OPERATIONS IN THE PENINSULA. 367 



to induce us to abandon that theory. The great 

 nicety in making the pole-star observations is well 

 understood, and it will be made more manifest in 

 the case before us by increasing or diminishing the 

 half sum of the angles with the meridians, recipro- 

 cally taken at Mu/iapunnabeita and Savetidroog, by 

 one second only, when it will appear that a difference 

 of nearly one hundred and Jifty fathoms, in the perpen- 

 dicular degree, will be occasioned thereby. 



I am fully aware of the delicacy necessary in taking 

 these angles, and I am also aware that some eminent 

 mathematicians consider the method of determining 

 the difference of longitude by the convergency of 

 meridians as insufficient in these low latitudes ; yet I 

 am of opinion that by repeating these observations 

 whenever stations can be found, either in the same, 

 or in different latitudes, the truth may ultimately be 

 very nearly attained. I at one time had determined 

 on increasing the number of observations at Mulla- 

 piinnabetta, Savendroog and Yerracondah, on my re- 

 turn to the eastward ; but when I was at Mullapun- 

 nabetta a second time, and had increased the number 

 of pole-star observations there to eighteen, and had 

 also taken several other angles between Saxendroog 

 and the referring lamp, and after all finding that the 

 angle between the meridian and Savendroog was al- 

 tered only -^ part of a second, I did not think it ne- 

 cessary to go to the other stations, particularly as 

 the observations there had been made under the most 

 favorable circumstances. It is, notwithstanding, 

 desirable that many more measurements of the kind 

 should be made, and that other methods should be 

 tried for getting the length of a degree of longitude, 

 particularly that of carrying a good time-keeper be- 

 tween two meridians at a known distance, a method 

 which has been strongly represented to me by the 

 Astronomer Royal, and which I mean to put in prac- 

 tice in the course of jny future operations. I had 

 also devised another method by the instantaneous 

 extinction of large blue lights fired 2ii Savendroog, the 

 times of which were to be noticed by observers at 



