ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, NEAR OLMOS, PERU. 5 



their small fields once, or at most twice. This is sufficient for the growth and 

 maturity of their crop. 



Ascertaining that there was no house of public entertainment, and being unwil- 

 ling to follow the custom of the country by asking hospitality at the residence whose 

 appearance was most inviting, as the schoolhouse was then unused Ave succeeded in 

 obtaining permission to occupy it, and proceeded there with the equipment, iTUtil I 

 could make inquiries respecting the road across the Andes and the climate on the 

 summit. 



Curiosity had induced several of the citizens to follow us, and our mules were 

 scarcely unloaded before others arrived, instigated by the same feeling, but all of 

 them ready to impart any information or to give us any required aid. 



By noon I was shaking with an ague, whose violence increased through more 

 than two hours, and which did not cease until nearly sunset, when I was greatly 

 exhausted. The fever continued nearly all night. This rendered the journey to 

 an elevated point of the Andes impracticable, if not hazardous ; and, after obtaining 

 time sights for the chronometers on the morning of the 5th, as soon as I found 

 myself strong enough, I decided to seek the best of the neighboring hills, from 

 whence the observations might be made, without the risk of a crowd from the 

 town, yet near enough to it for succor in case of continued illness. Such an one 

 was found one mile S. E. from Olmos, and we encamped upon it on the afternoon 

 of the same day. 



Meantime, in accordance with experience gained of the disease in the U. States, 

 remedies had been taken for it, and there was no return of the ague on the 6th of 

 September. Instead of it, there was such excessive fever, accompanied by violent 

 pain in the head and vertebrte during the entire day, that it was impossible to sit 

 up until late at night. But to be prepared for a favorable change in case the fol- 

 lowing morning should prove clear, wliilst lying upon the ground, I instructed 

 my young friend as to each portion of the telescope until it was satisfactorily 

 mounted. A little later, though weak from fasting three days, and the effects of 

 the medicines, I was strong enough to make sextant observations for latitude on 

 a Li/rce, a Cygni, and a Gruis, and to adjust the telescope approximately to the 

 meridian and elevation of the pole by the same stars. I must acknowledge, how- 

 ever, that when I again laid down, it was with a hope that the morning would 

 prove cloudy, for a return of the illness was apprehended, and an overcast sky 

 would have been far more satisfactory to me than compulsory inactivity. Before 

 daylight, however, I was up and quite able to work. 



I hope these personal details will be pardoned. They have been thought neces- 

 sary, because my expectation regarding one of the phenomena of total eclipses was 

 not realized, and it does not become me to decide to what extent my physical con- 

 dition may have had influence. 



THE STATION. 



Our camp was erected upon a small level spot, on the northern ridge of a spur 

 from the Andes, the line of which from the main chain is a segment of a circle. 



