May 



'D^ 



1911] 



NATURE 



42; 



atmosphere were felt, I had intended to keep running 



three self-recording instruments, lent me by Dr. W. N. 



Shaw, to record pressure, temperature, and the hydro- 

 metric state of the atmosphere on the way out and home ; 



but, alas ! these were in No. 2 hatch. 



We reached Marseilles on February 9, and Mr. F. K. 



McClean, a volunteer for my party, joined the ship, having 



travelled overland from London. Unfortunately, we passed 



Messina at 3 a.m. in the morning, so that the scene of 



the great earthquake could not be distinguished. 



Solar halos were visible daily, and these corroborated 



■'■le low temperatures we were experiencing. On 



l.'bruary 15 Port Said was sighted; it was a beautiful 

 norning, but the air distinctly chilly. The same evening 



we entered the canal, and took only sixteen hours to get 



ilirough. In the Gulf of Suez, even with a following 



wind, it was not hot ; in fact, low temperatures were the 



I hief features of the voyage. .At .Aden my notes state : — 



"It has been exceptionally cool the whole journey, and 



• -J) ■> ially through the Red Sea." 



In the Indian Ocean the temperature began to rise, and 

 ']■■ Ui'Tinometer in my deck cabin, with an electric fan 



running, registered usually 



78°-S2° F. at about 11.30 



p.m. Colombo was reached 



on Ff^bruary 25, and although 



it was somewhat warm on 



shore, it was nothing to what 



it was in December, 1897, 



when I was there on the way 



out to India for the eclipse 



of 1898. On the evening of 



Fi/bruary 2b we had a tine 



dis[)lay of lightning. Th',' 



colour of the flashes was a 



distinct violet, and each flash, 



or rather the great majority 



of thi'm, appeared to quiver, 



i.e. did not seem to be in- 

 stant aii'^fius, ;ind gave the 



inipri--->i<>n that several 



flashes passed down the same 



path in the air. The flashes 



were, however, too distant to 

 photograph ; otherwise 1 



would have recorded their 



multiple natin-e 1)\' jjhoto- 



graphing thi'Ui witli a moving 



camera. The pho^plion's- 



cence on the wai' i" wa^ 



brilliant that evening (and my 



caljin temp«;rature 83° F.). I 



have ii'"V'>r been farther south 



than Colombo before, and so 



1 had been looking forward 



with considerable interest to 



reaching the doldrums. I 



wished to observe and photo- 

 graph the beautiful cloudscapes which are special to that 

 r('gion. 



.Monday, February 27, I labelled my cloud day. There 

 w "f small but superb cumuli sailing over the sky slowly 

 all la\. I'iach cumulus was practically a nimbus, and 

 rain \\a- f, ailing in dense sheets from most of them. The 

 under surface of each cumulus was very flat, and their 

 i)ottoms seeni'd to hi; about 4000-5000 feet high. As we 

 w'^re roughly in latitude 7°, the sun at midday was very 

 hi^h ii.arly overhead. Thus the lower portions of the 

 (luul^ \v-n> in deep shadow, and, looking towards the 

 hori/on, tior upon tif-r of thoir lower portions, due to 

 P'T^p •( tiv", made an inii)its>ive sight. This day ended 

 with one of the most majestic sunsets I have ever seen. 



The sun, sinking behind these distant cumuli, rendered 

 them of varied colours. Some were picked out in inky- 

 blark with golden edges, while others w' r'- tinged with a 

 riKJiiv hii'', with purple for their main nia>.s. Just above 

 th'' >un, hill t r''mi'n(!nu-.l\- lii;^h up in tli'' upper reaches 

 of our a! nio^[)liiM'', ua< a !>■ atiiifiil ili>1ii'at'' ina^s of rirro- 

 cunuil^; ' ' form of wa\' ''" ■ xliiljil.-d all th'^ 



coloui - tinliow, anil u ■ • in tlii' ixlr'ni". 



.A powerful pair of binoculars show.d both their structure 

 and colour. Beautiful golden rays also shot up from the 

 sun, making tht- scene one of perfect beauty. Th':' sight 

 of these rays at sunset are alluded to by sailors as " the 

 sun setting his back stays." .After the sun had set, all 

 the clouds became an inky-violet colour, and took all 

 shapes, from French poodles to whales or 4-7 guns. This 

 wonderful sunset was followed next day by an even more 

 perfect sunrise. The sea exhibited that oily look so well 

 depicted by Somerscales — and long rollers were sluggishly 

 passing by making the Otmay pitch a little. Even the 

 bow way of the Otivay refused in this oily sea to break, 

 but sped silently away from the ship's side. The horizon 

 at the east, with the distant yet unilluminated cumuli, 

 brought to one's mind spectroheliograph photographs of 

 the sun's Umb with the prominences around it, the cloud- 

 forms representing the latter. Gradually the most beau- 

 tiful dawn began to appear, and the sequence of events 

 during the sunrise seemed to be exactly the reverse of the 

 sunset the night before. In this case the " front stays of 

 the sun " formed a conspicuous feature. 



The evenings now were vcrv wartn and lunnid, and inv 



Fig. 



SS. Otway leaving Sydney Harbour for Brisbane. H.M.S, Encounter in Harbour (three funnels). 



cabin temperatures, at about 11.30 p.m., varied from 

 82° to 85° F., even with the electric fan running. 



The approach to .\u-iralia is not very inspiring, for 

 the coast at Fremanil' i^ very low-lying, both to tlv 

 north and south. It wa- h.!- t'ha' I •it'-' .'\p.>ri>MKed th^' 

 great kindness of .Mr. 11. A. liun;. th Conunonwealth 

 m<'t(-orologist, during my brief visit to .Australia. Know- 

 ing tliat the ship would put in at Fremantle, h-' arrang.-d 

 for the metfcorologist of the Perth district. Mr. Kerr 

 Lewis, to meet me and show me round P.rih. But I left 

 the ship to catch the steamer for Perth instead of the 

 train, so we mi-- -1 , .,, h either, and I did not see him 

 until I returned : > :h (>t\,av again in the afternoon. 

 McClean and I and .1 Mr. F. C. Anderson, whom T 

 commandeered ns a volunteer observer for on; . \p.., 

 to Vnvau, w^nt otf ami visited th*» Pfrfli Ohs.av.itorv 



Mr 



hnv' 



dii I'ctor, 



It 

 was 



iip.^- 



-t.ani 



NO. 2 1 09, VOL, 8b 



