ON THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF AUGUST 29, 188G. 
Pj4S 
of the hour circle into the driving-screw of the clock remained loose and unsatisfactory, 
and it was not found possible to remedy it. The spectroscopes, too, when put 
together, proved to require many alterations in small details, whicli cost the most 
unceasing labour, but which were all effected very satisfactorily before the day of the 
eclipse. 
The programme which I was to carry out with tlie above instruments comprised 
the taking of one photograph of the spectrnm of the corona during totality with each 
of the two spectroscopes, and of seven photographs of the corona itself with the five- 
foot coronal camera. The slit of the two-prism spectroscope wms to be adjusted so as 
to point east and west, and to lie across the centre of the Sun ; the slit of the single¬ 
prism spectroscope was to lie north and south, and to form a tangent to the east limb 
of the Sun. 
The expedition reached Grenada on the afternoon of Thursday, August 12, and on 
the afternoon of the following day the huts which had been made for the Rev. S, J. 
Perry and myself were taken on board H.M.S. “ Bullfrog,” which left St. George’s at 
daybreak on August f 4, in order to convey us to Carriacou, an island some twenty 
miles north of Grenada, and the largest member of the chain of islets known as the 
Grenadines. We anchored in Grand Ance Bay, off Hillsborough, the principal village 
of the island, and made the necessary examination of the country near, and inquiries 
respecting other portions of the island, in order to be able to select the most suitable 
site for our observing station. As there were no safe anchorages for the gunboat on 
the east of the island, and as Grand Ance Bay was on the west of the island, in its 
broadest part, and was, moreover, surrounded by steep and lofty hills, we were 
compelled to fix upon Tyrrell Bay, a little further to the south, where the island was 
much narrower, and where the hills were only about 200 feet in height. A position 
was finally selected on the top of the ridge, from whence a good eastern horizon was 
obtained. The site chosen was about 300 yards to the north of a small house known 
as “ The Hermitage,” the residence of Mr. Drummond, and its approximate position 
as given by the Admiralty chart was W. long. 61° 29', and N. lat. 12° 27'. 
A heavy rain storm on August 16—the fringe of the tornado which wrecked the 
neighbouring Island of St. Vincent—rendered the steep slopes of the hill so muddy 
and sodden that the work of conveying the huts and instruments to the summit 
proved a lengthy and laborious task, and the huts were not finally completed and the 
instruments erected until Friday, August 20. The eight days still remaining before 
the eclipse were then devoted to the necessary adjustments of the various instruments 
and the alteration of the driving clock. The work was continually interrupted by 
short showers and passing clouds, but all the cameras were brought into good focus, 
the several telescopes and condensing lenses all rendered truly parallel, and the 
elevation and azimuth of the mountiim ascertained to be correct within a minute of 
arc—the circles with which the instrument was provided being divided to half 
degrees, but reading to minutes by means of a vernier—before the day of the eclipse. 
