I E 'M A R K S - o n . t h e Pi
a r t s of the motion o f the heavenly;bodies. Thofe men among thefe
AN® iflanders, who had acquired feme ideas o f the heavens, by
•SC FEN ess
neceffity and a. long.experience, communicated them to the rifing
generation, .in order to enable them to profit by their toils, and
the ftudy o f many;a night palled -without lleep. Finding by cruel
neceffity that .in an open fea nothing could guide them, but thofe
luminaries-which we fee in theday, or wh ich -g ive their light to
us in . the nighty they attended to the immenfe number o f ftars
fpread all over, the firmament; fome o f which they foon difc&vered
to have a motion peculiar to themlelves, to deferibe again the
.famerounds which they had compleated beforehand to perform
their revolutions in different and Rated periods o f time, while the
reft preferred invariably the fame diftancefrom one another.
T h e Iky in this country is commonly clear and lerene, and on a
few days only in the whole year, is covered with clouds ; fo that
the natives o f the tropical ifles have frequent opportunities of.
contemplating the heavens, and admiring during night the brilliancy
o f the ftars. After the darknefs o f the night is over, they do
not enjoy fa long a twilight as we d o ; but the fun darts out. at
Once as it were in full fplendor from under the horizon, and Ihines
with uncommon brightnefs and power, till he again fees on the
oppofite part o f the horizon, when in a few minutes night fpreads
her fable hues over all the ebje&s furrounding the happy natives
of
H U M A N S P E C I E S.
o f thefe ifles. It muft have been obvious to each beholder,.,, that the
fun rifes and fets at certain times in points o f the. horizon diametrically
oppofite to one another, and at others, in points not much
deviating from thofe fituated either on one or the other fide o f
them, for the whole difference cannot exceed fifty degrees-; ■ Thefe
regions' o f the horizon, are equally remarkable for the rifing
and fetting o f the moon nearly within the fame ip,ice, and foon
after they muft likewife have-found that five ftars,.. (the greater part,
o f which equalled or furpafled even the largeft ftars in . apparent,
magnitude) rofe and fet -within the fame fpace o f the horizon. -
This was fufficient to induce them to call that-part.of. the. heavens -
by a peculiar name. T h e place where thé fim rifes they called S
;Tataheita, and the place where he fets T'opa-t-era~. They, lik ew ifc
found,, that the fun from the time of rifing came , nearer: and .nearer-
to the zenith,. that he removed farther; and farther, from that .ppiiit.
till his fetting,. and that at-certain times, he was perpendicular:
over, their heads j the line whereon the. fun .cotoes neareft to their~
zenith and upon it. Or. the m e r id ia n th e y c a l k .
Th e Northern point of. this imaginary line on tire horizon, they
name Too-jr&u,. and. the oppofite point .They .have.likewife
names for feveral.points between thefe.cardinal dnesi, ..whjKh 1 heard
mentioned, but. I. was not.- able- exaftly.ito determine-leitber the
number or the direction o f them. I f I am not miftakeo, the.
whale.
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