594 



The National Geographic Magazine 



on the expedition and take charge of this 

 work, and Professor Moore, the Chief of 

 the Weather Bureau, kindly detailed him 

 for this duty, thus relieving me of all 

 care of this important matter except, as 

 we say in the navy, "to pay out rope," 

 which means to give a free hand and 

 plenty of assistance. 



An important part of meteorology is a 

 study of the upper strata of the atmos- 

 phere lying over the ocean, and in order 

 to make observations in this out-of-the- 

 way field for research Professor Bigelow 

 took passage on board the Ccesar, and by 

 means of kites carried on a series of 

 meteorological observations which ex- 

 tended through a period lasting until his 

 return to the United States in October. 

 The Ccesar, with her large and spacious 

 decks fitted with numerous steam 

 winches, gave efficient means for flying 

 these kites and reeling in the wire lines 

 which made them captive. Once a mis- 

 hap occurred, making it necessary to drop 

 a boat and regain the water-borne kite 

 before it should sink with its delicate in- 

 struments or before they should be de- 

 stroyed by hauling through the water. 

 The boat, once returned to the ship, must 

 then be hoisted with care, possibly with 

 difficulty, owing to the ocean swell, in 

 order that the instruments should not be 

 disarranged. 



DRILLING THE SAILORS 



The Minneapolis left the United States 

 on July 3, 1905, with the last of the ex- 

 peditionary force on board, bound for 

 Gibraltar, whither both the Dixie and the 

 Ccesar had preceded her. En route across 

 the Atlantic frequent lectures were given 

 to the crew of the ships by the experts on 

 board, to prepare the men for the work 

 in which they were to take part, and these 

 lectures were listened to with marked in- 

 terest by all. It was not found necessary 

 to call for volunteers for the service to be 

 Performed for ever v one showed his 

 eagerness to take part in observing the 

 eclipse. The instruments and objects of 

 making the observations were explained 

 by means of lantern slides, and there were 



also shown pictures of the countries 

 about to be visited, giving the probable 

 conditions likely to be met with. Classes 

 were formed from the officers and crew 

 to make both plain and colored drawings 

 of the corona as well as for the study of 

 other parts of the work. The classes 

 were drilled in the use of color charts, 

 which were taken along to compare the 

 colors actually observed in the eclipse 

 phenomena. The colors on the chart 

 marked by numbers gave a ready and 

 quick method for use in preparing colored 

 drawings. For this purpose the coronal 

 field was laid out in sections. Observers 

 were assigned to each section, and the 

 color of the corona as seen by them was 

 separately recorded on the chart to the 

 nearest shade noted. The color of the 

 different parts of the corona was then 

 established by majority vote of the three 

 observers as recorded. In this way col- 

 ored maps of the corona and protuber- 

 ances of the sun have been compounded, 

 one of which is published with this 

 article. 



One of the requisites in selecting mem- 

 bers of the crews for service with the 

 eclipse parties was that they should be 

 first-class conduct men — that is, they 

 must be exceptionally well behaved at 

 all times, whether afloat or ashore. This 

 matter was very important, for with the 

 late Spanish-American trouble still fresh 

 in the minds of the many into whose 

 society we were about to enter, any act of 

 bad conduct or discourtesy on the part of 

 any of our people was likely to produce 

 a result disastrous to the entire expedi- 

 tion. It is pleasing to state that while 

 every member of the crews of the ships 

 visiting Spain landed on its shores, many 

 of them to remain for several weeks, 

 there was not a single man who did not 

 comport himself as a gentleman. I would 

 like to state here with reference to the 

 men of the navy, that when called upon 

 fr\r ^x^~r : - iri r'hnar^ 7 ^^od conduct as well 

 as for extraordinary heroism, they may 

 be expected to meet the issue with a full 

 sense of their obligation to the country. 

 A noteworthy instance of this kind de- 



