January 4, 1900] 



NATURE 



'2X\ 



preparations for an Eclipse Expedition, since few 

 people have any idea of the labour involved or of the 

 precautions to be taken. In the first place, all the 

 instruments to be taken out 

 must be adjusted for the place 

 chosen for observation ; that is, 

 the so-called " Polar axis," on 

 which each instrument turns, 

 must be directed to the position 

 which will be occupied by the 

 pole star at the Eclipse station. 

 Thus, while in London the axis 

 points in a direction of 5 li de- 

 grees from the horizontal, in India 

 this direction was about 16^ de- 

 grees. The instruments must 

 then be made to work under these 

 new conditions, and each position 

 of all the optical portions which 

 produces the best results must be 

 marked most carefully, either by 

 screwing down or by lines of white 

 paint, so that each can be exactly 

 replaced at the station. Then 

 comes the taking down and 

 packing. On this point I got a 

 lesson in 1882 at Siout, in Egypt, 

 which I shall never forget. It 

 was a question of getting a stand, 

 weighing about 3 cwt., .of an 

 equatorial telescope into the Khe- 

 dive's yacht. There was no tackle, 

 and the thing was got on board by 

 the Egyptian authorities flogging 

 a giant Soudanese up a plank 

 with the stand on his back. Since 

 then, in all the expeditions I have 

 had to do with, all stands have 

 been built upon the spot by filling 

 a wooden and paper model with 

 concrete ; and, further, no pack- 

 ing case has weighed more than 

 6olb. ; this enormously simplifies 

 boat service. All mirrors and 

 plates must be hermetically sealed 

 up, parts of different instruments 

 must not be mixed together in 

 the packing cases, and all cases 

 containing pieces of the same 

 instrument must have the same 

 index letter. As a result of this 

 system we took to Viziadurg 

 eighty cases, on which the skilled 

 packers employed at the South 

 Kensington Museum expended 

 infinite care ; they were all small 

 and numbered and lettered, so 

 that they could be easily landed 

 the moment the sites for the 

 several instruments were settled. 

 The local labourers, under the 

 efficient superintendence of the 

 Public Works Department, had 

 no difficulty in sorting the cases. 

 It was important to erect the 

 huts as soon as possible, not only 

 to shelter the instruments but the 

 observers from the sun. Among 

 the precautions taken in the camp 

 I may mention that lo-feet square 

 screens of excellent matting made 

 locally and stiffened with bamboo were temporarily erected 

 to the sunward of every working party, both at morning 

 and evening. When it was necessary to go on with the 

 NO. 1575, VOL. 61] 



j work at mid-day, the same screens were supported over 



the workers by bamboos. As each instrument was 



I erected it was permanently protected in the same manner. 



' With these precautions, and with 



such a climate, no one was sick. 



The concrete pillars for the 

 instruments were begun the day 

 we landed. The men were 

 brought on shore in the early 

 morning in order to do the drills 

 and erect the various instruments 

 and all sorts of other work which 

 turned up ; but we had to knock 

 off in the middle of the day in 

 consequence of the extreme heat. 

 It was very convenient for us that 

 the Melpomene could lie at such 

 a short distance from the camp 

 that it did not take more than a 

 quarter of an hour for the various 

 parties to get to work. A signal 

 station was at once established, 

 so that, as at Kio in Lapland, we 

 could at once communicate with 

 the ship in case anything were 

 wanted. 



In camp the work was incessant 

 from sunrise to midnight, exclud- 

 ing the break in the middle of 

 the day. 



The instruments were set up 

 as soon as their bases were ready. 

 i Mr. Fowler and Dr. Lockyer 

 g were enabled to report all the 

 ^ fixed instruments and huts, eight 

 s in number, erected and all but 

 > the final adjustments made after 

 2 six days' work. Constant clear 

 g skies enabled all the adjustments 

 ■^ to be made without difficulty, and 

 \ by January 17 all the instruments 

 o were ready. 



Life on Shore. 

 It became necessary on Tues- 

 day, January II, to transfer our 

 quarters from the ship to the 

 shore, as the erection of the in- 

 struments was by that time ad- 

 vanced to such a stage that it 

 was possible to test the various 

 adjustments by observations of 

 stars. This change of front was 

 accompanied by some difficulty, 

 for many telegrams had been 

 received telling us, now that this, 

 now that that, was the shore ar- 

 rangement which had been ap- 

 proved by the authorities, in one 

 c;»6eof the Supreme Government, 

 m the other of the Government 

 of Bombay. The officials of the 

 U 3 , I Bombay Government, in spite of 



3.^ .,;',§ ii letter from home of old date 



stating the exact opposite, were 

 firmly convinced that indepen- 

 dently of the supply of material 

 for huts, the organisation of the 

 camp and all the astronomical 

 night-work on shore was a ques- 

 tion of a tiffin basket ; that it 

 was rather exhilarating than otherwise in the climate of 

 India to remain orl shore with the aforesaid basket till 

 one o'clock in the morning, and reach it again at sunrise. 



