1807.] 
could not be far wrong, as he had seen in 
the Ephemerides, the hour the eclipse was 
to hegin. The eclipse is described as 
follows, in M. de la Caille’s Ephemerides, 
|g i We ae Eclipse totale de lune, com- 
mence quand és sera Paris Bl. 25’ 36”, 
Imm, a 3h, 23/3”, milieu a 4h. 42’ 48", 
Emers, a at 2°35", fin. a-oh. 0 0". And 
in the preceding page (190) of the Ephe- 
merides, the day is marked by Mr. Bruce 
with the same ink in which his journals 
were then written, a proof, according to 
the editor, that he was not inattentive to 
the phenomenon at the time. ‘There was 
to be a total eclipse, he observes, of the 
moon, and he went to the door and saw 
thatit was begun; but he did not tel! them 
at first, till, acc ordi ng to the first edition, 
it had advanced some way, and was ap- 
parent upon the disc. ‘‘ Now look at 
that, (he said); in some time after this 
the whole moon shall be so totally swal- 
lowed up in darkness, that a small heht 
shall only be seen in the edges.” A little 
before the eclipse became total, a vio- 
lent apprehension had fallen upon the 
company ; the women began to howl 
from the inner apartments, and before 
our author had returned from consoling 
them, the emersion was far advanced, and 
the terrors of the company began to sub- 
side; *‘ though strong marks of surprise 
remained in their countenances.” 
In opposition to this circumstantial ac- 
count, the late Dr. Rotherham publish- 
ed, in the Edinburgh Evening Courant, 
(June 12, and July 3, 1791,) the follow= 
ing result of a calculation of the eclipse 
for the meridian of Feawa, the accuracy 
of-which has been verified by others. 
Beginning of the Eclipse at 
Feawa, April 17, 1772 
Beginning of total darkness 
Min. Sec. 
36 43 
o 4A. 
AwOrNanes 
) 
ss 
Middle .. . Sais tf 
End of total darkness . 10 30 
End of Echpse » . . .« Type 
Moon’s apparent rising. NO" 520 
From this calculation, Dr. Rotherham 
inferred that the sun set on the 17th at 
eleven minutes past six at Feawa; and 
as the moon, being then diametrically 
Opposite to the sun, rose at nineteen mi- 
nutes past six (a few minutes being al- 
lowed for refraction and parallax), the 
beginning and progress of the eclipse 
which Mr. Bruce observed, and shewed 
the Shekh, when “it had advanced some 
way, and was apparent upon the disc, 
were not visible at /'eawa beiore el’asser 
(four o’clock), as the moon was then 
many degrees below the horizon, and 
Montirty Mac., No. 165, 
On the Credit due to Bruce’s Travels. $35 
rose almost in the very middle of a total 
eclipse, when for half an hour she had 
been entirely darkened.” ‘This objec- 
tion has occasioned the following altera- 
tions in the present edition, to reconcile 
the narrative, if possible, to the calcula- 
tion : :—‘* Before el’asser,’”’ is altered to, 
* after el’ asser, a sign shall be seen in 
the heavens ;” and, “1 saw that it was 
begun, 1 did not tell them till it had ad- 
vanced some way, and was apparent 
upon the disc,” to, “ { saw that it was 
begun, I did not tell them till the moon 
having arisen, the shade had advanced 
some way upon the disc;” evidently to 
insinuate that the eciipse did not begin 
till the evening, and that the moon did 
not rise till some time after the eclipse 
had commenced. The editor accordingly 
observes, that the Arabic word, el’asser, 
comprehends indefinitely the whole even- 
ing; that im writing from memory, Mr. 
Bruce, at the distance of fourteen years, 
confounded the moon’s rising in an eclips- 
ed state, with the recollection of the 
exact time when the eclipse began, the 
progress of which he had learned from 
the Ephemerides, and for which he had 
rectified his wateh by observation, but 
that the appearance of the moon, fora 
whole hour, totally eclipsed, was better 
fitted to operate upon the terrors of ig- 
norant Arabs, than if it had been gradu- 
ally darkened. Mr. Bruce, however, at- 
tends the Shekh about nme in the morn- 
ing, and after a large breakfast, repairs 
to the market-place, where he exhibited 
some feats of horsemanship, and pro- 
mised to return in something more than 
two hours, when the sign should appear. 
As these incidents must have passed at 
noon, the sign must be supposed to have 
appeared, as predicted in the first edi- 
‘tion, before el’asser, while the sun was 
up, and the eclipse itself wes of course 
invisible, It is difficult to conceive that 
an astronomical traveller would omit the 
desirable opportunity of a lunar eclipse 
to verify his former observations of longi- 
tude; but the real fact is undoubtedly 
this, “Robertson’ s History of America was 
published aboat three years after our au- 
thor’s return, and Columbus’s prediction 
to the American savages of a total eclipse 
of the moon as a judgment of heaven, is 
told with such captivating simplicity, that 
Bruce, recollecting a total eclipse at Fea- 
wa, was desirous to appropriate the in- 
cident, as usual, to himself: It is evident 
that in writing ‘his Travels, he consulted 
De la Caille’s Ephemerides for the com- 
mencement of the eclipse, ‘‘ quand il se- 
4A ida 
