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9. By the 1st January the main building was so far finished, that I could take up my residence there and start tri-diurnal meteorological observations. It is a rectangular block, 83 feet long and 45 feet wide (not including the transit room). The upper floor is devoted to my quarters. The ground floor comprises 4 rooms, each 20 feet long, 16 feet wide and 14 feet high, and 2 small rooms behind these. In the entrance hall are placed the telegraphic apparatus, through which the Observatory it connected with the Police Stations in Kaulung, and through them with the Central Police Station in Hongkong. To the right is my office, where the library is placed, contained in glazed teak-wood cases. The clock room, behind which is the galvanic battery room, is to the right of this. From the clock-room a door leads into the transit room. To the left of the entrance hall is the computing room, next to which is the instrument room, where the barometers, the barograph and the thermograph are placed, behind which is the photographic laboratory.Every part of the two last rooms, including ceilings, floor and furniture, is painted dark red, and there are only a few panes of double red glass in
the windows.
10. A one-storied block of outbuildings, containing servants' quarters, store-rooms, &c., commu- nicates with the back-verandah by a covered passage.
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11. The magnetic hut is 17 feet long, 13 feet broad, and the roof rises 11 feet high. It is made of wood, painted white outside and inside. Bamboo chips instead of nails were used in its construction as well as in the furniture. It has double doors, respectively louvered and glazed, to the north and south, and two windows on each side as well as two frosted glass windows in the roof, which throw light on the verniers. On top of massive teak-wood blocks sunk 3 feet in the ground and rising 4 feet above the floor are placed the unifilar magnetometer and the dip-circle. The former is placed north of the latter, and it is therefore convenient to observe the pole-star reflected from the speculum by opening the door. The sun and stars near the prime vertical can be observed through the windows on either side. The hut is very comfortable but is placed at an inconvenient distance from the main building. A broad road connects the two buildings and includes a bridge across the gap between the hills. The magnetic observations are printed in my report of the 15th December (Appendix I to the forthcoming "Observations and Researches in 1884") and it is therefore unnecessary to make further
reference to these observations.
12. As the time-service has not yet been started and as no astronomical observations have been published, it would appear most proper to defer the description of the astronomical instruments, some of which have not yet been erected.
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13. The tri-diurnal meteorological observations, that were started at 10 a. on the 1st January, were continued up to the end of the year. In January and February observations were made at 10 a. 4 p. and 10 p. as printed in the Weather Reports for those months. In March and April they were made at 10 a. 1 p. 4 p. 7.45 p. and 10 p. From the 1st May till the end of the year they were made at 10 a. 1 p. 4 p. and 10 p. From the 1st April till the 1st October the standard barometer was generally read also at 1 a. Phenomena occurring at other hours including clouds of the cirrus type were also carefully noted.
14. The observations made at 7" 45". p. (7 0 a. Washington Mean Time) the epoch adopted for the International Simultaneous Meteorological Observations were transmitted to the Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A., Washington, D. C. They embrace the height of the barometer reduced to 32° Fahrenheit and to sea level, dry and damp bulb thermometers, relative humidity, direction and velo- city of the wind, and also observations on rain, clouds and state of the weather. Since the 1st May only the latter observations were actually made at the time, it being preferred to read off the other elements from the curves described by the self recording instruments below described.
15. From the 1st January a new series of meteorological observations made according to my "Instructions for making Meteorological Observations" were commenced at different points in the Colony: At Victoria Peak observations of the barometer, dry and damp bulb thermometers, direction and force of the wind, clouds, sea and state of the weather are made at 7 a. 10 a. 1 p. 4 p. 7 p. and 10 p. The results for 10 a. 4 p. and 10 p. are published in the monthly reports. At the latter hour the self- registering thermometers including black bulb and grass minimum are read. The rainfall is collected in two gauges. One of them is an old roof-gauge. The other is placed one foot above the ground. Only the results from the latter are published.
16. Those observations being made at so high a level are of considerable importance, and it is to be regretted, that the authorities have not yet made arrangements for having observations made also at 4 a. In the absence of self-recording instruments the observations are not complete without the 4 a. observation. It would moreover be desirable at some future time to erect a self-recording anemometer on the look-out similar to the one on top of the Observatory. The comparison of the two records would clearly reveal certain most important features connected with the wind prevalent at different altitudes above sea level, which would deepen our insight into the law of storms in the China Sea.
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17. At Cape d'Aguilar observations of thermometers, wind, clouds, sea-surface and weather are made at 4 a. 10 a. 4 p. and 10 p. as published in the monthly reports, but as these observations are wanting in accuracy, their publication with the exception of the state of the sea-surface, will be dis- continued next year.