VOYAGE TO ALGERIA. 119 



But the opportunity did not occur. For several days 

 the weather had been ill-natured. We had wind so strong 

 as to render the hawsers at the stern of the Urgent as rigid 

 as iron, and to destroy the navigating lieutenant's sleep. 

 We had clouds, a thunder-storm, and some rain. Still the 

 hope was held out that the atmosphere would cleanse itself, 

 and if it did we were promised air of extraordinary limpid- 

 ity. Early on the 22d we were all at our posts. Spaces 

 of blue in the early morning gave us some encouragement, 

 but all depended on the relation of these spaces to the sur- 

 rounding clouds. Which of them were to grow as the day 

 advanced? The wind was high, and to secure the steadiness 

 of my instrument I was forced to retreat behind a projection 

 of the bastionet, place stones upon its stand, and, further, 

 to avail myself of the shelter of a sail. My practiced men 

 fastened the sail at the top, and loaded it with boulders at 

 the bottom. It was tried severely, but it stood firm. 



The clouds and blue spaces fought for a time with vary- 

 ing success. The sun was hidden and revealed at intervals, 

 hope oscillating in synchronism with the changes of the sky. 

 At the 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. Subsequently I caught 

 sight of the lunar limb as it cut through the middle of a 

 large spot. The spot was not to be distinguished 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 clearness scantier. Dur- 

 ing 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, indeed, it 

 could only be relieved by the corona, which was utterly 

 cut off by the dark glass. The blackness of the moon be- 

 yond 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 Royal Engineers, had the kind- 



