84 J. Waterhouse — An Account of the Tidal [No. 1, 



ducts. The operations were considerably facilitated by the employment of 

 Bull's Patent Dredgers for scooping out the soil under the sinking masonry. 

 (At Ilanstal, where the soil was firm, the masonry well was unnecessary). 

 The masonry well was completed to the full depth of 25 feet by the 4th 

 December, and by the 20th the cylinder had been set up, the piping con- 

 nected with* the sea had been laid out into deep water, the observatory was 

 erected and the several self-registering instruments — a tide-gauge, an ane- 

 mometer and an aneroid barometer — were all in position and ready for the 

 preliminary trial of their performances. By the 23rd everything was com- 

 plete, the instruments were all working well, and Capt. Baird was about 

 to proceed to the next station, when an accident happened through a native 

 boat drifting down past the station about 3 in the morning of the 24th 

 December, and dragging her anchors across the flexible pipe, smashing it 

 and carrying off a large portion of it as well as the buoys, anchors &c. Be- 

 ing on the spot, Capt. Baird was able to rectify the damage and to ar- 

 range for protecting the piping by laying out and anchoring hawsers around 

 it. Guards were also provided to prevent boats from approaching the buoys. 

 Thus this accident, though very annoying at the time, proved of use in 

 showing the necessity of taking special precautions for the protection of 

 the piping from injury. Similar measures were taken at the other stations, 

 and these precautions were essential to the success of the operations, be- 

 cause in case of any similar accident happening to injure the piping, the 

 native subordinate who would ordinarily be left in sole charge of the station 

 to keep the instruments in order and look after their performances, would 

 be unable to repair the damage without the personal help of Capt Baird 

 or the European assistant, to obtain which would probably cause suspen- 

 sion of the tidal registrations for a fortnight or more, and greatly impair 

 the value of the observations. 



While engaged in completing the arrangements at Okha, Capt. Baird 

 sent his assistants in advance to Hanstal and Nawanar to sink the wells, 

 erect the observatories and get everything ready for him to set up the 

 instruments. 



The observatory at Okha was fixed on three cross-beams fitted on the 

 tops of six large piles embedded 8 feet in the sand. The cylinder was about 

 2 feet from the eastern end ; the tide-guage being of course as nearly as 

 possible in the centre of the building. The aneroid barometer was placed 

 carefully on a shelf at one corner. The anemometer was fixed to a shelf so 

 that the upright pipe passed through the roof close to the ridge at the 

 western end (the rain-gauge being close to it on the outside) . A platform 

 was made to get at the anemometer easily, and this served a double purpose, 

 as it was also the framework for a guard to protect the pendulum and clock 

 of the tide-gauge, and cloth having been fixed all round it, kept any wind 

 from getting to the joendulum. 



