Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1868-11-25
Solar Eclipse--HighIy interest
ing Description.

WIZ ~ bIiAAS NA'hbCO UuL, Il Dttt3-
pore, where the German astronomers
and the governor of Bombay were. the
circumstances were more favorable.
y correspondent of the Times Of m
dja, who observed the eclipse on the
banks of the Rhima, between Takli
and Chlncupur, says: The weather,
or rather the sky, was unfavorable for
observing the solar effects. The
morning was gray, and, after daylight,
for a while, promised we'll but the
air was pretty well saturated with
moisture; and, by seven o'clock. il
was evident that much depended on
the temperature of the breeze, a verv
slight fall being sufficient to condense
sufficient vapor to cover the sky with
cloud. For about an hour and ten
minutes from the first contact on the
upper limb, very near the vertcx, the
lunar disc gradually descended. and.
from about the middle of this time.
the light diminished regularly and We
~ perceptibly until toward the ap-
proach of totality, when it had de-
creased to dull twilight-deep and
still as on the burst of heavy thun.
der storm, except from the low muir
mer Of a steady breeze, which found
little on which to produce any sound
on the bare, rising ground.
The clouds had been rapidly multi
plying and becoming more dense; but
hitherto, either with or without the
colored eye glasses, we had been able
to trace the progress of the eclipse.
with only a few short Interruptions
Two or three minutes before the to-
tai observation, the thermometer.
had SO far indicated the same temper
ature, began to fall rapidly, the wind
became perceptibly colder, and the
clouds thickened and darkened and
quite obscured the sun. 1t was mo-
ment of intense interest crows flew
low, and kites huttered as If distressed
to find darkness upon them before
they could reach their accustomed
perches. At Solapur the poultry
went to rOost; and some cattle, not
far from Us, seemed to be proceeding
home Of their own accord. The only
instance Of perfect stoicism, heard
Of, was that Of man blowing quite
near to where l was, and whom |
heard turning his bullocks when the
darkness was greatest, and when
could Just make out what it was be
tween me and the northern horizon.
where there was light
Our attention was directed to the
southwest, where a far deeper dark
ness appeared than that around us-I
DO not say began to appear, for it
seemed to form almost at once over a
large segment Of sky. The remain
der of light around Us seemed to di-
muish by pulses, as this great curtain
Of darkness rose and spread out. espe-
cially to the south, with a velocity
and majesty that | cannot describe.
| could only watch its tremendous
sweep as it burst along toward Us.
darkening earth and heaven, until we
felt ourselves under the great vail
that swiftly reached our eastern hori-
zon, and left the light only in a low
arch Of seven or eight degrees in hight
on the north. and which had a slow
but perceptible motion from east to
west. Between Us and that Light. we
could Just discern the cattle passing
home at a distance of twenty wards
and, with the face of watch turned
toward i, we could read the time on
a white dial, but not on a gold one.
At distance Of about three-lourtis
of mile to the south we could see a
Light very distinctly in the village of
Chinchpur. | did not observe any
peculiar coloring in the clouds or
along the horizon, nor did the faces of
those near me assume the cedaverous
aspect said to have been so strongly
marked IN other eclipses. The dark
ness of totality has olso been often
affirmed to give rise to strong feelings
or horror. Subjective feelings, how
ever. are very different from the obiec-
tive phenomena which gave rise to
them, and vary with the mind in which
they are produced, as well as with the
outward circumstances which caused
them. To me the rapiditv of the mo-
tion OF the tremendous pail. and the
suddenness and completeness Of the
final pulse of darkness were inexpres-
sibly grand, and never to be forgot
ten And it so absorbed the senses
that the wind seemed to cease. and
only after a few seconds of dark
ness | heard the distant cries from
the village below. The darkness con
tinued about three minutes, though
they seemed very short ones; and the
thermometer went down to rs degrees.
while the dew fell very rapidly, and
was driven by the wind like a thin
drizzle of rain, and I felt it getting
very chilly.
At length the low arch Of light to
the north began to enlarge round to
the west; and the great curtain with
drew with the same majestic sweep
with which it had been cast over US;
and soon its edge was seen passing
over the zenith and vanishing in
lessening arch TO the southeast. And,
as the light had disappeared. so, for a
few seconds, 1t appeared to return,
not by regular accessions, as day
opens from the gray dawn, but at first
BY rapid pulses and then gradually.
immediately the shadow disappeared