The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-16 00:00:00

THE ECLIPSE IN PARIS.

The appearance of the heavens in the early part
of the morning seemed anything but favourable for
enjoying a good observation of the great pheno-
menon which was about to take place; The night
had been exceedingly stormy, with heavy falls of
rain, and the morning broke with a dull leaden
sky, which seemed impenetrable to the rays of the
sun. At about nine o'clock the atmosphere got
clearer, and towards ten o'clock a gleam of sue-
shine broke out, giving promise of a.bright propi-
tious day. By degrees the clouds 'became more
and more dissipated, and at nine minutes
to twelve, when the shadow of the moon
was to commence its passage over the sun's
disc., a bright sunshine prevailed, but still with
scattered masses of clouds existing, and with a
breeze which drifted them slowly to the west. At
that hour every part of Paris from Which a good
view of the sun could be obtained was filled with
persons armed with pieces of coloured glass, ready
to observe the eclipse. The clouds, which at first
seemed likely to impede the view—as they did cer-
tainly to a considerable extent for scientific ob-
servers—rather served to assist the ordinary spec-
tator from occasionally dulling the over-brightness
of the sun's glare, and serving in place of the
smoked glass or any other of the appliances which
are used on such occasions. What seemed to strike
generally the spectators was the rapidity with which
the moon's shadow gained on the sun's circle. Com-
mencing at the lower part on the right, it passed
on so promptly over the disc that in about the
space of three quarters of an hour the sun presented
only the appearance of a crescent, the convex side
of which was formed by the luminary's circumfer-
-eneto on the left. By degrees the arateentinareased.
until it became almost a thin line, nine tenths of the
sun, beinglthen covered. It. then began to slowly
descend, until the portion which had appeared 'com-
pletely to the left became the lowest boundary of
the sun's face, the two horns being on a perfect
level. The sun at this moment was exceedingly
curious to behold, for as the clouds passed over
its surface, it seemed like a boat of light slowly
ploughing its way through an agitated ocean. The
crescent still kept inclining to the right until it had
got beyondthe level, and then the sun seemed almost
at once to have resumed a considerable portion of its
illuminated surface. The eclipse wasnewbeginning
to tend towards its termination, the increase of
light seeming to arrive from below, and filling the
upward part rapidly. The sun then became so
bright that it was not easy to observe it for any
length of time, even through deeply-stained glass,
and the sight was then better viewed when reflected
in a vessel of water. At twenty-eight minutes past
two the whole was over, but the ordinary light of
day had returned, to all appearance, long before.
At no time was there such a diminution of light
as to prevent persons from carrying on their ordi-
nary business, though it was only when the eclipse
had entirely terminated and the sun shone forth
with what seemed unusual brilliancy that the dif-
ference between the greatest degree of obscurity
and the full light could be properly judged of.

THR AUSTRALIAN MAILS.—SoUTRAMTToN, March 15.
—The Royal Mail Company's steamship Teviot, Captain
Charles Taylor, with the heavy portion of the mails from
Australia, New Zealand, &c., arrived here to-day at
noon. She also brings 21 passengers (including Lieut.
la Touch, R.N., invalid from India), 49 boxes of gold,
value 192,3791. sterling, and 23 packages of general mer-
chandise. The usual Egyptian fleet was at ♦lexandria,
and Admiral Lyons's squadron at Malta. The Teviot
experienced a strong northerly gale up the coast of Spain
and Portugal to Cape I'inisterre ; thence a heavy north-
westerly gate across the bay, and up channel to the
Needles. The mail brought by the Teviot is a very
heavy one, in consequence of the steamer Columbian
having been detained at the Australian ports for 4$
hours to give an opportunity of answering the corres-
pondence contained in the double mail taken by the
Simla, consequent on accident to the Emeu in the Red
Sea in October last. Notwithstanding the severe wea-
ther encountered by the Teviot on her homeward voyage
the work of sorting this mail was fully accomplished
previous to reaching this port, affording another proof
of the practicability of a scheme which cannot fail to be-
come universally adopted wherever ocean steamers are
available for the conveyance of mails. By this arrange-
ment the letters and newspapers brought by the Teviot
will be delivered in London to-day, and the correspon-
dence for the country- forwarded by the evening mails,
that portion of it which would benefit by being left at
this place having been specially seleeted for that purpose.
LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAY.—
Traffic return for the week ending March 13,
1858 29,181 0 0
Corresponding week last year. 10,622 0 0
Total of the half-year to this date, 1858 112,956 0 0
Total of the half-year to this date, 1857 116,561 0 0

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