THE ilAGELLANIC CLOUDS. 345 



nebulae in Nubecula Major they are only as 1 : 8, while the 

 ratio of the isolated stars is about 1 : 3. The catalogued 

 stars, almost 800 in number, are for the most part of the 7th 

 and 8th magnitudes ; some few belong even to the 9th and 

 10th magnitudes. There is in the middle of the larger 

 cloud a nebula, noticed by Lacaille, (30 Poradus, Bode, 

 No. 2941 of Sir John Herschel's Catalogue,) which is said to 

 resemble no other nebulous body in form. Although it 

 occupies scarcely 7 ^th f * ne area f the whole cloud, Sir 

 John Herschel has determined the position of 105 stars of 

 from the 14th to the 16th magnitude in this space. These 

 stars are projected on the wholly unresolved, uniformly bright 

 and unspeckled nebula. 91 



The Black Specks which attracted the attention of Portu- 

 guese and Spanish pilots as early as the close of the 15th and 

 the beginning of the 16th centuries, circle round the southern 

 pole opposite to the Magellanic Light- clouds, although at a 

 greater distance from it. They are probably, as already 

 remarked, the Canopofosco of the "three Cauopi," described 

 by Amerigo Vespucci in his third voyage. I find the first 

 definite notice of these spots in the 1st Decade of Anghiera's 

 work, " De Rebus Oceanicis" (Dec. 1, lib. 9, ed. 1533, 

 p. 20, 5.) " luterrogati a me nautae qui Vicentium Agnem 

 Pirizonum fuerant comitati (1499), an antarcticum viderint 

 polum; stellam se nullam huic Arctics similem, quae discern! 

 circa punctum ^polumr) possit, cognovisse inquiunt. Stel- 

 larum tainen aliam, ajunt, se prospexisse faciem densamque 

 quandain ab horizoute vaporosam caliginem, quee oculos fere 



fl See Observ. at the Cape, 20-23 and 133, the beautiful 

 dr wing, pi. ii. fig. 4, and a special map of the graphical 

 analysis. PI. x. as well as Outlines, 896, pi. v. %. 1. 



