NO. 6 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I92O 



19 



been secured on nearly 70 per cent of the days at Harqua Hala and on 

 nearly 80 per cent at Montezuma. The agreement of results on days 

 in common has hitherto been remarkably close and leads to the hope 

 of surely detecting solar variations as small as i per cent. 



The conditions of living at Montezuma, while lonely, are not 

 excessively so. Frequent motor trips to the cit>^ of Calama for 

 supplies, and occasional visits to the copper mine at Chuquicamata, 

 where great kindness is experienced, help to break the monotony. 

 At Mount Harqua Hala, however, the isolation is excessive. There 





Fig. 25. — Top of Mt. Harqua iiala after a snowitorm, showing fog-bank in 



the background. 



is a single neighbor, Mr. Ellison, a mining prospector located a mile 

 away, on whose three burros depends the transportation for the 

 observatory. It is 11 miles from Wenden to the foot of the mountain 

 trail, which is 5 miles more in rising about 3,000 feet. Mail is 

 received only about once in two weeks, when supplies are ordered by 

 heliograph signaling with Morse code to the merchants in Wenden, 

 at the cost of several hours hard work with the lights. Water must 

 be hauled from Mr. Ellison's camp, over a mile distant and 850 feet 

 below, except when at rare intervals rain falls. The two observers 



