our intentions, assembled on the shore, and were very highly
delighted with this brilliant exhibition.
The sick, as well as the remaining stores belonging to the
Alceste, weré removed on board this morning, and every
preparation made for sea. While employed in completing
the series of observations at the observatory, Mádera
joined us, having in his hand the sextant which I had given
to the Prince yesterday. I t seemed tha t he had been
ordered to make himself acquainted with the use of i t ; and
á more hopeless enterprise could not have been proposed
to any man. But Mádera was not a man to be thrown
into despair by difficulty ; on the contrary, he persevered in
observing with this sextant, and the more the difficulty
was made apparent, the more keenly he laboured to overcome
it. The progress which he made in a few hours in the
mere practical operation of taking angles and altitudes
was not surprising, because there is in fact not much difficulty
in i t ; but he.was nowise satisfied with this proficiency,
and seemed anxious to apply his knowledge to some
useful purpose.
With a sextant on a stand, I made him take the distance
between the sun and moon, four or five times; on every
occasion he was wonderfully near the truth. We endeavoured