54 THE INDIAN ECLIPSE, 1898. 



more frequent and thorough; and the astronomers, by this 

 time worn out with work and anxiety, awaited the momentous 

 event with trepidation and fear lest something should happen 

 to thwart all their expectations, some little cloud arise, 

 some ill-disposed breeze blow. Day after day for weeks 

 together not a cloud had been seen in the sky; it seemed 

 almost too much to expect this state of things to last much 

 longer. But if it would only keep so until the 22nd ! For 

 days previous to the eclipse the wind rose in strong gusts 

 about midday, and there was at times a strong tremor in the air 

 due to the heat. Great wind-guards of sacking and bamboo 

 rose to windward of the larger instruments, and each day saw 

 some further arrangement or addition to these as the continual 

 recurrence of this wind gave rise to greater anxiety. The base- 

 ment of the great wooden framework carrying Professor 

 Campbell's big lens was firmly embedded in a great heap of 

 stones piled around its four sides. 



The morning of the 22nd broke as usual with a clear sky save 

 for a low-lying smoky-looking haze along the western horizon, 

 but as the sun rose this was dissipated. The astronomers were 

 early astir scanning the horizon, and as the morning wore on 

 hope was fast turning to certainty. Towards noon, however, that 

 tiresome wind began as usual; and then, began too, a tussle 

 between it and the eclipse, but as the latter advanced the 

 former after several ineffectual attempts to work mischief 

 gradually died away in fitful gusts, and during the two minutes 

 of totality there was a perfect lull. Even the tremor in the 

 atmosphere, probably due to the cooling down of the earth, was 

 less than it had been. 



The beginning of totality was not so marked as was expected. 

 No wall of shadow was seen to sweep over the landscape. The 

 disappearance of the last ray of light left it rather darker than 

 before, but not dark enough to necessitate the use of lanterns 

 in making observations ; in fact, the amount of light during 

 totality was remarkable, the astronomers all being struck by it. 

 The two minutes during which it lasted hardly seemed so long 

 to the observers, who c.mld barely press all they had planned 

 into the time ; and the first reappearing shaft of sunlight found 

 some in the midst of a last exposure. The tension of weeks 

 snapped, anxiety was at an end, the astronomers had secured 

 their results, and the sun gradually made his reappearance, but 

 his subsequent proceedings interested them no more. 



Though arrangements had been made to watch for the shadow 

 bands, they appear to have been hardly noticed ; but near 

 Indapur, where two ladies had spread a sheet upon the ground, 

 they w r ere well seen both before and after totality. Their 

 attention was first attracted to them by what at the first instant 

 seemed like the shadow of a fluttering bird overhead. The 



