The Tides in South Pacijie. 149 
Singular as the thing is, and though made a matter of ob- 
servation by every scientific expedition visiting the group, 
yet it is remarkable that no attempt seems to have been made 
to explain the phenomena. A departure from a general law 
surely deserves to be investigated. 
My object is to shew that this deviation has led many 
writers into mistakes respecting the tides of the Pacific. 
Many have taken it for granted that the same prevails over 
every part of this ocean ; whereas, with the exception of Ta- 
hiti and the islands near to it, the tides in the South Seas 
are as much regulated by the moon as in any other part of 
the world. The author of “ A Million of Facts,” in trying to 
establish a theory of his own, in opposition to that of Sir 
Isaac Newton, boldly asserts, that the moon has no attractive 
influence on this ocean ; in short, that no tide is to be ob- 
served. Even in the able article on the ‘‘ Tidewave,” in the 
Penny Cyclopedia, it is observed, that the height of the 
tides in the South Seas are small, not exceeding two feet. 
Now, this is far from being in accordance with reality. At 
this group, at the low islands to the north of this, near the 
equator; the Hervey Islands, to the south ; the Tonga, Fiji, 
New Hebrides, Loyalty, and other groups, the average rise 
and fall is not less than four feet six inches. In the account 
of the Friendly Islands in “ Cook’s Voyages,” we: find the 
following note :—“ At these islands the tides are more con- 
siderable than at any other of Captain Cook’s discoveries in 
this ocean, that are situated within either tropics. At Anna- 
mooka, it is high water near six o’clock, on the full and | 
change of the moon; and the tide rises and falls about six 
feet upon a perpendicular. In the harbour of Tongataboo, 
the tide rises and falls four feet and a half at the quadratures:”’ 
(folio edit., p. 479). There may be a difference in the co-tidal 
lines ; but at all these islands which form points of observa- 
tion, the tides are decidedly governed by the united solar and 
lunar forces. So at the Marquesas, although nearer to the 
Society Islands than any of those mentioned ; but there the 
rise and fall is supposed not to exceed two feet. It is sur- 
prising that Mr Ellis, in his “ Polynesian Researches,”’ should 
have fallen into the same mistake, unless he means that the 
