Telegraphic Determinations of Longitude. 27 
at the foot of high, mud colored bluffs. On top of these bluffs 
is a perfectly barren table land extending inland and up and 
down the coast for many miles. Before visiting it the observers 
were informed that its one good point was the perfect astronom- 
ical weather which always prevailed. Clouds were unknown, and 
such a thing as rain had never been heard of. The extreme dry- 
ness of the atmosphere was so favorable to health that no one 
ever died, and when a consumptive invalid was imported by the 
inhabitants in the hope of starting a cemetery, he blasted their 
expectations by recovering. Judge then of their feeling, when 
upon arriving at this delightful place, they were met with the 
information that while it was true that the sky was, in general, 
perfectly clear both by night and day, yet about once in seven 
years, rain could be expected, and that the year then present was 
the rainy one. And sure enough it did rain. The usually dusty 
streets became rivers and quagmires, the rocky valleys in the 
vicinity were transformed into roaring torrents, and the table 
land usually an arid desert became a swamp with a rank growth 
of vegetation. However by using every opportunity and snatch- 
ing stars between clouds and showers the work was finally 
completed. 
Upon arriving in Panama shortly after this experience, the 
party was met with the pleasant intelligence that yellow fever 
was prevalent, and that the foreigners were dying like sheep. 
Nearly every day of the party’s stay, some one died of sufficient 
importance to have the church bells tolled for his funeral, while 
of the ordinary people little notice was taken. Every morning, 
the writer remembers passing a carpenter’s shop where nothing 
was made but coffins, and the supply was evidently not equal to 
the demand, for finally the proprietor began to import them, 
apparently by the ship load. The weather however was delight- 
ful, and the nights were the most perfect, astronomically speak- 
ing, that could be desired. 
The observers who went from Japan to Vladivostok were 
obliged to wait several weeks at Nagasaki, before an opportunity 
offered for proceeding to their destination, and when they finally 
arrived, the getting away again was a problem. Communication 
with the outside world by water was only open during the sum- 
mer months, and even then it was more accidental than otherwise. 
The party established the observatory however, and settled down 
to work, letting the future take care of itself. In the early part 
