PACIFIC OCEAN. 



caused us some discomfort, although we fortunate- 

 ly succeeded in sheltering the instruments. The 

 heat, during the day, was not only oppressive at 

 the time, but very exhausting in its effects ; and at 

 night, although the thermometer never fell lower 

 than 73"^, the feeling of cold, owing to the transi- 

 tion from 9*3% to which it sometimes rose in the 

 day, was very disagreeable. 



It was with reluctance that I left the neigh- 

 bourhood of the equator, without having made 

 more numerous and varied, and, consequently, 

 less exceptionable observations on the length of 

 the pendulum. It would, above all, have been 

 desirable to have swung it at stations whose geo- 

 logical character more nearly resembled that of 

 England, where Captain Kater^s experiments were 

 performed. Thus, the results obtained at the 

 Galapagos, though very curious in themselves, 

 are not so valuable for comparison with those 

 made in this country. The time may come, how- 

 ever, when they may be more useful ; that is to 

 say, should experiments be made with the pendu- 

 lum at stations remote from the Galapagos, but re- 

 sembling them in insular situation, in size, and in 



