on the memorable day, however, it was found that the CHAP. XXI. clouds had all disappeared during the night, with the exception of a low bank to seaward which did not alarm us; so the whole party repaired to the observatorics in the best of spirits.

The

party.

I must content myself with describing what went on in the fort. Imagine a round, rough, embattled platform, observing some thirty or thirty-five feet in diameter, with two large telescopes placed nearly in the middle, pointing to the rising sun. At one of them, a large 91 reflector, was stationed myself; at the other Captain Maclear and Mr. Pringle. Close to the reflector is a table with some instruments upon it, at which are sitting two persons—one Captain Bailey, who is to tell how the time is going on; the other a native employed in the Collector's office, to take down anything that is said, his paper being carefully marked, so that the place of his record denotes the time of the observation. By the table is standing Mr. M'Ivor, whose duty it was to assist me in opening the slit of the spectroscope, if that should be required, and the like. Mr. Fernandez is there, too, to watch the clock, and disconnect the telescope from it at the right moment. Captain Christic is acting as amanuensis for Captain Maclear. In the other corner, at tables, are General Selby, Colonel Farewell, and Judge Walhouse, with cards and telescopes before them, ready to sketch the corona. This is the attacking party, and there are police to keep out intruders.

As the first contact took place at Bekul a few minutes after sunrise, when the image of the sun was unsteady, the exact time could not be noted, but that was a small matter. Slowly the eclipse crept on; swarms of small Rajahs, squires, and natives of all sorts and conditions, rapidly coming up in their manchiels, and taking up their position round the fort, which they are not permitted to

enter.

There is strict silence in the fort, and the work of recording the comparatively unimportant phenomena visible

First

contact.

Rahco

CHAP. XXI. in telescope, spectroscope, and polariscope, before totality, goes on like clockwork; but it is very different below. The natives see in the eclipse their favourite god devoured by the monster Rahoo, and they, like the observers, are not there for nothing. Yells, moans, and hideous lamentations rend the air as the monster seems to them to get the upper hand; the excitement increases, and evidently something is afoot. Mr. M'Ivor's sharp eye detected an intended sacrifice of fire, the intended fuel being the long, parched grass covering the landscape exactly between the fort and the eclipsed sun. In a moment he pointed this out to Capt. Christie; in a few more a posse of police was stamping out the flames, and the smoke-bank, which threatened to upset all the work, gradually died away; the moans, however, still continued, and Rahoo worked its wicked will.

The

corona.

It is now time to return to the fort. Captain Maclear announces bright lines in abundance. I had barely time. to observe these, whisper a word or two, and reach the large spectroscope, before I exclaimed "Steady!" the signal agreed on for commencing the counting of time. Instantly everybody in the fort heard Captain Bailey's clear voice ringing out, "You have 120 seconds," and there in the leaden-coloured, utterly cloudless sky, shone out the eclipsed sun! a worthy sight for gods and men. There, rigid in the heavens, was what struck everybody as a decoration, one that Emperors might fight for; a thousand times more brilliant even than the Star of India, where we then were! a picture of surpassing loveliness, and giving one the idea of serenity among all the activity that was going on below; shining with a sheen as of silver essence; built up of rays almost symmetrically arranged round a bright ring above and below, with a marked absence of them right and left, the rays being composed of sharp radial lines, separated by furrows of markedly less brilliancy.

The observers, however, saw little of this glorious sight. Now, at the spectroscope we got the words "Hydrogen

spectrum, 1474 longer than F." Following close upon CHAP. XXI. Mr. M'Ivor's command, "Polariscope," we got the words Prism "Polarization vertical over everything; strong: " this was the train and verdict of the Savart. Next the biquartz came into play. polariscope. "Yellow and brown, with green on both sides, faintly radial," was next heard. Then from Captain Bailey, "You have eighty seconds more." This was the signal for observing the eclipsed sun through a long train of prisms, an attack in which I placed great confidence, and which I then rushed to make. "Four circles, 1474 same size [as the rest] and faint," was at once written down by the amanuensis. Then another manœuvre. "You have still thirty seconds more," said Captain Bailey. In a moment Captain Maclear and myself changed instruments-I to observe the structure of the corona with the AstronomerRoyal's 6-inch telescope, Captain Maclear to note the spectrum of any part which I might feed him with, in a spectroscope of large dispersion mounted on my own. refractor of slightly greater aperture.

of corona.

"Definite structure five minutes from sun," "No spec- Structure trum," "Structure like [that of the great nebula in] Orion," "No spectrum," were now uttered antiphonically by myself and Captain Maclear in rapid succession, and the eclipse was soon over to the outsiders, apparently before its time; but not to me at the refractor. "Structure still visible." "Still visible," "Still visible," now went on for nearly three minutes, and then the corona vanished into thin air.

In the fort Captain Maclear, and below, Dr. Thomson and Mr. Davis, did noble work; and far away at Jaffna, Trincomalee, Poodocottah, and Manantoddy, were others all working out the programme; while at Ootacamund and Avenashi were Janssen, Tennant, Herschel, Pogson, Hennessy, and a host of others, strung up to the same point of tension. Of the results of the work of course as yet I can say nothing, except that at Bekul Dr. 1 I have bracketed the words omitted for brevity's sake at the time.

Other

observers.

CHAP. XXI. Thomson's polariscope results agree exactly with my own; and that, thanks to the skill of Mr. Davis and his friendly assistants, five exquisite photographs rewarded Lord Lindsay's endowment.'

At eight Dr. Thomson and myself, not yet recovered from a slight attack of fever-the sure result of unrest here were being rapidly carried in manchiels on the backs of a host of bearers, to gain intelligence of the other parties and to confer with Janssen, Tennant, and Pogson. Little rest was there to be got along the jungle road, what with the plaintive, rhythmic moaning of the bearers, the flashing of the torches in the dark night, the crossing of innumerable fords, and, above all, the great question, "What have the other parties done?" still unsolved.

This refers to the fact that the photographic arrangements at Bekul, which formed one of the fundamental parts of the work to be done, were conducted partly at Lord Lindsay's expense by his assistant Mr. Davis, who formed part of the British Association Expedition.