THE SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MAY 6 TH, 1883. 245 
occupied May 7 and 8, and at 5 P. M. of May 9, the Hartford, with the expedi 
tion on board, took her departure for the Sandwich Islands. We left Caroline 
Island with mingled feelings of pleasure and regret. Each one of us had at least 
some one thing left to do or to see, and yet it was a pleasure to leave the place 
where our mission had been accomplished, and to meet our friends in the ship, 
who were endeared to us by that intimacy which sea life induces. 
It may be added, as Professor Holden's modesty excluded it from his report, 
that there was a spirited race between the French and American expeditions, of 
four thousand miles from the coast of South America. Each desired to reach 
CaroUne Island ahead of the other in order to secure first choice of locations. 
Professor C. S. Hastings, of the Johns Hopkin's University, also includes 
many interesting details in his account of the trip : 
The voyage from New York to Panama was pleasant with the exception of a 
few hot days near Aspinwall. Somewhat further south the wind changed, oblig- 
ing them to call their overcoats from the bottom of their trunks to keep out the 
cold when crossing the Equator. During a short stop in Lima the party had an 
opportunity of studying South American life. The products of this country are 
fruits and photographs of the young women. The party enjoyed both eating the 
former and bringing the latter home for the admiration of their friends. The 
expedition really began at Callao, where the party embarked on the United 
States man-of-war, Hartford. Few circumstances contributed more to the enjoy- 
ment of the trip than the luckychance which threw this vessel in their way. The 
Hartford was fitted out last August as flag-ship of the South Pacific squadron. 
The admiral had not yet removed his flag to the vessel, but the extra accommo- 
dations provided for him and his train condoned the dignity lost by his absence. 
On March 22 they weighed anchor for a sail of more than four thousand miles 
over the blue ocean which stretches between Callao and their destination, Caro- 
line Island. The southeast trade winds favored them, and from the first day 
there was actually no necessity for altering the position of a sail. 
^ >1< >i< ^ ;1< ^ * 
The inhabitants — five men, one woman and two children, according to 
to the eclipse census — -are natives of Tahiti. The houses are one story structures 
with clapboard sides, probably cut out in California and brought out in ships, to 
•be erected on this island. The island on which they are built is about three- 
fourths of a mile in diameter and nearly circular in outline. The edge, which 
rises from five to twenty inches from the water, according to the tide's phase, 
goes down under the water to an even table of coral running out many feet into 
the sea; and is impossible to step on it with bare feet. At the end of this table 
the reef goes down perpendicularly, a sheer precipice, into the unfathomable sea. 
No vessel can anchor here, and to make a landing was an exciting matter. The 
island was approached in small boats on the side sheltered from the wind, and 
here, with the luck which characterized the trip, was found the only opening in 
• this barrier of coral. A long cleft, perhaps eight feet wide, at the outer edge of 
VII— 16 
