National Republican., 1883-07-07


loaded alongside and rowed TO the entrance of |
the narrow passage. This was entered |
on tho top of n wave and the boat |
was skillfully steered by the coxswain |
through its windings. AS soon as the bow
came over the flat surface of the reef the crew
jumped out and hauled IL up into the shallow
water covering the whole surface of the reef.
At high water this ocean reef was covered TO
depth of about thirty inches, and at low
water TO about ten inches The boxes were
then lifted from the boat and transported by
carrying parties to the high water mark, q
distance of 400 feet. This transport had to
be made over the ragged surface of the ocean
reef and through water of depth varying
from one to three feet, as | have said. From
high water mark, other carrying parties trans
ported the boxes along the beach of the la
COON and across the island TO the site of our
observatories (some 1 300 feet further) which
had been selected by DR.. Hastings and my
self. On board the Hartford had prepared
a plan of the proposed camp; the position of
each observatory was fixed on the ground by
q stake and to this stake all the boxes of each
instrument we're brought. In this way all
proceeded in an orderly manner. BY the
evening of the twenty first all the boxes and
baggage of the expedition were landed, as
we'll as bricks, cement, lumber, etc, for the
observatories.
The entire party slept on shore also; and l
shall never forget the quiet rest of that cool
night after the intensely hot day of active
work. Our hammocks were swung on the
wide veranda of one of tho houses close to
the beach of the mirror like lagoon. The
wind was cool and fresh as it blew through
break between two of the islands and di-
rectly from the open sea, the monotonous
roar of whose surf was incessantly heard.
The nearly full moon was overhead and the
long fronds of the cocoa palms made gro.
tesque shadows on the level ground. Occa-
IL H.. Il.
of some sea bird flying over, and other than
this and the roar of the breakers, there was
nothing to disturb the quiet and rest which
came as o fitting conclusion to our restless
month at sea.
During the twenty-second of April the
| Hartford remained by the island, and force
of carpenters and bricklayers proceeded rap
| idly with the construction of our observato-
| ries. By night time tho observatories be-
| longing to myself, DR.. Hastings and Mr.. Pres
| ton were up, and piers of brick or wood COM
pleted. The brick piers of the English party
were well under way, and were completed on
the twenty third by Mr.. Woods, who thus
added a new profession to his former acquire
ments
The Hartford sailed at D. m. of the
twenty-second for Tahiti, and some of us
went to the ocean reef to see her off. Besides
her lights we saw those Of L'Eclaireur, the
man n-of-war which was bringing the French
eclipse expedition. Early on the morning of
the twenty-third met the maitre dequipage
of the Eclaireur on the reef and gave him
such information as to the landing &C., as
was sure would be of use. Shortly after this
| the French party came on shore for the day,
and the morning was spent in aiding them to
| select site for their observations, &c, This
party consisted of M. Jansen, director of the
observatory of astronomical physics of Meu-
dom M. Trouvelot, assistant at the Meu-
don observatory; Nj. Pasteur, photog-
rapher of the Meudon observatory.
These gentlemen were accompanied by M.
Tachini, director of the observatory of the
Roman college; M. Palisa, astronomer of the
imperial observatory of Vienna. Beside
these astronomers there were seventeen of
the crew of l. Eclaireur left on shore, making
the French party twenty-five in number.
Thus the total population of the island was
fifty -one in all, including natives. Our rela-
tions with the gentlemen of tho French expe-
dition were throughout of the most cordial
character. So far us our researches lay in the
same direction, we worked together to COM
mon end 1t was a pleasure to us to be able
| to extend to them what aid was possible, and
| to receive the same in return.
During the remaining days of April every
thing was making progress toward complete
readiness for observations of the eclipse. The
observatory of Dr. Hastings and my own were
completed by April ~, and each of us used a
6-inch equatorial for some hours each night in
an examination of the southern sky. During
the course of this we detected some new
doubles and red stars, list of which is given
| later.
The vision was not especially good, and
comparatively few hours were given to tele-
scopc work, owing to the impossibility of
obtaining quiet sleep during the day. Still
new double stars were found. This shows
that If a suitable telescope were to be used in
a favorable place in the southern hemisphere,
| as Quito or Santiago for example, great
number of new objects could be catalog eu ~
a comparatively short time. 1t appears Jo me
that this expedition is worth making. I'M
medately after the eclipse we commenced
| preparations for departure. These occupied
May z and May 8. Capt. Carpenter had
promised to return from Tahiti with the
Hartford by the morning of May 8, but we
were pleased to SEQ his arrival at p. m. of
| the eighth By hard work all was packed
and delivered on the Hartford by p. IN. of
May 8, and at p. m. of that day the
| Hartford, with the expedition on board, took
her departure for the Sandwich islands. We
left Caroline island with mingled feelings of
| pleasure and regret. Each one of us had at
| least some one thing left to do or to see, and
| yet it was pleasure to leave the place where
| our mission had been accomplished, and to
meet our friends in the ship, who were en-
deared to US by that intimacy which sea life
| induces.
| This is the place to say one word in regard
| to the outfit of stores aud provisions which
were provided in New York and CALI by
| Mr. Rockwell. All advice we received from
| the United States from various persons who
might have been supposed to know was to the
| effect that we had better not cucumber our
selves with stores, &C., from New York; t hat
the markets of Callao and the resources of
man-of-w war would amply supply our needs
| Acting contrary to this advice, Mr.. Rockwell
and myself took a large quantity of provis-
ions from New York, together with the can
vas, tents, &C., which we were told could be
obtained from the man-of-war. At Callao an
additional supply of provisions was purchased
| together with the bricks, cement, and lumber
which were found necessary for the English
expedition and our own. The provisions and
stores proved to be exactly what we wanted,
and we were enabled to support the twelve
men of the party on Caroline island without
trouble, and to provide n sufficient though
| primitive cuisine. Our only mistake was in
not purchasing all our provisions and tools in
| New York, and | have given this brief ac-
count of our preparations in this direction in
order to say to other expeditions similar to
our own that they will do well to buy all their
outfit in Now York and pay the freight to the
point of destination cheerfully. | have to
express the thanks of tho expedition to the
honorable secretary of war and to my friend,
Col. IL. @. Hodges, quartermaster's depart
ment, for the loan of three tents, which were of
great service to us.
IL NAV be added as Prof Holden's modesty