VOYAGE TO ALGERIA. 153 



modified the colour. At night the phosphorescence 

 was startling, breaking suddenly out along the crests 

 of the waves formed by the port and starboard bows. 

 Its strength was not uniform. Having flashed bril- 

 liantly for a time, it would in part subside, and after- 

 wards regain its vigour. Several large phosphorescent 

 masses of weird appearance also floated past. 



On the morning of the 16th we sighted the fort and 

 lighthouse of Marsa el Kibir, and beyond them the 

 white walls of Oran lying in the bight of a bay, shel- 

 tered by dominant hills. The sun was shining bright- 

 ly; during our whole voyage we had not had so fine a 

 day. The wisdom which had led us to choose Oran as 

 our place of observation seemed demonstrated. A 

 rather excitable pilot came on board, and he guided us 

 in behind the Mole, which had suffered much damage 

 the previous year from an unexplained outburst of waves 

 from the Mediterranean. Both port and bow anchors 

 were cast in deep water. With three huge hawsers the 

 ship's stern was made fast to three gun-pillars fixed in 

 the Mole; and here for a time the 'Urgent* rested 

 from her labours. 



M. Janssen, who had rendered his name celebrated 

 by his observations of the eclipse in India in 1868, when 

 he showed the solar flames to be eruptions of incan- 

 descent hydrogen, was already encamped in the open 

 country about eight miles from Oran. On December 2 

 he had quitted Paris in a balloon, with a strong young 

 sailor as his assistant, had descended near the mouth of 

 the Loire, seen M. Gambetta, and received from him 

 encouragement and aid. On the day of our arrival his 

 encampment was visited by Mr. Huggins, and the kind 

 and courteous Engineer of the Port drove me subse- 

 quently, in his own phaeton, to the place. It bore the 

 best repute as regards freedom from haze and fog, and 



