5G8 
MR. J. NORMAN LOCKYER ON THE 
After this the sky was continually obscured by clouds and rain fell heavily; this 
seemed likely to persist, but no rain fell on the morning of the eclipse, and fortunately 
about half-an-hour before totality commenced, the sky began to clear and remained 
perfectly so during the whole time of total eclipse. 
As soon as the photographs had been taken, the dark slides were removed to a 
place of safety and the huts were covered over and made fast. This had scarcely 
been accomplished, when a tropical downpour followed, Avhich continued during the 
remaining part of the day. Similar weather was experienced by a party of 
astronomers from Rio de Janeiro, who had their station at a village some miles 
distant, and who paid a visit to Para Curu, but the compliment could not be 
returned in consequence of the difficulty and unfamiliarity with bush travelling, 
besides the fatigue experienced with the thermometer registering 96° in the shade 
during the day and 88° during the night. The following three da}^s were spent in 
taking the instruments to pieces and packing up, after which there was nothing to 
be done but to wait for the steamer which was to call on its way south ; this proved 
to be the s.s. Colombo, which put in appearance seven days after the eclipse. The 
instruments were again got aboard by the rafts, and passage was then taken back 
to Ceara, where the baggage was shipped on a cargo steamer bound for Liverpool, 
so as to prevent the many transhipments which would otherwise have been necessary. 
After a few days’ waiting, passage was again taken to Pernambuco by the s.s. Brazil; 
thence the return voyage to England was completed by the R.M.S. Trent. 
Personnel. 
In the absence of such skilled assistance as could be offered by a man-of-war, most 
of the work was of necessity performed by myself, but thanks are due to Sir J. B. 
Stone for photographing the instruments; to M. Olsen (photographer at Ceara), 
for use of dark room ; and to the interpreter, Mr. A Furley (Ceara Harbour Works), 
for assistance in erection of huts and instruments. 
The Brazilian Instrument. 
The prismatic camera employed in Brazil was simply a large photographic 
spectroscope deprived of its collimator, mounted on an iron table. The dispersive 
train consisted of two prisms, each having a refracting angle of 60° and a clear 
aperture of 3 inches. The object glass was a Dallmeyer portrait lens, 5 D, aperture 
3‘25 inches, focal length 19 inches. 
As explained in the report by Mr. Fowler, the direction of the refracting edges 
of the prisms has its maximum efficiency defined by the position-angle of the cusps, 
but with this form of prismatic camera the faces of prisms were of necessity vertical, 
and therefore the direction of dispersion could not be controlled; fortunately, 
however, it so happened that the cusps were favourably situated. 
