164 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



of observation seemed demonstrated. A ratlier excitable 

 pilot came on board, and lie guided us in behind the 

 Mole, wbicli 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 labors. 



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 incandes- 

 cent 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 subsequently, in his own 

 phaeton, to the place. It bore the best repute as regards 

 freedom from haze and fog, and commanded an open out- 

 look; but it was inconvenient for us on account of its 

 distance from the ship. The place next in repute was 

 the railway station, between two and three miles distant 

 from the Mole. It was inspected, but, being enclosed, 

 was abandoned for an eminence in an adjacent garden, 

 the property of Mr. Hinshelwood, a Scotchman who had 

 settled some years previously as an Esparto merchant in 

 Oran. * He, in the most liberal manner, placed his ground 

 at the disposition of the party. Here the ' tents were 



^ Esparto is a kind of grass now much used in the manufacture of paper. 



