Total Eclipse of the Sun as observed at Char, Portugal. 393 



They left Ovar for Lisbon on Tuesday evening, May 29, the day 

 after the eclipse, and left for England by the Royal Mail steamship 

 " Magdalena," on Friday, June 1, reaching Southampton on June 4, 

 and Greenwich on June 5. While at Lisbon, the Astronomer Royal 

 had .the honour of an audience with His Majesty the King of 

 Portugal. 



Station. The station chosen was at Ovar, in Portugal, near the 

 extreme westerly point of the line of totality in Europe, having the 

 advantage of the longest totality. 



Ovar is a town about twenty miles south of Oporto, on the railway 

 line to Lisbon ; it is situated on a sandy plain, which stretches to the sea, 

 the nearest point of the coast being about three miles distant. The 

 meteorological conditions of this station proved to be good, the sky 

 being clear on eight of the thirteen days during which the observers 

 were there. 



The station occupied by the observers was the garden of Mr. 

 Silveiro's house ; its position, taken from the Ordnance map in conjunc- 

 tion with plans of the town, furnished by the Public Works Depart- 

 ment, is lat. 40 51' 30" N., and long. 8 37' 3" W., and is about If m. 

 from the central line of the eclipse. 



Erection and Disposition of Huts and Instruments. It was found on 

 arrival at the station that the loose sandy soil reached to a depth of at 

 least 18 feet, thus rendering the erection of concrete or masonry piers 

 unsuitable, as well as impracticable. The ground was accordingly 

 cleared on May 17, the day of arrival, and thoroughly rammed; the wet 

 weather which had prevailed previous to the arrival, rendered this the 

 more effectual. On the same day the instruments and materials for the 

 huts were brought from the railway station, half a mile away, in ox- 

 waggons, and partially unpacked. The arrangement of instruments 

 and huts was also roughly marked out. 



On the next day, May 18, the huts to cover the instruments were 

 erected, and boxes filled with stones, on which to mount them, were 

 placed in position, The huts were light wooden frames, covered with 

 Willesden waterproof canvas ; they were fitted together at Greenwich 

 before starting, and the woodwork marked, so that they were readily 

 fixed up. There were three huts exactly alike structurally, each being 

 8 feet square and 8 feet high, rising to 10 feet at the gable ; the canvas 

 was thrown over the top and sides in two lengths, and tacked down to 

 the woodwork ; the ends of the huts were arranged with panels when 

 necessary, which could be removed as required. Two of these huts, 

 without any canvas at the adjacent ends, were bolted together, 

 forming one large hut 16 feet by 8 feet, to cover the coronagraph and 

 16-inch ccelostat. For observation the bolts were removed, and the 

 hut over the ccelostat moved back a few feet. The spectrographs were 

 in the third hut, and the heliostat supplying them was outside the hut, 



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