ASTRONOMICAL AND GEODETIC OBSERVATIONS. 19 



Adopting the value 4'' 52°' 0" for the longitude of Port Foulke, we have the 

 longitude of Cairn Point 4'* 51"" 02' ; the observer used a smaller difference of longi- 

 tude from which I infer that the chronometer correction of the 8th was preferred 

 with an average rate of — 2". 5, in this case we have AT' on Port Foulke time 

 •—8" 37', hence the latitude of Cairn Point 4'' 51" 14', which is adopted (see also 

 determination from bearings further on). 



Returning to the longitude of Port Foulke, by means of the laiown meridian 

 of Van Rensselaer Harbor determined by Kane, we have the astronomical longitude 

 of the latter place, as computed by me from moon culminations, occultations, and 

 an eclipse^ 4'' 43" 31% also Cairn Point west of Van Rensselaer Harbor by Kane's 

 large track chart 11" 32', and by the above. Port Foulke west of Cairn Point 46^ j 

 hence longitude of Port Foulke 4"" 55" 49% a result certainly too large, which can 

 only be accounted for by an over estimation of the distance between Kane's winter 

 quarters and Cairn Point; this apparent excess amounts to 13g miles in linear 

 measure; part of it, however, we must attribute also to the meridian adopted for 

 each of the observatories.^ 



For the longitude of Port Foulke the value 4"^ 52" 00^ or 73° 00' west has been 

 adopted. The probable uncertainty of this value is one statute mile. 



The following positions were determined by Dr. Hayes (or party) on his trip 

 across the strait and up the west coast of Kennedy Channel in April and May. He 

 started from Cairn Point April 20, 1861. 



Camp Separation, Smith Sound. 



Observations for latitude of camp, April 25th, 1861. 

 Meridian altitude of the sun. S. J. McCormick, observer. 

 2© 

 48° 27' 00" T= — 12° 

 Index correction . + 1 00 B = 29"'.9 at 51° as recorded at Port Foulke, it 



Altitude ... 24 14 00 answers as a rough approximation. 



Refraction — par. 



Semidiameter . . + 15 55 Approximate longitude 4" 48i" west of Greenwich. 



Maximum altitude 

 S at apparent noon 



* 78 52 55 



' Smithsonian Contributions, 1860: Kane's Astronomical Observations in the Arctic Seas, p. 33. 



° I have also attempted to work out a result for longitude from three observed double altitudes of 

 the moon's lower limb February 17, 1861; the observations, however, were found too crude, the 

 sextant reading was given to the nearest minute onlv. 



24 



14 



00 





2 



20 





15 



55 



24 



27 



35 



13 



20 



30 



