Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/562

558 worked, we could catch glimpses of scenery typical of Spain. The first feature to attract your attention is the extremely barren aspect of the country, which is in sharp contrast with the garden-like appearance of England. The hills of Spain were in early times densely wooded, but now are almost entirely devoid of trees and look from a distance as if there were not a particle of vegetation on them. Moreover, the rainfall is so slight that agricultural pursuits must rely upon irrigation for their carrying on, and thus it is only the valleys that are green and cultivated. In such a valley along the shores of the little river was our eclipse camp located. The greenest field was decided upon as the site of the observatory, and upon application to its owner for permission we found that he was quite satisfied to allow his plot of ground to be used, but thought some compensation should be made for the valuable crop of grass that might possibly be raised during the summer. On receipt of one hundred pesetas, he forthwith proceeded to take a fatherly interest in all of our doings, and explained scientific matters to every one as if he had been chief of the expedition. His field became the center of interest in the community, and people came from all sides to look upon the strange doings. As a prominent trait in the Spanish make-up is a great and overpowering curiosity, we had plenty of onlookers; and when the mayor and a few of the most prominent citizens were invited to look at the moon through our five-inch telescope, we were rather surprised—to put it mildly—to find over one hundred people turn up, when only a half score had been invited. Their curiosity took the form only of making each and every one in the town intensely interested in what was going on, and to show that interest they turned out in force each afternoon to see how matters were progressing. It might be asked, what was their attitude towards these Americans who had so lately beaten them in their small war. Before the expeditions reached Spain, it was feared that perhaps there might be some friction on that account, but these fears were not realized. As a matter of fact, the only person we met who seemed to have any feeling in the matter was a former soldier in the Spanish army. He had seen service in the Philippines, had been captured and thrust into prison by the Filipinos, had been rescued by the Americans, and as a result he had only the kindest of feelings towards everything belonging to the United States. As for the rest of the people, they seemed to have forgotten all about it, or else they did not know there had been a war, for it must not be forgotten that only about one quarter of the people in Spain can read and write.

Besides getting photographs of the corona of different sizes, the astronomers at Daroca were using the most powerful spectroscopes ever employed at an eclipse, for the purpose of investigating the nature of the light of the sun and its surrounding region. There are two ways of producing a spectrum. The best known method is by means