The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-28


.he city WAS selected the site Tor operations.
The building of three houses was required. one
10 accommodate the equatorial telescope, one Tor
the Photographic room and one for the transit
Instrument Several carpenters were employed
to build these houses, butt like other citizens,
lin New Zealand nobody is in a hurry they
we're SLOW IN GGiiuess Our astronomers became
a little impatient, but to hurry the worAmen
was urrnoso oAt Of the question Iney gess''
work at o'clock in the morning. must have afuH
hour at noon. ard quit by o'clock in the even
ing Remember it was summer season-long
days--thcre. However, they were sure as welt
as sow-the rooms all being ready to receive the
instruments in good time for the astronomers to
place them in position and effect all the necos
sary adjustments. In practicing to famlliarze
each one with his special part Of the work many
good phOtOgra phs were obtained Of the great
sun-spot, which appeared in the latter part of
November, 1852 This spot, in connection with
disturbances the telegraph wires, will be
recollected by c. p. Jacobs the astronomer, Of
indianapolis. and many others
| must here quote several sentences as Prof.
Pritchett wrote them: ''As the day Of the tran
sit drew nearer feVeIish anxiety began to be
felt in regard to the weather. This anxiety
seemed to extend itself to the most in
significant citizen of Auckland The
New Zealanders seemed to feel that the
honor of New Zealand was involved in the mat
ter, and that if a clear day was not forthcoming
the fair fame of the colony would suffer Large
numbers of people visited the station to express
their interest in our success and their firm con
fidence in Auckland weather Among the visit
ors were some who asked some very curious
questions. One of the most common ones was
this: VIII the transit occur at night or in the
day timer On the night preceding the day of
the transit half the population of Auckland set
up to look out for the weather, and the Amer
can transitof-N Venus party did very little sleep
ing. Every instrument had been put i'll perfect
adjustment instrumental errors determined
most accurately, and everything was in perfect
readiness At y o'clock it was perfectly clear,
with every indication of fine morning AT
o'clock in the morning the party was at the sta
ton ready for work, and their feelings may be
better imagined than described when it is stated
that heavy bank Of clouds covered the eastern
sky, and apparently all the labor and
expense of the past few months were to
adjustments were made and each man was at his
post ready for work. The look of silent despair
on the comtenances of the various members of
the party was said by the citizens of Auckland
to have been the most heart rending spectacle
ever seen in New Zealand At halfpast the
clouds broke away and photographing com
menced. Seventy five photographs We're oh
tanned, when the clouds again closed down and
stopped work. Some of these photographs were
taken while slight clouds covered the sun, and
these are too thin for measurement, but the
most OF them present sharp round edges of the
sun and Venus, and can be measured with great
accuracy. NJ observations of third contact
were much more satisfactory than l had antici
pated Thin clouds covered the sun at the time,
so that shade glass was not necessary. and
Venus came up to the limb presenting a per
fCctly sharp black disc. | felt sure of the time
of contact to within one or two seconds"
NEW ZEALAND
Is an English colony of three islands and
several islets in the South Pacific ocean,
1000 miles about southwest of San Francisco.
and 200 southeast of Australia. 1t is far from
here, but fine and interesting country. Its peo-
pie are nearly the antipodcs of France. Imagine
long and narrow island lying north and south
and divided near the middle by Cooks strait.
The south island in shape resembles long par
allelogram. North island is very irregular in
shape; the northwestern part extends far into
the ocean, narrowing to point The northeast
eTn part extends out one-fourh as far and rounds
off much more obtuscly. Then, taking both is
| lands together, we have q country as much like
| a boot in shape as is that of Italy. The north
west peninsula forms the front part OF the foot,
! and the northeast one the heel. From the top
of the leg to- the bottom of the heel is about 800
miles: and from heel to toe is 400 Cooks strait
is so located to leave north island IN much the
| form of high top shoe This island is about
the size OF New York-containing Is, OOO square
miles, South island is somewhat larlar. 1t Is
! often called New Munster. North stand
/ is called New Ulster. Cooks strait is in latitl &c
| 40 south longitude 1859 west of Greenwich
| The third island is south of New Munster; Fo-
| YeauX strait fifteen miles wide lying between
! them. 1t is called Stewards island, is triangu-
| lar in shape, and contains about 1000 square
miles; only one fftieth as much as one of the
! others.
! These islands considerably mountainous,
7 especially i'll the western part of Munster Sew
! eral peaks have an elevation of about TWO miles.
| Mt. Cook, in south island, is $1,000 feet high.
| Many extinct and few active volcanoes exist
Earthquakes also occur sometimes. There are
! also a number Of grand and beautiful geysers.
! The coasts are indented with numerous bays
many of which afford excellent harbors Riv-
ers and lakes abound to some extent. though
| not remarkable for length and size Beautiful
| plains of country are always clothed in green
foliage. affording rich pasture for great herds of
cattle and vast numbers of sheep, which are
! thus grown with very little expense The soil
| is very productive and easily worked, making
| agriculture light and easy employment. EXtcn-
/ sive forests produce many trees of oak and pine
varieties which grow to great size and height,
and afford much fine and valuable timber
a large plant, having leaves two inches broad
and six feet long, called New Zealand flax is
production of great value for home use and ex-
/ port. The leaves contain very strong fibre,
used for making rope, twine linen etc. Being
in south latitude, the seasons of New Zealand
are the reverse of ours winter occurring in
June, and summer ia January. Snow rarely
/ falls-beiow the mountain tops; and even frost
is uncommon especially in Ulster. The eli
mate of New Zealand is one of the finest in the
world The temperature is mild and pleasant;
sometimes nearly the same during day and night
for many weeks together. In north island the
mean annual temperature is 50 in south island
52o. The atmosphere is damp, though pure and
healthy, disease and sickness being compare
lively
The native dog and rat were the only wild ami
mails found when New Zealand was first ex-
plored by British colonsts. Many of our do
nestle animals were successfully introduced
Native birds, however, were very numerous
They were beautiful in appearance and melodi-
Gus in song. Snakes were not found there, nor
reptiles of any sort, except few harmless lizards
The coast and rivers abound in vast quantities
of fish. Captain James Cook, in one of his
visits there, thought to show the natives how to
catch fish by exhibiting Il large seine but they
smiled, and pulled down stack of netting from
which they spread a seine four five times as
large as his. Coal exists there in great Ibuud-