The American Eclipse Expedition 



61 



cameras that caused alarm. The storm 

 then sweeping" over Spain, however, 

 cleared away all the imperfections and 

 caused a distinctiveness to our photo- 

 graphs rarely seen during an eclipse. 

 Clouds still surrounded us, however, 

 drifting with great rapidity, and we 

 watched with keen interest to see if they 

 were steering toward our objective; but 

 the miss which they made was as good as 

 many miles to us. We afterward learned 

 that at Betera, only six miles from Porta 

 Coeli, the sun was obscured by clouds all 

 during the time of totality. It was then 

 a source of congratulation that the station 

 had been selected at an elevation of some 

 1,000 feet, which, while increasing the 

 difficulty of transportation, gave us a bet- 

 ter view of the eclipse than could be had 

 on the lowlands near the Mediterranean 

 shores. 



THE ECLIPSE 



Soon after noon the sun sent out her 

 glorious rays down into the "gates of 

 heaven" on as fair a view as can be im- 

 agined. Mr Hill, assistant astronomer, 

 in charge of the 9-foot camera, called my 

 attention to the picture of the sun on his 

 ground-glass plate. "As clear as a bell," 

 said he — not a quiver in the atmosphere. 



As the time drew near for the first 

 contact, all eyes became riveted on the 

 sun. Suddenly Mr Hill sang out, "Here 

 he comes." It was twenty seconds 

 ahead of the time predicted, but why we 

 did not stop to consider. At first only 

 through the delicate instruments could 

 we discern the contact of the sun and 

 moon and no appreciable effect was ob- 

 served on the landscape, but as the opaque 

 body of the moon gradually covered the 

 bright disk of the sun, the many thousands 

 of interested observers became conscious 

 of the growing darkness. We were then 

 watching the partial phase of the eclipse, 

 which might be seen by almost any of the 

 2,000,000,000 of the earth's inhabitants 

 who were favored with daylight and good 

 weather ; hut the comparatively few in 

 number who were located within the 60- 

 mile belt of totalitv were vet to see the 



grand picture of the corona, the object of 

 our ambition. As the moon advanced 

 across the sun the interest became greater. 

 Presently the resonant tones of the ship's 

 bugle sounded the call for action. A 

 silence fell over the camp, the members of 

 which had already been prepared to take 

 advantage of each of the 106 seconds of 

 totality which were given us to determine 

 the substance of the corona. 



Slowly and steadily the twilight deep- 

 ened, bringing with it a chill such as is 

 common to evening. The stars came out 

 one by one, Venus particularly shining 

 resplendent in the skies. Suddenly, like 

 a pall, the shadow of the moon swept 

 through the air and over the landscape. 

 For a moment utter darkness surrounded 

 us ; then, as our eyes adjusted themselves 

 to the new conditions, the glorious corona 

 appeared in all its magnificence. There, 

 shining in the cloudless sky with silvery 

 effulgence, was the crown of glory which 

 has been fittingly styled "God's crown," 

 a decoration that no earthly monarch can 

 aspire to — the corona. 



Great rays of pearly white light shot 

 out in penciled sheaths to distances 

 double that of the sun's diameter, or 

 several million miles in length. These 

 silvery streamers seem built up around 

 the disk of the sun in regular order, but 

 apparently shoot out with greater or 

 less intensity, which is characteristic of 

 the ways of nature, into color too dim to 

 be noted by direct vision, but which 

 photography has enabled us to carry into 

 microscopic depths. To the devoutly in- 

 clined, the Divine Being who rules the 

 universe is never more manifest than at 

 this moment. Well might they exclaim 

 in the language of Job, "Doth he not see 

 my ways and count all my steps, if I be- 

 held the sun when it shines or the moon 

 walking in brightness?" The masses of 

 human beings who have surrounded our 

 camp and thrown themselves prostrate to 

 the ground, crying out in loud and dis- 

 tressed tones, show its effect on the 

 superstitious ; but no one who witnesses 

 this beautiful picture will pass it by with- 

 out a quickened pulsebeat or a display of 



