The American Eclipse Expedition 



609 



Visitors at Porta Coeli 



siderable expense to the Spanish govern- 

 ment. 



This was only one of the many fea- 

 tures of the eclipse expedition for which 

 we were under obligations to the Spanish 

 authorities. I desire to place on record 

 here that so cordial was our reception 

 from the alcalde of Segorbe as to include 

 the offer of the principal park of the city 

 for a camp ground and a good portion of 

 its municipal buildings for the use of one 

 of the parties, but its location was about 

 20 miles within the eclipse belt, and Porta 

 Coeli, 10 miles nearer the edge, was se- 

 lected for station 2. 



OUR ANXIETY IN THE MORNING 



The morning of August the 30th 

 dawned with gloom in the air as well as 

 in the minds of many an anxious astron- 

 omer in Spain ; great masses of black 

 clouds chased each other across the 

 heavens, as if bent on shutting out from 



the view of man the grand performance 

 of nature about to be enacted; but to- 

 ward noon it began to clear at our Porta 

 Coeli station. There were, however, 

 signs of a return of the clouds that kept 

 us between hope and fear for several 

 hours. The Daroca station telegraphed 

 about two hours before the eclipse, 

 "Cloudy but clearing." Our anxiety 

 simply became intensified by this brief 

 message. If it would clear at one station 

 in time to make observations, the strain 

 on our overwrought nerves would be 

 compensated for ; otherwise the labor of 

 years would be thrown away and I fear 

 the chief of the expedition would be the 

 victim of the "fool's errand." 



For six weeks preceding the eclipse a 

 drought had covered the land and the sky 

 had been cloudless, but the want of rain 

 left the air full of impurities, and its 

 motion, being magnified in our instru- 

 ments, gave an indistinct picture in our 



