took place at the dark 

 limb of the moon, nothing very striking was noticed, the moon's 

 limb at that point being sharp and not dusky, as had been 

 previously seen in an occultation of Jupiter. The times of 

 disappearance and appearance (Mount Hamilton mean time) 

 were : — 



Disappearance. Reappearance, 



h. in. s. h. m. s. 



9 9 358 ... 10 45 56-0 (IS. late?) 



9 10 4 ... ID 26 17 



9 10 371 ... 10 26 52-2 

 In the case of Jupiter, which disappeared at the bright limb, 

 a narrow shadow band was noticed fringing the limb where the 

 planet appeared to cut it. This is due, as Prof. Barnard thinks, 

 to the effect of contrast. The times of contacts were as 

 follows : — 



Disappearance. Reappearance, 



h. m. s. h. in, s. 



17 28 10-4 ... 18 33 17-5(25. late?) 

 17 28 550 ... 18 33 50 

 17 29 45-7 ... 18 34 33-7 

 Motion of the Solar System. — The question of the exact 

 position of the point in the heavens to which the sun with his 

 system is travelling has been the object of much research and 

 computation, and the present co-ordinates are now considered 

 as being about R.A. 267° and declination -^ 31°. 



The determination under consideration {Astronomical Journal, 

 No. 276) has been undertaken by Prof. J. G. Porter, and is 

 based on the proper motions of 1340 stars, contained in the 

 Publication of the Cincinnati Observatory, No. 12. The method 

 employed for computing the co-ordinates of the apex of the 

 sun's way is that of Prof. Schonfeld ; the stars were grouped 

 in four divisions, Division I. including those whose yearly 

 proper motion was less than o"-30 and contained 576 stars ; 

 Division If., mo'.ion from o"-30 to o"-6o, containing 533 stars ; 

 Division III., motion from o" -60 to l"-20, containing 142 stars ; 

 and lastly, Division IV., the motion exceeding l"-20, 70 stars 

 being included. From these four groups the following values 

 have been deduced, where a and t represent the co-ordinates 



of the apex of the sun's course and ^ the velocity of the sun's 



P 

 motion : — 



1st contact 

 Half obscured 

 2nd contact 



1st contact 

 Half obscured 

 2nd contact 



The last determination of these co-ordinates was made, if we 

 are not mistaken, by Prof. Stumpe, and were given in Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten, Nos. 2999-3000. The values there de- 



NO. 1202, VOL. 47] 



duced agree very well with those in question, with the exception 

 of T in Group I. and <r in Group IV., which consequently throw 

 the mean values rather out. Adopting the same notation, he 

 obtained — 



I. Group ... 287-4 ••• +42 o 

 II. „ ... 2797 ••• 40s 



III. „ ... 2879 ... 32-1 



IV. „ ... 2852 ... 30-4 

 Summing up the values obtained by some 



the following table gives the co-ordinates obti 



Gauss . . . 

 .\rgelander 

 O. Struve 

 Madler ... 

 Airy 



Dunkin ... 

 Rancken 

 Birchoff... 

 L. Struve 

 Stumpe ... 

 Porter ... 



... 0-140 



... 0295 

 ... 0-608 

 ... 2057 



previous workers, 

 .ined : — 



No. of stars used 

 in reduction. 



... 390 



••• 392 



... 2163 



... 113 



... II67 

 106 



... 480 



... 2509 



.. 1054 



... 1340 



M^ 



SOME REMINISCENCES OF THE MAORIS. 

 R. W, COLENSO, F.R.S., has often been asked to record 

 some of his reminiscences of the Maoris, whom he has 

 for very many years had opportunities of studying. This he has 

 now done in a paper printed in the Transactions of the New 

 Zealand Institute (vol. xxiv. ), some extracts from which may be 

 of interest for various classes of readers. He says : — 



Of the Mako Shark. — Fifty years ago (to go no further back) 

 a Maori chief would be known by wearing certain emblems or 

 insignia indicative of rank, one of which was the tooth of the 

 viako as an ear-pendant ; and, as such were plentiful, though 

 distributed, the thought often occurred to me in my early 

 travelling days. What a number of the fish mako there must 

 have been captured or obtained by the Maoris to yield such a 

 large number of teeth ! Moreover, on inquiry I invariably 

 found that all the teeth I saw were prized heirlooms, and had 

 descended to the present possessor through several generations, 

 and (as far as I could learn) none had been recently acquired. 

 And while, when travelling along the sea-coasts for many a 

 league on both sides of the North Island during several years, 

 and always on foot, I had both seen and heard of a number of 

 large sea-animals (fishes and mammals) that were driven on 

 shore on the sandy beaches in severe gales from the sea, I 

 never knew of a single mako shark, nor had the Maoris resident 

 on those shores ever heard of one being cast up. 



In replying to my numerous inquiries by letter respecting the 

 mako, made many years ago, an intelligent aged Maori chief 

 living on the east coast wrote as follows (or, rattier, he being of 

 the old school, and unable himself to write, a young adherent 

 did so at his dictation). I give a literal translation of portions 

 of his letter : — 



" You ask, did I ever see a mako fish ? Yes ; and it is a very 

 large creature, the biggest of all the sharks {mango)— xa length 

 2 fathoms measured {erua maro whanganga nei), and in thick- 

 ness I foot. It is a true shark, but called by us a mako on 

 account of its teeth. You also inquire concerning its fat or oil, 

 and the edible qualities of its flesh, whether considered choice 

 by us Maoris. Now, there are many kinds of shark, as the 

 mako, the karaerae, the pioke, the ururoa, the uatini, the 

 tahapounamu, the taiari, the latere, and the mangotara, and I 

 have not eaten of them all, and therefore I do not know how 

 nice or how fat they all are; and so of this one, iht mako. 

 But, my friend, this fish was never desired as an article of 

 food — never so used by us Maoris. The only part of it that we 

 sought and greatly desired to have was its head, and this solely 

 on account of its teeth. When caught out- at the deep-sea 

 fishing-grounds its body was never hauled into the canoe, but 

 the head was cut off while it was still in the sea and alongside 

 of the canoe {ka tapahia moanatia te upokd) : this done, and the 

 head secured, the body was left to drift away on the sea. The 

 head was also immediately wrapped up securely in a clothing- 

 mat {kahu), lest it should be noisily wondered at by those who 



