246 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
suitable intervals, kept watch over us and our instruments, night 
and day. Their duties were not of a very onerous description, hut 
they left us free from anxiety as to the safety of the instruments 
mounted in the open and protected only by waterproof sheets. 
Too much praise cannot be given to both the officers and men of the 
Theseus for the great services they rendered to us, first in assisting 
in the work of mounting the instruments and putting our camp 
into order, and secondly in the actual work of observing the 
eclipse. Every assistance we asked of them was given with the 
utmost enthusiasm and willingness. The navigating officer sup- 
plied us with a daily time signal, by dropping a ball on board 
the ship, giving us in this way a most satisfactory check on the 
going of our chronometers, of which we availed ourselves to the 
utmost extent. As I have already mentioned, two of the junior 
officers undertook charge of the shadow band observations. Two 
midshipmen read off the thermometers, and other officers exposed 
the numerous cameras under Mr Franklin- Adams’ directions. The 
services of six or eight of the men we found invaluable. The 
“ handy man ” proved himself as capable of mounting equatorial 
telescope stands as he is of manipulating 4‘7-inch guns. His 
cheerfulness and willingness to undertake any piece of work 
allotted to him was a constant source of pleasure to those of us 
who had to direct his energies. 
By Thursday, the 31st, we had all our cases ready packed with 
the help of the sailors, and once more on board the Theseus. The 
same evening we bade farewell to our numerous Santa Pola friends, 
and before nightfall we were steaming down the east coast and 
leaving Santa Pola far behind us. Arrived at Gibraltar on 
Saturday morning, June 2, we found the Mediterranean fleet 
assembled there, and took up our place amongst them. Our 
homeward bound Orient Liner the Cuzco was not expected in 
Gibraltar till the 5 th ; we had therefore a few days to wait, which 
we employed in seeing something of the great fortress of Gibraltar. 
One day I and a companion spent at Honda, an old Moorish town 
in the highlands of Malaga. The journey from Algeciras, on the 
bay opposite Gibraltar, took us by a new railway, to 2500 feet 
above sea-level, in about three hours. It is situated in a charming 
country, abounding in olives, which appears to be the principal 
