Now I know where I am again. The Rhomboidal Net is on one side of the Cloud, and the Flying Fish on the other. The Table by the Pole is south of it. But what is north of it, for Canopus is not quite in a line with the Cloud and the Pole?
The Sword Fish is on the Cloud. But go again to Achernar, and draw a line thence to the Pole.
Why, it goes right through the Little Magellanic Cloud.
That Cloud is between the Hydra and the Toucan. That bird’s head beyond Achernar is in our circumference of the Cross. A little further on that round line is the bright star in the Peacock’s head; though the Indian, with his arrows, stands between the Peacock and the Toucan.
The very place for a hunter. But go on, please, for you are fast completing the circle, by getting back to the Cross.
The end of the Peacock’s tail brings us three-fourths round; and above it, from the Pole, is the Southern Crown.
I see it; but it ought to hang over something better than a Peacock’s tail.
It so happens that the Telescope comes between them. Below the Peacock, and close round the south pole, is the constellation Octant. Now for the last quarter, between the Cross and the Peacock.
I know part of that—the Cross’s Pointers. But what are those three stars a little below the Pointers, toward the Peacock?
They are the Southern Triangle. Between the Cross and the Pole is the Fly; while between the Triangle and the Pole is the Bird of Paradise.