VOYAGE TO ALGERIA 169 



of the sky. At tlie moment of first contact a dense cloud 

 intervened; but a minute or two afterward the cloud had 

 passed, and the encroachment of the black body of the 

 moon was evident upon the solar disk. The moon marched 

 onward, and I saw it at frequent intervals; a large group 

 of spots were approached and swallowed up. Subse- 

 quently I caught sight of the lunar limb as it cut through 

 the middle of a large spot. The spot was not to be dis- 

 tinguished from the moon, but rose like a mountain above 

 it. The clouds, when thin, could be seen as gray scud 

 drifting across the black surface of the moon; but they 

 thickened more and more, and made the intervals of clear- 

 ness scantier. During these moments I watched with an 

 interest bordering upon fascination the march of the silver 

 sickle of the sun across the field of the telescope. It was 

 so sharp and so beautiful. No trace of the lunar limb 

 could be observed beyond the sun's boundary. Here, in- 

 deed, it could only be relieved by the corona, which was 

 utterly cut off by the dark glass. The blackness of the 

 moon beyond the sun was, in fact, confounded with the 

 blackness of space. 



Beside me was Elliot with the watch and lantern, while 

 Lieutenant Archer, of the Koyal Engineers, had the kind- 

 ness to take charge of my note-book. 1 mentioned, and 

 he wrote rapidly down, such things as seemed worthy of 

 remembrance. Thus my hands and mind were entirely 

 free; but it was all to no purpose. A patch of sunlight 

 fell and rested upon the landscape some miles away. It 

 was the only illuminated spot within view. But to the 

 northwest there was still a space of blue which might 

 reach us in- time. Within seven minutes of totality an- 

 other space toward the zenith became very dark. The 



Science — V — a 



