May 7, iyo8j 



NA TURE 



22-inch sidcrostat was laid. On January i everything 

 was complete and drills were commenced, and eventu- 

 ally the programme was arranged to be carried 

 through, utilising the signals called by Prof. Camp- 

 bell's timekeeper. 



From the account given of the weather conditions, 

 on the morning of the eclipse the party seems to have 

 met with exactly the same peculiarities as those which 

 were experienced by many of the observers at Palma 

 in 11)05. Fortunately, Mr. McClean was present at 

 Palma on that occasion, so the experience was not 

 new to him, and in his letter he writes, " It has been 

 another Palma and four plates in my bag." 



As the wind came in from between the north-east 

 and east, special watch was kept in that quarter. 

 F^irst contact was observed in a perfectly clear sky, 

 and it remained fairly clear to almost within a few 

 minutes of totality. Everyone was prepared to carry 



minute with short intervals of clear sky, after which 

 the eclipse was clearly visible, though light cloud was 

 still present. At the call of 3 minutes 50 seconds, sun- 

 light had broken out, several seconds before it was 

 expected, and was preceded by a brilliant promin- 

 ence. 



Such a sudden and unexpected ending did not, 

 however, spoil the plate which iVIr. McCIean was 

 exposing at the time, for, as he writes, " then, while 

 expecting another ten seconds, I looked up and saw 

 a red prominence, and shut things up just in time. 

 The others were not so lucky." 



The eclipse does not seem to have been a dark one. 

 It is stated that it never became too dark to read 

 large figures, in spite of the instrument being sur- 

 rounded by trees. Another statement is that a " news- 

 paper could have been read without any difficulty 

 whatever." 



Pltoto^raph by H. li inkLlmann. 

 Fig. 1. — Mr. McClean and party standing by the instruments they worked during the Erlip^e. 

 (i) Mr, McClean. (2) Mr. Callyn. (3) Mr. Short. (4) Rev. Walker. (5) Mr. Brooks. (6) Mr. Winkelmann. 



out his allotted task when " five minutes before 

 totality " was called out by the American timekeeper. 



A heavy bank of cloud then made its appearance 

 in the north-east, and at the signal " 48 seconds to go 

 before totality " it began suddenly to rain heavily, and 

 it poured until one second before totality. It had 

 been arranged to determine the instant of totality by 

 observing the cusps, but the clouds prevented their 

 observation. The timekeeper was to have received a 

 signal from the " cusp " observer to' commence his 

 counting, but no such signal could be given. .At 

 what time the timekeeper started counting is not 

 stated, but it is mentioned that just before totality, 

 probably one or two seconds, because the thin crescent 

 was seen to be just changing into beads, the cloud 

 cleared, and the rain ceased. 



The instruments were quickly uncovered, and the 

 exposures made according to the prescribed pro- 

 gramme. The clouds continued during the first 



NO. 2010, VOL. 78] 



Captain G. IT. Lacy, who observed the eclipse from 

 the bridge of the Taviuni, compared the light during 

 totality to that which would be produced from an 

 arc lamp placed on deck. 



Mercury and Venus were seen, the former to the 

 south-west and the latter to the north-east of the 

 sun. Very few stars were observed. 



Mr. Raymond, who undertook sketching the 

 corona, using a 4-inch Grubb refractor to project the 

 sun's image on to a sheet of cardboard, likened the 

 form of the corona to " an irregular star of seven 

 points." The corona had a pearly-grey colour, arid 

 three of the streamers were shaped like pyramids. 

 These were capable of being faintly traced down to 

 the edge of the moon's limb. 



Mr. Flynn, first oiificer of the Taviiiui, also made a 

 sketch of the corona. 



With regard to the photographs, the following is a 

 brief summary of the successful exposures secured : — 



