® 
DEG 
licht, would have effe€tually fhut it out ; but the {now conti- 
nual! ly falling, or ready to fall, commonly hid the fun for the 
few moments that he might have been vifible at neon-day. In 
the magth of January the cold was increafed to thatextremity, 
thet Mr Reaumur’s mercurial thermometers. which at Paris, 
in the grdyt froft, 1709, it was thought ae to fee fall 
74 degrees$elow the freezing ae were new got down to 
37% he ipirit of wine in the fi 
ry breaits in pieces, and the eeckia 
tearing ot 
y as the violence of the frost 
L 
of which cur houfes were made, ; 
folic it, continually pee us with an approaching increafle 
of cod. The folitude of the Lircets was no lefs than if the 
inhabitants had been all cead; and in this country you may 
mie {ee people that have been maimed, and had an arm or a 
The cold, which is at all times very great, 
increafes fometimes by fuch fudden and violent fits, as almoft 
iufallibly to be fatal to thofe who happen to be expcfed to 
it. Sometimes there rife fudden tempeits of {now that‘are fiill 
smore dangerous. The winds fcem to blow a all quarters 
at once, and drive about {now Sie fuch 
moment all the roads are i appy he who ie furprifed 
y fuch a ftorm in the fields ; his segun aie ws with the coun- 
try, or the marks he may have taken e trees, cannot avail 
feo j hei is blinded by the {now, and loft if he flirs but a 
for determining the apelin e of the ar e 
xed on « inthe fame conflellation; and i fe 
during the months of March and April, at both the ftations, 
s dh en befor hey und th litud 
547’ 304", which only exceeds the former determination 34”, 
‘Tornea not being exa@ly on the fame meridian line as Kittis, 
but 31,495 toiles to the eaitward, a correction of 3.48 
toifee was opp to 
Some minute 
obfervations with the fecétor. ‘The Hae as determined 
above, is too long by above 200 toifes, according to the late 
meafurement of the Swedifh aftronomers. This corre{ponds 
to an error of 10” in the amplitude of the arc. 
y his operations, to repeat ‘the obfervation on 
that had been forme chofen by the 
ed the ifthmus which feparates the two continents, and em- 
barking at Panama, arrived at Manta on the coaftof Peru, in 
the month of March, 1736. t this place the party fepa- 
rated, and afterwards arrived ee Cifferent routes at Quito, 
REE. 
They had ae joined. at Carthagena by Don George Juans 
and Don onta Uiloa, marine officers in the Spanifh fer. 
vice, who were ord:red by the king of Spain to facilitate 
the labours of the French ae ae by all the affiftance 
power to give. culties which prefented 
hemehe on the firlt furvey af ae country were even more 
formidal than thofe which had occurred in the expedition to 
The fummits a e lofty mountains on each 
f Quito are not ee covered with perpetual 
» but almoli always a one miit or clouds. No- 
thing but the moft ardent zeal for de eee a ea enter= 
prize could have enabled them to hav fev 
promfing a tafk. Suceels was not grey ean 
and this was theucht fufficient encouragem ent to perfevere. 
It was oftea necefla ary to wait for weeks at a ftation to get a 
ee eas opportunity of viewing the furrounding country ; 
n this occurred, they found perhaps that their fig- 
nais ey disper) either overturned by the violence of 
the hurricanes, or ftolen by the neighbouring Indians, The 
Spanifh government did not feem difpofed to render them 
uch efficacious affiftances as they were entitled to expect 
from the nature of their m eae aud we perceive with regret 
ve acc s, that there was a want of that 
union and cordiality amon Gee Ives fo neceffary to enable 
them to profecute with cheerfulnefs fo laborious an under- 
= 
“ 
po) 
king. 
With thefe difficulties and vexations, they ee eight 
years before their operatio ns were completed ; and it was 
nearly ten years after their departure from snes before 
they iy with the fruit of their labour 
e now give, as Lriefly as poffible, < an outline of their 
operations 
alee arrived at Quito, their firft care was to feleé& 
a {pot fi r the serie of a bafe, an 
fortunate on meeting with a tolerably level fituation, in a 
New 
plain called Yarouls in lito. party divided 
into two, Godin with Don George Juan, an uguer with 
Condamine. ‘Thefe each meafured the bafe 6272 toifes, and 
ome difficulties occurred in meafuring the bafe, but ped 
were nothing compared to thofe they encountered in co 
ructing the triangles. 
rountcut: fome covered with p 
operation was pleted for two years: Godin and 
Don Juan fin ithed ae oe at Cuenca, but afterwards 
we them to Pueblo an me about 3 a degree 
to the fouth, the whole arc nee 
The arc meafured by Coa ae “Bou uguer wa3 not 
quite fo long; it extended by the medium of 32 t ag 
from the equinoCtial line bey ae the third degree o fou 
latitude. The extreme ftations were Cotchefqui on fe 
north, and Tarqui on the fouth. A bafe of verification was 
officers was put to the fame teft 
by a fimilar verification of a bafe meafured on the plain of 
Cuenga. 
reft of the oe was likewife conducted by fepa- 
and Con 
determining the amplitude of the arc. Their 
efforts to obtain a fatisfa€tory coincidence were fora long 
time ineffe@tual. Their fetor of 12 feet radius met with 
frequent derangements, and the length of time neceflary 
for its removal from one extreme ftation to the other ren- 
dered the obfervations very difcordant ; for at that time the. 
theory 
8 
