of 1900, May 28, made at Santa Pola, Spain. 387 



Mr. Franklin-Adams, before leaving England, had arranged that a 

 concise daily telegram should 1)6 sent to him giving the latest war news. 

 These telegrams were at once communicated to both camps as well as to 

 the " Theseus," and it is needless to say with what keen interest they 

 were received and discussed. We were preparing for lunch at the 

 comfortable little restaurant where we lodged when the telegram 

 announcing the relief of Mafeking was received. Immediately we all 

 rushed into the entrance hall, where we gave three hearty British cheers, 

 greatly to the astonishment of our Spanish friends, who were quite at 

 a loss to understand what all the cheering and excitement meant. 



By Monday the 21st all our heavier concrete foundations were 

 finished, and we had a clear week in which to adjust and test our 

 appliances. The weather had also become much clearer, particularly in 

 the afternoon, when it was important to check the final adjustments of 

 the long telescope at the hour corresponding to that of the eclipse. 

 Eventually all the adjustments were completed and tested by the 27th, 

 on the afternoon of which day we had the satisfaction of seeing the 

 sun's image traverse the plate-holder of the 40-foot precisely at the 

 computed rate, and at the exact distance from the centre line corre- 

 sponding to the sun's declination at the time. 



On the 26th we received a visit from the Civil Governor of the 

 Province of Alicante, who was desirous of seeing our apparatus and 

 satisfying himself that everything possible was being done for our 

 comfort and convenience. On the same day a party of French astrono- 

 mers came over from Elche to see our camp and compare notes. We 

 much regretted that time did not permit our returning their friendly 

 visit. 



Meanwhile, Mr. Heath and Mr. Franklin-Adams had erected the 

 equatorial stands to carry their apparatus. Mr. Heath was provided 

 with a 6-inch photo-visual telescope by T. Cooke and Sons, arranged to 

 photograph the corona in the primary focal plane ; while Mr. Franklin- 

 Adams' equipment consisted of a number of cameras, several of them of 

 large aperture, designed for obtaining pictures of the coronal rays and 

 the sun's surroundings generally. He had also several very amirate 

 thermometers mounted on a suitable screen. 



The exact duties of each member of the camp were repeatedly 

 rehearsed in accordance with the beats of a metronome, the indications 

 of which were shouted out by a seaman on the plan devised by Sir 

 Norman Lockyer for regulating the numerous operations at his camp. 

 As most of the observers had already practised at their respective 

 instruments, even the first general rehearsal went off much better than 

 we could have expected. The whole credit of this is due to our naval 

 assistants, who, from being trained to act promptly and in concert, 

 readily appreciated the exact nature of the new duties entrusted to 

 them. 



