The Hawaiian gazette., 1889-12-24
THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.

1 AoNO OCCA "a oASCA ~ q OOaA0 COl4
posed of Commodore John G. Wal
ker, Chief of the Bureau of Naviga
ton; Captain Pythian, Superintend
emit Of the Naval Observatory; Prof
Asaph Hall, of the Naval Observa
tory, and Prof. Simon Newcomb
Superintendent of 1.-The National
Almanac" The expedition will be
divided into two divisions, one Of
which will be under the direction OF
Prof. Joseph Russell, OF Washington
and the other under the supervision
of Prof. Todd, of Amherst. Prof
Russell is an expert in solar photog-
raphy. He will have charge of the
corps detailed to obtain photographs
of the eclipse in its various phases.
Professor Todd was formerly a
Lieutenant Commander in the United
States Navy. Permission has been
granted by the Portuguese Govern
ment for the expedition to land at
San Paolo de Loanda, on the west
coast of Africa. Thence the party
will push on inland to Maxima on
the Quanza river. The two divisions
will separate and will establish diff
ferent stations near that point.
The Pensacola will possibly make
Madeira first, but she may go direct
to Cape Vincent, in the Cape de
Verde Islands. There she could
coal up and get the mails. To that
point it will probably take thirty
days, and week more would bring
the ship to her destination. A de-
tail from her crew may be sent to
assist the scientists in their work.
The drudgery ashore, however, will
be done by the natives. The heat is
intense and the climate so unhealthy
that all manual labor is performed
by the hired natives on the coast.
The crew and officers of the Pensa-
cola number 365. Captain A. r..
Yates is her commander. The Off
GERS expect to be absent from New
York about four months.
David Peck Todd, of Amherst, who
will have control of one of the divis-
ions, is the son of Serene Edward
Todd, and was born at Lake Ridge,
New York, March 10, 1856. He was
in charge of the expedition sent
from the United States to Japan to
observe the eclipse of the sun in
1887.
Professor Todd, who has charge
of one branch of the African corps
of observation, was recently inter
viewed by reporter, to whom he
made the following statement: "a
great advance has been made in
astronomical photography in recent
years, and if the weather is fair we
hope to get data which will enable
US to learn a good deal more of the
nature of the sun than is known at
present. We shall carry twenty
cameras and the largest one will be
forty feet long. All of the photo
graphic apparatus is worked auto
matically by the electro-pneumatic
system, and all l have to do will
be to get everything in readiness.
Not a single man will be needed to
remove the plates or do anything
else afterward. 1t is expected that
the voyage to st. Paul de Loanda,
where the party will land, will take
about forty-fve days. Professor
Cleveland Able of the Signal Ser
vice will have charge of the meteor
illogical branch of the expedition.
He Will use an thermometer in get
ting the velocity of the wind, a neu-
phoscope for observing the move
ment of the clouds, and will send
out a number of red toy balloons for
ascerta1ning the movements of the
wind at a higher altitude than the
ships masts. A naval officer will
also be deputized to make soundings
of the ocean as the vessel proceeds.
Sir Williom Thompson's method
will be used in making the sound
ings, which will be taken every
twenty four hours or so.
"The total eclipse" said Professor
Todd, will be visible in narrow
path. This path is about 5000
miles long, only 100 miles wide and
nearly its entire distance
over the ocean. 1t begins in the
Caribbean Sea and skirts along the
northern coast of South America,
being visible at only one point
there, French Guinea. It then
moves eastward until it strikes
Africa, few hundred miles south
of the Congo River. There are no
islands in the Atlantic from which it
con be viewed, and we selected
Africa as the best point for our
work. An expedition will go from
the Lick Observatory in California
to French Guinea and view the
eclipse there. Though they will not
have to go so far and be subjected to
as many dangers as we will, they
will labor under the disadvantage of
not having quite as much time to
view the eclipse as we will have,
and also of seeing it in the morning
before it has gotten high in the
heavens.
The eclipse will be viewed from
Maxima, on the Quanzo River, about |
loo miles southeast of st. Paul de |
1t is pretty bad place, 1 |
should say. The country to the
south is inhabited by cannibals, the
0uissamos, and the river is full of