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Description of 
him, but that his heart went with the other party, and their 
Governor*General of the Indies, Antony Van Diemen. This 
feeling led him no doubt to confine the name of Frederik Hen¬ 
drik’s Bay to the small inlet in question, where the formalities of 
taking possession were practised; while at the same time his first 
discoveries on our coasts were dedicated by him to the names of 
Van Diemen, De Wit, Sweer, and Maat Zuyker, members of the 
Council of the Indies; and one of which reminds us of those 
two illustrious opponents of the Orange party, Cornelius and 
John De Wit, whose murder, thirty years after this, left William 
III. supreme over the States of Holland. 
Art. XIII. Description of an Improved Pluviometer. By Lieut. 
M. Curling Friend, R.N., F.R.S. 
Having repeatedly endeavoured to correctly ascertain the quan¬ 
tity of rain, at any particular place, by means of the common 
rain-guage, on an horizontal surface merely exposed to the rain, 
I have invariably failed in producing desirable results, in conse¬ 
quence of the uncertain strength of the wind, which, by causing 
a drift in the rain, induces a fluctuating quantity to be exhi¬ 
bited ; varying not so much according to the rain itself, as to the 
sheltered or more exposed situation in which the instrument may 
be placed. This has necessarily produced results so capricious 
and uncertain, as to render the observations of little or no use; 
and having considered the various suggestions that have been 
proposed to remedy the evil (and many of them are undoubtedly 
very ingenious), yet they do not appear to me to answer the pur¬ 
pose intended. 
I beg to suggest the following plan, which I consider will meet 
every difficulty, and be of full effect in all,-possible situations and 
under all circumstances. 
It is not my intention to recapitulate the various methods that 
have been adopted to ascertain this important phenomenon, or to 
point out their defects; I will merely describe the mode I have 
