THE ENGLISH ECLIPSE EXPEDITION, 1871

(continued).

II. THE BEKUL PARTY.

FORTUNATELY for the Expedition, General Selby, who CHAP. XXI. takes great interest in science, who is an admirable artist, and who had observed the Eclipse of 1868, had already thrown the whole weight of his position into the arrangements, and sent tents to Bekul. He now offered guards for the various parties, stated his intention to issue an order calling for volunteers among the officers at Cannanore and Mangalore, and expressed his intention of coming to Bekul himself to take part in the work. The lightheartedness, therefore, with which the remaining four of the Expedition-Dr. Thomson, Captain Maclear, Mr. Davis, and myself-saw the anchor come out of the turbid water and steam got up for the last final run into the jungle, may be imagined. Bekul had been a mystery; nobody knew anything about Bekul; the word was printed remarkably small on most maps: what was it like? Trincomalee was a naval station; Jaffna a large and important town; Poodocottah the residence of a Rajah; Manantoddy the head-quarters of all kinds of new industries,

We were in the flag ship, H.M.S. Glasgow, to the captain of which-Captain Jones-the Expedition can never express sufficient gratitude. The final run here referred to was from Cannanore.

Betul.

CHAP. XXI. chinchona, coffee, teak, and the like, with any number of English, and a club to boot: but Bekul! We should at all events be looked after.

No wonder the good ship Glasgow would have steamed right past the place if Mr. Lewis M'Ivor, the indefatigable Assistant Collector, and Mr. Pringle, the representative of the Public Works Department, who had been sent to meet us, had not been on the look-out, and come off in a small boat, waving a large flag, so energetically that the ship's head was turned slightly towards the shore, and then, as the men in the chains gradually got their song down to "Quarter less six," we saw a ruined fort, with crowds of natives, and a solitary house among the cocoa-nut trees.

This was Bekul. The natives were not natives of the place-for, practically speaking, there was no place-but men who had come many miles to see the great fireship that was to bring the astrologers, and they were now feasting their great eyes with the unaccustomed sight. There was more excitement for them to follow. When Mr. M'Ivor had made all arrangements for landing in the morning, he went ashore, and, as a measure of precaution, ordered the fire which had been lit to mark his Impromptu landing-place to be kept in. In doing this the sunscorched grass in the vicinity was in the vicinity was soon ablaze, and looked so like an illumination in honour of the ship's arrival that a blue light was burnt, a rocket sent up, and a gun fired, to the intense delight of the natives, who fully appreciated the impromptu illumination.

illumina

tion.

In the morning, on landing, which was a most ticklish operation in the surf, work began in earnest with the rising sun. The spots chosen by Mr. M'Ivor for the temporary observatories for the telescopes-in old Tippoo's fort, which commanded the whole horizon, and a vacant space near for the photographic work-were inspected and found so satisfactory that the instruments immediately. on landing were taken there, unpacked, and before long were approximately in their positions. While this was

going on the Glasgow went to prize firing, an opera- CHAP. XXI. tion which had been delayed while the Expedition were on board, for fear of damaging instruments and breaking object-glasses. This tremendous proceeding on the part of the ship, and the wonderful similitude of the telescopes to the native idea of a big gun, soon wrought

natives.

a wonderful change in the ideas of the dwellers along Alarm of the coast. The Eclipse was a pretence. There was war! If otherwise, why the firing with shot? Why occupy the fort? Why erect big guns in the most commanding place in its, to them, vast extent? Why these soldiers from Cannanore? Instant action! All highcaste women and all gold into the interior; men still to watch the action of the "gods," and if possible probe their motives and intentions to the very bottom. Of course the only way of meeting this rumour, which might have proved very unfortunate to us, was to allow everybody free access to the observatories. When the natives found that the big guns were made of very thin metal, and that the biggest of them when looked boldly into showed merely the face of the inspector considerably enlarged, all fear passed away, and probably the women were recalled, but on this point I have no certain knowledge.

After the inspection of the fort the party marched down to the encampment about half a mile to the north and along the shore in a shady nook. In the centre was the little bungalow long disused, but now done up for the occasion; round it-leaving, however, the sea-view open-were arranged the tents. The Collector of South Canara (Mr. A. M'C. Webster) and his able assistant (Mr. M'Ivor) had made every possible arrangement; and when I say that this included necessarily the bringing of our bread some forty miles every other day or so, some idea of what had to be done may be gathered. Few seemed to know the capabilities of the place in the local production of those articles, such as cheetahs, snakes, &c., for which India is so celebrated. Trying to sleep, therefore, in a hammock

The

bungalow and its

surroundings.

CHAP. XXI. in the bungalow, with all doors and windows opened, as is the custom here, with rare and curious insects and creeping things evidently all round, the trees and jungle alive with sounds of all pitches and a good many amplitudes, is not always a successful operation for the beginner, but he learns apace. The long pent-up howl of the jackal in the morning soon becomes familiar; scorpions are looked upon as mere nuisances; and so on. As it was, only one alligator, one snake, and one scorpion made their appearance while we were at Bekul. The first and second gracefully withdrew, the latter was safely bottled.

Work in camp.

The eclipse.

Let me now say a word about our work in the camp. All rose at 4.30 or thereabouts, then tea and a walk to the observatories to work before the heat of the day began. By nine we all had had quite enough, and, indeed, some of the party got fever for a day or so by exceeding this limit. Then home, a bath and breakfast, a rest and then tiffin. After this, observatory again from about four till eight for adjustments. Then back to the camp for dinner and rest. By keeping strictly to this programme, the instruments were all ready at the critical moment, though, owing to the necessity of making each instrument do double duty, the adjustments were not absolutely perfect. Adjusting a telescope against time, at home, is no easy work; but in the jungle, with two telescopes on each stand, a minimum of tools, and no labour specially skilled in this work, though any amount of willing help-Mr. Pringle and his assistant, Mr. Fernandez, being a host in themselves-it was a work of tremendous difficulty.

Now for the eclipse. In spite of the warnings against the West coast, the weather was magnificent up to the evening before the long-prepared-for event, when clouds came on, and the dinner-party in the bungalow-which now numbered some twenty people, General Selby and his Brigade-Major, Colonel Farewell, Judge Walhouse, Capt. Christie the Superintendent of Police, and others having joined the camp-was slightly uneasy. On rising at 4.30