Observers' Field Reports 131 



16X; two tripods; pocket chronometer and watch; small box-chronometer; observing 

 tent complete with appurtenances; aneroid barometer; and kodak. 



The voyage from Liverpool to Douala was made in the steamer Chama of the Elder 

 Dempster Line, between April 9 and May 2. There being no convenient steamer con- 

 nection from Douala to either Principe Island or Libreville, both of which were on the 

 line of totality of the eclipse of May 29, 1919, it was decided to make the eclipse obser- 

 vations at Campo, in the southwest corner of the Cameroun, about 120 miles north of 

 the line of totality. 



His Excellency, the Governor at Douala, M. Carde, very kindly arranged to send 

 the small coastal steamer Fullah to Campo in order to give me the necessary time 

 required in the preparation for the eclipse work. While awaiting the steamer, a trip 

 was made along the northern railway which terminates at Nkongsamba, 100 miles to 

 the north, and also to Edea on the Midland Railway, there being two trains weekly to 

 these points. The Fullah left Douala in the afternoon of May 22 and arrived at Campo 

 the following day at noon, a stay being made till June 5 for eclipse observations. Lieu- 

 tenant Petit, Chief of the Subdivision, Campo, kindly provided a squad of native troops 

 and a gang of prisoners to erect a non-magnetic hut under my directions. A hut was 

 used in preference to a tent, in which observations would have been impossible during 

 the heavy storms of the tornado season. The day of the eclipse was very fine excepting 

 the afternoon, when clouds obscured the Sun about half an hour after the maximum 

 phase had occurred. 



During the war, Campo was bombarded by the British and the cement buildings 

 of the traders were razed to the ground. Today the place consists of a few trenches 

 and ruins, with the houses of the French post built by natives on the bare sand. Campo 

 is perhaps interesting because of its internment camp, which serves as the last home of 

 many chiefs and sultans of the northern portion of Cameroun who give trouble to the 

 government. When the Sun was almost eclipsed, the Sultan of Tibati arrived in state, 

 with his wives and dependents, and entered the internment camp, taking the eclipse of 

 the Sun as an omen of his eclipse as the Sultan of Tibati. 



On June 5 the long overland journey to Lake Tchad, at the northern extremity of 

 the Cameroun, was commenced with a caravan of black carriers and a hammock carried 

 by four men. A march of 3 days along the coast put the party at Kribi. Along the 

 greater portion of the route there is no track in the dense forest, and it is therefore 

 necessary to walk along the sandy shore. In former days Kribi was a flourishing port, 

 where traders bought rubber, palm-oil kernels, and ivory from the coast natives who 

 acted as middlemen between the interior tribes and the white men. Then came the 

 penetration into the interior and the building of the Midland Railway from Douala, 

 but though some trade was diverted to Edea, Kribi owes its decline to the war. Today 

 it has the appearance of a deserted city, the "factories" (trading posts) standing empty, 

 and most of the other buildings being unoccupied. 



From Kribi a well-made motor road leads to Yaounde, 285 kilometers distant, or 

 12 days' march by carriers. I followed a more southern route, passing by Efulen and 

 Ebolowa to Olama, which is on the main Kribi- Yaounde road. At each of these three 

 places there are stations of the American Presbyterian Mission, which is working among 

 a large tribe called the Bulu. The missionaries have done a considerable amount of 

 work in the region, building roads, founding hospitals and churches, organizing village 

 schools, and teaching the natives simple trades at the industrial school in Ebolowa. 

 During the 6 days' march from the coast to Ebolowa, we followed a good road leading 

 through dense tropical forest, with continuous chains of villages throughout its length. 

 The Bulu people are hospitable and the traveler is constantly offered presents of chickens, 

 eggs, and a considerable variety of fruit. From Ebolowa to Olama one passes out of 



