DEG 
The following year Godin rea id a aia to the fame eff-&, 
accompanied by the fame offer. It was not long before the 
king’s confent was eee and Be eee eg been pro- 
cured from the court of Spain, Coudamine, Godin, and 
ouguer embarked on au Gal eiaved se enn Rocheile, 
on ie 16th of May, 1735 
No fooner had this expedition left France than M. Mau- 
pertuis ibaa to the miniker, the count de Maurepas, 
that a fill greater oleae would be obtained by gue 
poflible co the pole. In confe- 
carry this defiga into execution. The academicians appoint- 
e > make this sae voyage were Maupertuis, Clai- 
rault, and Mon nier; thefe were added the Abbe Outhier, 
who pofleffed code ble {kill in — obfervations. 
They left France in the year 1736, and arrived at - 
a town fituated ns the poten extremity of the gulf of 
Bothnia, abou hea ng of {ummer. The country 
t 
deftined to be ie ene of this important operation is flrange 
and inhofpitable beyond defcription ; and the entrance of 
{cience into thefe dreary abodes, almoft on the confines of 
the world, forms a contraft fo flriking, as to excite the molt 
livély intereft i in the difficulties they had to encounter; nor 
do wethink the reader will be difpleafed to find their na 
e, and defcription of the oy: blended with the re 
tie account of their proceedin 
Their firft defign was to efablita their fignals on the coaft 
Bothnia; but this, from local circumflances, 
Fortunately, by following the 
courfe of the river = nei, which runs peel north pee fouth, 
the mountains on each fide were found ee 
tant points of view, eal adapted for < a ae si ee 
ni 
ate deferts, and oe fummits A thie mountains, which were 
to form their triangles. 
The months of July and Auguft were {pent in exploring 
thefe mountains, erecting fignals, determining the angles of 
and choofing a proper place for their bafe, the 
as it was to be m 
verity of the cold fhould have el its furface. 
The angles of their triangles were meafured on a quadrant 
of two feet radius, the centre being placed i in the centre = 
the {tation ; the elevation or depreflion of the adjoining ae 
was likewile obferved, by — aos could reduc ae 
to the plane of the 
ane a Pome obfe are were finifhed at Kittis by 
Septemb The zenith diftance of 3 dra- 
n 
meridian with the fignal at Pullingi was found, b 
the precife moment of time when the fun paffed the ac. 
_ treme, that 
E E. 
For this purpofe they had a {mall moveabie tranfit infrument, 
the telefcope of which was 15 inches. The axis of this beirg 
levelled, and the fignal bifeéted, they obferved the time an 
the clock, when the fun’s centre paffed the vertical wire of 
telefeope 5 by calculat ating the eee of the fun anfwer- 
ing to the time of obfervation, irect a Pullingi with 
the meridian line was found to be 28° 
aving completed all that was nec eflary t 0 be done at 
bane they loft no time in removing to eee, where the 
ived the end of O&ober. Here the fame obfervations 
were repeated as had been at ne The Seth diftances 
of the fame far: was obferved, and the dire@tion of the meri- 
dian eflimated by the fame Se) as defcribid above, dif- 
fered about 30” from the determination at Kittie. 
he angles of the triangles, the amplitude of the arc, 
and the direction of the meridian oe an nothing 
ined a to meafure the Lafe. As s operatic n 
der peculiar difficulties, we fhe i ane the 
account of it, as ne y M. Maupeituis himlelf « On Frie 
D He 
the meafure . our bafe towards Avafaxa, where it lay. 
this feafon the fun but juft appeared above the horizon x 
0on ; but the long twilight, the whitenefs of the fhow, and 
the meteors that are continual! y blazing in the fky, afforded 
attended by fo m 
romt 
1 fhall a Tele of the fatigues end dangers of this 
procefs. Judge what it muft be to walk in {now two feet 
deep, with heavy ie in our hands, which were continually 
to be laid on a fnow and lifted up again, inaccld fo exe 
never we withed to tafte a little brandy, the 
ek ae jae co “ a bee liquid, our tongues and 
ze to the cup, a e away bloody :—In a cold that 
congealed the fi caper rs 0 eae of us, and thr eatened us -with 
more difmal accidents ii 
to our tine a th 
I 
The feverity eo ee. as above related, did not pre« 
vent them from ai ts the meafurement of their bafe, 
with greater exactoefs than they had dared to hop e for. 
They made ufe of eight deal rods, of 20 feet each in dean, 
and aad ged as above mentioned, being divided into two 
s, taking four of thefe rods, each meafured the fame 
saad cadepeuea ntly of the other. the whole meafure- 
nt of 7406 aa only four ae difference was found 
Racer the two meafures. ole party now retreated 
to Tornea, where they {pen nt a. winter. Here 
the meature of their bafe to their triangles, and found the 
arc, included eee the parallels oe Tons and Tornea, 
to be 55,0234 toifes, its amplitude being § +9 27s his 
was nearly 1000 toiles greater than it fhonld j ave been, ace 
cores : pies theory = Ceffin. 
‘ ‘I'he town of Tornea, at our arrival, on the 30th of D 
ember, bad really a aoe frightful afped. Tts honfes were 
buried to the tops in fnow, which, if there had been a any day 
Pp2 Mi ight 
