56 JOURNAL AND PBOCEEDINGS 



holders and toqk their places beside their instruments, whilst Dr. 

 King went to each man ready to convey the least sign of hope. 



When the time for the first contact had arrived we had not yet 

 seen the sun, nor could we have said from appearances what part 

 of the sky it was situated in. But as we had observed how very 

 variable the weather had been during our stay in Labrador we still 

 had a hope that the clouds would break and that we would yet see 

 the totality. 



When about two minutes before the computed time for totality 

 a very perceptible change in the light was noticed. It appeared to 

 gradually but swiftly diminish until as if with a few jerks totalitj' 

 was upon us, and the camp was covered in a strange, mysterious 

 gloom, very much darker than any thunderstorm we had ever seen. 

 I took out my watch and could just see the hour hand, but could 

 not see the minute hand. We realized that we were indeed in the 

 shadow of the eclipse. The spectacle around us was a most weird 

 one. Everything was as silent as the grave, the only exception 

 being the solitary chirp of a bird in the woods near by. We ex- 

 posed plates to the landscape, but got a mere outline of the 

 surroundings. 



The time of third contact arrived without even a glimpse of 

 the sun being seen by any of us. and we now realized that our 

 hopes of witnessing a total solar eclipse in Labrador had vanished. 

 Towards the end of the eclipse, however, the sun struggled faintly 

 through the clouds and we could make ont the last stages of the 

 moon's shadow. Dr. Marsh, Dr. Johnson, and Mr. Jenkins ex- 

 posed a few plates, hoping to catch a trace of the eclipse, but the 

 light was not sufiicient to leave any image of the phenomenon. 



The fourth contact now arrived and the clouds again obliter- 

 ated the sun from our view. Thus ended our laborious prepara- 

 tions in utter failure — that is, from a photographic standpoint. 

 However, important magnetic observations were made and a base 

 of survey to that great lone land established. 



The Dominion Government Observatory sent an excellent out- 

 fit, creditable to our country, and ably manned by Mr. James 



