xlvi Proceedings of the South Africa7i Philosophical Society. 



prepared the scheme of education which was adopted and lias been 

 followed almost to the present time. 



To return now to Maclear and his work. Maclear brought to bear 

 upon the difficulties which Fallows and Henderson encountered all 

 the energy and practical talents which distinguished him. By 

 exchange and sale and purchase of land the Observatory property 

 was consolidated. By the preparation of well-considered plans, and 

 untiring persistence in urging their execution, he ultimately succeeded 

 in getting suitable outhouses and other pressing works carried out ; 

 better communication with the main road to Cape Town was 

 established, and a windmill was erected for the supply of water from 

 the then unpolluted Liesbeek Eiver, trees were planted, earth was 

 carted, and as time went on the barren hillsides were covered with 

 verdure, fruit trees grew in the most favoured spots, and a wide belt 

 of pine and wattle broke the force of the south-easters. Maclear 

 grew each day more and more attached to the place which he had 

 made habitable, and he became more and more at heart a colonist. 

 His bright nature knew no difficulties, he was daunted by no official 

 neglect, but returned again and again to press on the execution of 

 any scheme which he deemed essential to the welfare of the 

 Observatory. His frank and cordial manners were peculiarly suited 

 to win him favour wherever he went, and contributed in an extra- 

 ordinary degree to forward some of his great works. 



I have dwelt thus at length on these circumstances of the first 

 years of Maclear's life at the Cape, because a fair estimate of his 

 work cannot be arrived at without their due consideration. In the 

 face of Henderson's, reports it required no small courage to throw up 

 a lucrative profession and betake himself and his family to a distant 

 colony where the conditions of life appeared so uninviting. It was 

 no small part of his work to ameliorate those conditions and to secure 

 to his successors at least the ground work of refined and comfortable 

 surroundings. 



These administrative duties in no way interfered with the scientific 

 labours of Maclear's office, for to these no man ever gave himself up 

 with more untiring energy. From the date of his arrival the transit 

 instrument and the mural circle were kept in constant use. Under 

 the clear skies of the Cape it was inevitable that with a man of such 

 a temperament observations would far exceed the computing powers 

 of a small staff. The personal establishment of the Observatory was 

 much too limited to enable the astronomer to reduce and publish the 

 great mass of observations which he accumulated ; to do this would 

 have required several assistants and an adequate staff of computers, 

 and these Maclear had not. The wonder was not that the observa- 



