[415] Apart. Their actual distance from each other was only 87° in longitude. [↑]
[416] This is not correct. The moon passed the meridian at 5h 38m 54s after midnight, and the conjunction was observed 40m 42s before that planet came to the meridian. It was, therefore, only 4h 58m 12s A.M. of January 25th. [↑]
[417] Reeckenen—reckon or calculate. The word “guess” is still used in this sense by the Americans. [↑]
[418] Oosterlijcker—more easterly. [↑]
[420] The correct position of Venice is 30° 0′ 58″ E. of Ferro, or 12° 21′ 21″ E. of Greenwich, and 45° 25′ 49″ N. lat. It is curious that the latitude of so well-known a place should have been stated as much as 40′ in error. [↑]
[421] Tot de Cape de Tabijn—to Cape Taimur. See page 37, note 1. [↑]
[422] Cape Taimur being in about 100° E. long., and the Hollanders’ wintering quarters in 72° E. long., the difference of longitude is apparently less than 30 degrees. But this is of no importance, as their determination of the position of that cape was merely speculative, there being at that time no data whatever for fixing its correct position; nor is it indeed exactly known even at the present day. [↑]
[423] This is substantially correct. The exact measurement is 3·64 [14·66] miles. Under the 76th parallel of latitude a degree contains 13,859·414 toises (du Peru), and at the equator, 57,108·519 toises.—Encke, “Ueber die Dimensionen des Erdkörpers,” Berliner Jahrbuch für 1852, p. 369. [↑]