The American Eclipse Expedition 



605 



"The Gates of Heaven" — Porta Coeli, Spain 



pictured on their surface ; but, as in 

 photographing lightning flashes, this was 

 found to be a difficult undertaking. 



The Minneapolis party were, however, 

 paid for their efforts to obtain this de- 

 sirable result by getting with their field 

 of observation, which covered both the 

 sea and the land, one of the most entranc- 

 ing views of the eclipse phenomena that 

 was ever presented. The officers and 

 men of the Minneapolis were early at 

 their stations and 300 eager pairs of eyes 

 were ready to take advantage of the brief 

 time of totality. 



During the first phase of the eclipse — 

 that is, from the time the two disks came 

 together until totality began — the crew 

 of the ship amused themselves chasing 

 the little crescent shadows of the partially 

 eclipsed sun over the decks. These 

 shadows were formed by the light shin- 

 ing through pin-holes in a sheet of 

 paper. 



Here are seen the corps of draftsmen 

 ready for work, and the genial face of 

 the Honorable Charles A. Bryan, min- 

 ister to Portugal, who has come all the 

 way from Lisbon to witness the scene. 

 He is welcomed, as everywhere else, by a 

 host of friends. He takes special charge 

 of the fowls, to see if they perform, as 

 predicted, at the proper moment. The 

 rooster being a little slow to begin his 

 part when the sun shines forth after its 

 eclipse, the ambassador's own voice may 

 be heard as a substitute. 



The King of Spain took much interest 

 in the visit of astronomers to Spain to 

 view the eclipse, and on the day it took 

 place he was stationed at Burgos, where 

 most of the European astronomers were 

 assembled. He was only partially re- 

 warded for the long trip to that interest- 

 ing city by obtaining a dim glimpse of 

 the eclipsed sun as it occasionally ap- 

 peared through the dense clouds which 



