these details be quite correct or not, the circumstance of a
lady of rank having visited Mrs. Loy is so far interesting as
it denotes a considerable degree of curiosity on the lady’s
part, together with the power of gratifying it, which, in a
country where the women are strictly secluded, perhaps
would not be allowed.
- 22d of October.—Ookooma and Jeeroo came to the
Observatory to-day, together with a number of the most
respectable of the nativesf they were desirous of seeing the
reflected images of the sun in the artificial horizon through
the telescope of the sextant. As this was placed on a stand
there, was no difficulty in satisfying their curiosity, for they"
had only to place their eye to the tube, the angle having
been previously arranged. Many of them were amused by
the changes of colour in the reflected images by means of
the different shades; others were more struck with the apparent
motion of the two suns, which is very perceptible
when a high magnifying power is used; a few endeavoured
to understand the meaning of what they saw, but with the
exception of Jeeroo, I think they had no conception of its
cause. , Jeeroo appeared to have some notion of astronomy;
his idea of eclipses was more accurate than could have been
expected. From him Mr. Clifford got the names of the
days and months, and the various points ctf information
respecting Time, which’ will be found in thq Vocabulary.
Whenever we were actually taking observations, the natives
invariably remained a t a considerable distance. They had
been told that the least motion disturbed the surface of the
quicksilver, and prevented our taking observations. They
had much patience, and sometimes sat quite still and silent
for several hours, till invited to come forward to look at
the instruments. When Ookooma and Jeeroo came to
us, we observed that they were in great distress, and upon
our asking the cause, the former explained that Captain
Maxwell during his ride this morning had fallen down, or
rather that his horse, which was too weak for his weight,
had fallen with him, and that his finger was broken: “ Tayin
ma tawrittee, Tayin no eebee ootee" (the Tayin’s horse fell,
Tayin’s finger broke). A Loo-choo doctor, he said, had
gone on board, who would soon cure it.
On going to the Alceste we found that the Loo-choo
surgeon had placed Captain Maxwell’s broken finger in a
thick paste made of eggs, flour, and some other substance
which he brought along with him. He then wrapped the
whole in the skin of a newly-killed fowl. This skin dried in
a short time and held the paste firm, by which the broken
finger.was kept steady. The doctor went through a number