The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-08-01
Viewed at Snmatra by Expedition Of
American Astronomers.
ACCOUNT OF EVENT BY DR. MITCHELL
Cloudy Weather Prevented photographs
and Lost Many Valuable Points to
Science--Astrononner Present.

was invited to become member Of an
expedition sent out to view an eclipse of
the sun, an especial appropriation being |
made by congress 10 meet all expenses, SO
that 1t was In every sense an American ex-
peditlon. The party was sent out from the |
naval observatory at Washington, y. g.
The expedition consisted OF six members
OF the naval observatory force, two as
tronomers from the Smithsonian Institution
and i've outside astronomers thoroughly
proficient In astronomical research. Prof.
u. -. Barnard OF Yerkes observatory of
the University of Chicago and who Is
regarded as one OF the foremost astrono-
mers, not only Of the United States but
Of the entire world, was also a member
Of the party. .,,oa
on DR.. Mitchell aud was accorded an IN
teryiew as follows: ~
1.-THE expedition left san Francisco beD-
ruary ~ on board the army transport
Sheridan en- route to Manila. We stopped
ut Honolulu for three days ana were taken
care Of by the scientists IA those new anu
beautiful possessions of your Uncle sam.
The expedition reached Manila ON Marcn
is, after pleasant trip. " Manila we
OF the Brooklyn. We We're shown The W.
Tious points OF interest about the Btool-
lyn including the coming tour where NJ
Dral Schley stood when hghttng the Dal,,
tie Of Santiago harbor and which VIII
probably figure great deal in the public
prints before the sampson Schley conlro-
veray Is ended Incidentally %e saw the
sights connected With the battle of Mania
bay, in which George Dewey acnleveI
the greatest raval victory In the history OF
the werld, We We're shown around by
Consul Williams, who was consul at MA.
Mia at the outbreak of hostihtins, ana
was with Dewey on the flagship Olympia
during the battle of Manila bay. AS an
eyewitness Consul Williams showed us the
various points of the battle;
Admiral kemey furnished Us the manor
war General Alaya, Spanish ship pur-
chased after the war, to take us 70 SUI
matra, $500 miles distant. 1t required ten
days to make the trip. The trip was rem
deied especially interesting by passing near
the volcano Krakatan, which. while in
| state OF. eruption IN 1888, resulted In the
has since been extinct The brilliant sun
sets OF that year were caused by this erup-
ton on the other side of the world,
| I'VE landed a padang, the capital OF Su.
matra, on April a, the day before Good
I on the governor of the Dutch possessions
i We selected location for the eclipse sta
| tlons on Il line of railroad running from
| Padang eighty miles to Sawah Loente,
4 where the government operates coal mines
In which 5000 convIcts are employed. The
| Dutchtnen were extremely kind and assist
ed us In every way possible Free passes
| were given to every astronomer; freight WAS
hauled free, and labor, which consisted
mainly OF conyicts, was nearly all furnished
Ours was the largest party ever sent out
to view an eclipse Of the sun 1t divided
into three sections. The largest party, con.
tainlng nine members, remained at SQlok.
near the central line OF totally, where
the eclipse had duration Of i've minutes
aud hftyo seconds. The second party
Was stationed at Fort de Koch, near thr
where the duration was two minutes and
eight seconds These sections were chosen
| so as 70 compare the appearance Of the
| sun as II was covered by the moon at dit
4 fereut Stages OF the eclipse.
81 was with the third party at Sawah
! Locnto the terminus OF the railroad. We
received n great deal Of assistance from
the officers, the sailors and the marines
! Of the General Alava Much trouble was
put up ana Instruments adjusted for the
eclinse which occurred on May Is.
The morning of the eyentfui day opened
was 60 occur at about noon AT 10 O'clock
1t clouded mp and gradually became worse
and worse, so that at eclipse time We
could scarcely locate the sun. At Soiok
the clouds we're so dense that the astrono
mers lost the location Of the sun entirely
during most OF the eclipse. At Sawah
Lccnto, J could see the sun throughout
The whole tlme OF totally, but always
through clouds; Never at any time did wo
have GEAR sky.
'We had the hest program ever attempt.
60 by nm astronomical expedition. Pref
barnard had photographic tube sixty-one
end half feet long. which was to give
n pltt urc of the moon ever six Inches IN
diameter ono plate was 70 be 40xi0, on
. which he was 10 give m. exposure Of two
and a half minutes IL 1t had been clear
he would undoubtedly have obtained the
best eclipse of the corona and Its beautiful
details that the world has ever seen. prof.
Harnard used the same Instruments at
Wacesboro, N. g., last year and obtained
! has ever been made. The eclipse Of last
year Gully lasted one and a huf minutes
while that OF this, year was nearly six
minutes. On single plate he Intended to
give an exposure OF two and haif min.
utes me clouds We're disappointing in the