BUENOS AY RES. 



95 



The constellation of the cross looked bright 

 and beautiful^ but it requires some effort of the 

 imagination to believe that the four stars so 

 called, bear an exact resemblance to a cross. 

 If the intermediate lines were regularly filled 

 by other stars, the likeness would be striking, 

 and Dante, and Camoens, and other authors 

 might have indulged in rapture without ex- 

 aggeration in describing them.* 



Once a year only, on the 26th of March, at 

 midnight, the cross is perpendicular to the 

 plane of the horizon, and at any time a line 

 drawn from the head to the foot star of the 

 cross, if produced, would pass nearly over the 

 kouth pole, with sufficient accuracy to deter- 

 mine the position of it. These two stars there- 



* " Pmi volsi a man destra, e posi mente 

 All' altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle, 

 Non viste mai fuor ch' alia prima gente : 



Goder pareva Fciel di lor flammelle. 

 O settentrional vedovo sito 



Poiche privato se di mirar quelle !" 

 Purga. Canto I. Dante must have heard of these 

 four stars from Marco Paulo, who returned before he pub- 

 lished the poem. 



VOL. I. B 



