VOYAGE TO ALGERIA. 119 
But the opportunity did not occur. For several days 
the weather had been ill-natured. We had wind so strong 
as to render the hawsers at the stern of the Urgent as rigid 
as iron, and to destroy the navigating lieutenant's sleep. 
We had clouds, a thunder-storm, and some rain. Still the 
hope was held out that the atmosphere would cleanse itself, 
and if it did we were promised air of extraordinary limpid- 
ity. Early on the 22d we were all at our posts. Spaces 
of blue in the early morning gave us some encouragement, 
but all depended on the relation of these spaces to the sur- 
rounding clouds. Which of them were to grow as the day 
advanced? The wind was high, and to secure the steadiness 
of my instrument I was forced to retreat behind a projection 
of the bastionet, place stones upon its stand, and, further, 
to avail myself of the shelter of a sail. My practiced men 
fastened the sail at the top, and loaded it with boulders at 
the bottom. It was tried severely, but it stood firm. 
The clouds and blue spaces fought for a time with vary- 
ing success. The sun was hidden and revealed at intervals, 
hope oscillating in sync]rr_onism with the changes of the sky. 
At the moment of first contact a dense cloud intervened; 
but a minute or two afterward the cloud had passed, and 
the encroachment of the black body of the moon was 
evident upon the solardisk. The moon marched onward, 
and I saw it at frequent intervals; a large group of spots 
were approached and swallowed up. Subsequently I caught 
sight of the lunar limb as it cut through the middle of a 
large spot. The spot was not to be distinguished from the 
moon, but rose like a mountain above it. The clouds, 
when thin, could be seen as gray scud drifting across the 
black surface of the moon; but they thickened more and 
more, and made the intervals of clearness scantier. Dur- 
ing these moments I watched with an interest bordering 
upon fascination the march of the silver sickle of the sun 
across the field of the telescope. It was so sharp and 
so beautiful. No trace of the lunar limb could be 
observed beyond the sun's boundary. Here, indeed, it 
could only be relieved by the corona, which was utterly 
cut off by the dark glass. The blackness of the moon be- 
yond the sun was, in fact, confounded with the blackness 
of space. 
Beside me was Elliot with the watch and lantern, while 
Lieutenant Archer, of the Royal Engineers, had the kind- 
