Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/299

Rh god.' The advent of a great comet shortly before the eclipse, and an epidemic in the native kampong, shook the little faith which the natives had acquired in the astronomers. There was a rumor that our camp was to be destroyed. I do not know that there was any real danger, but the police department was on the alert until after the eclipse was over.

The six weeks before the eclipse were busy ones. There were ten telescopes to be mounted and carefully adjusted. Frequent time observations had to be made, experiments were carried out to determine

the best methods of developing plates in that climate, for all the observations were to be photographic. A succession of minor difficulties came up for solution.

Our day began at half past five, with a bath. After the Dutch breakfast of cold meat, bread and jam, we were taken to camp by a tram. At 'pocool stenga satoo' (12:30 o'clock) the tram came for us and we were soon drinking an iced 'lemonada' at the Oranje. After a short rest and riztafel (luncheon) we were on our way to work again. In the afternoon the Malay driver turned his pony out to graze at the station, and, finding a comfortable bit of shade, went to sleep until it was time to return to the hotel. This was usually about 6:30, when it became too dark to work. The inevitable 'mandee' (bath) was always the first luxury indulged in upon reaching the hotel in the evening. The 'badkamer' (bath room) was a large room of brick or cement, in a separate pavilion, lighted by a small, high grating in daytime and by a diminutive candle at night. The floor