On tlie Solar Eclipse of 9th September, 1885. 379 



were encircled with a brilliant ring at the time when, to use a 

 common phrase, the sun " went out." 



" This corona, or ring of light, had time just to print its 

 impression on the eye when two appearances made themselves 

 manifest : First, the body of the moon started into rotundity — 

 or, if I may use the word, globosity — from two . . . into 

 three, from being a black disc, into a faintly but decidedly 

 luminous globe, the effect, we are told, of eartlishine on its sur- 

 face. Earthshine in its effects is decidedly less evident than 

 moonshine. (The second appearance is dealt with under the 

 heading ' Prominences.' ) 



"The darkness was not exactly that of night. As to the 

 degree of light, it seemed to be paralleled by the amount of 

 light diffused about when the moon is nearly half full ; but the 

 light that remained on this occasion was not that of the blue 

 silvery moonlight, but of a neutral character, and the darkness 

 seemed to have a palpability, if so it can be called. At the 

 latter part of totality I turned to pick up the binocular, which I 

 had discarded for the plain smoked glass guard, and was surprised 

 then at the actuality of the darkness. I turned round, and 

 caught sight of what made me look again, and I experienced a 

 sensation to which I can only apply the epithet appalling. 



" The glorious sign in the heavens shone forth on a yellowish- 

 grey sky, which shaded off on the distant horizon to brilliant 

 yellow and orange ; but in mid-air, to the north-west, rode in the 

 air a bank of clouds, over which the conical shadow was passing. 

 Light was visible on both sides of the band of the total shadow, 

 and all objects within that range and near the darkness seemed 

 to come up quite close to one ; distance seemed annihilated. I 

 felt as if this bank of clouds was quite close upon me. It was 

 composed of towering cloud masses, standing out in stereoscopic 

 solidity, blotched (as a painting) with rounded masses of 

 purple, blue-black, and grey, and at the edges having bands of 

 burnt sienna ; under the clouds was the bright light I have men- 

 tioned." 



Mr. John Goodall, M. Inst. C. E., observed the eclipse at 

 Tahoraite, in the Forty-mile Bush. The following extracts are 

 taken from his paper : — 



" I went to Tahoraite on the afternoon of the 8th ; the 

 weather was not promising ; there were repeated showers 

 of rain, hail, and sleet up to two o'clock in the morning, 

 ever, with any great hopes of being able to use it. By 6 a.m. 

 but by five o'clock there was a fine clear frost, and scarcely a 

 cloud in the sky, with every prospect of successful observations 

 of the eclipse. I mounted my telescope, a 4^-inch refractor, 

 and attached a direct vision spectroscope to it — not, how- 

 all was ready, and the telescope pointed to the eastern horizon, 

 which was perfectly clear. Towards the south there was a 



