558 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



worked, we could catch glimpses of scenery typical of Spain. The 

 first feature to attract your attention is the extremely barren aspect of 

 the country, which is in sharp contrast with the garden-like appearance 

 of England. The hills of Spain were in early times densely wooded, 

 but now are almost entirely devoid of trees and look from a distance as 

 if there were not a particle of vegetation on them. Moreover, the rain- 

 fall is so slight that agricultural pursuits must rely upon irrigation 

 for their carrying on, and thus it is only the valleys that are green and 

 cultivated. In such a valley along the shores of the little river was 

 our eclipse camp located. The greenest field was decided upon as the 

 site of the observatory, and upon application to its owner for permis- 

 sion we found that he was quite satisfied to allow his plot of ground 

 to be used, but thought some compensation should be made for the 

 valuable crop of grass that might possibly be raised during the summer. 

 On receipt of one hundred pesetas, he forthwith proceeded to take a 

 fatherly interest in all of our doings, and explained scientific matters 

 to every one as if he had been chief of the expedition. His field became 

 the center of interest in the community, and people came from all sides 

 to look upon the strange doings. As a prominent trait in the Spanish 

 make-up is a great and overpowering curiosity, we had plenty of on- 

 lookers; and when the mayor and a few of the most prominent citizens 

 were invited to look at the moon through our five-inch telescope, we 

 were rather surprised — to put it mildly — to find over one hundred 

 people turn up, when only a half score had been invited. Their 

 curiosity took the form only of making each and every one in the town 

 intensely interested in what was going on, and to show that interest 

 they turned out in force each afternoon to see how matters were 

 progressing. It might be asked, what was their attitude towards these 

 Americans who had so lately beaten them in their small war. Before 

 the expeditions reached Spain, it was feared that perhaps there might 

 be some friction on that account, but these fears were not realized. 

 As a matter of fact, the only person we met who seemed to have any 

 feeling in the matter was a former soldier in the Spanish army. He 

 had seen service in the Philippines, had been captured and thrust into 

 prison by the Filipinos, had been rescued by the Americans, and as a 

 result he had only the kindest of feelings towards everything belonging 

 to the United States. As for the rest of the people, they seemed to 

 have forgotten all about it, or else they did not know there had been 

 a war, for it must not be forgotten that only about one quarter of the 

 people in Spain can. read and write. 



Besides getting photographs of the corona of different sizes, the 

 astronomers at Daroca were using the most powerful spectroscopes 

 ever employed at an eclipse, for the purpose of investigating the nature 

 of the light of the sun and its surrounding region. There are two 

 ways of producing a spectrum. The best known method is by means 



