1812. 
DATES RECTIFIED BY ASTRONOMY. 
343 
Saturday, it could not be more than Friday. For, as I now observed 
that the moon was still to the east of the planet Venus, which could 
not have been the case, had this been, as we reckoned, the eleventh 
of the month, those two bodies would not, according to the ' Astro- 
nomical Ephemeris,' be in conjunction till the morning of the 
eleventh. This error of my journal, lay within a small compass ; 
as I knew from my astronomical memoranda, that my reckoning was 
right on the preceding Monday. 
From this circumstance it may be remarked, that a traveller 
acquainted with but a few of the stars, may always check a false 
date in his journal, by recording in it from time to time, the situ- 
ation of the moon as compared with a known star to which it is ap- 
proaching, or from which it is receding. And though he should then 
have no astronomical almanack, to compare his observations with, 
these will be equally useful for the purpose ; as the comparison can 
be made, either by himself or by others, at any future time. In- 
deed, so admirably applicable are the motions of the heavenly bodies 
to the exact measurement of the course of time, whether for periods 
of years or centuries, or for days or minutes, that, if we could 
suppose an astronomer, at any moment of time, to know neither 
the century, the year, the month, nor the day, he might read all 
this in the face of the starry heavens, in the legible characters of 
endless multitudes of glorious luminaries which revolve and shine, 
the great unerring dial of eternity. 
That a person whose attention was constantly occupied by a 
great variety of affairs, should mistake a day, cannot appear sur- 
prising ; but that the whole party of eleven persons, should fall into 
the same error, is more extraordinary. There were several of my 
people who, by means of notched tallies which they always carried 
about them, kept a careful account of each day, by the cutting of 
an additional notch. When this tally was thus filled, the amount 
was transferred to another, on which certain notches represented 
weeks, or months. In this manner they were generally able to mark 
accurately the lapse of time for short periods, and sometimes even 
for several years. But I do not think that any of the aborigines of 
