I

We chose an eligible spot, and had soon got our instruments fixed and adjusted, waiting leisurely the commencement of the eclipse. A difficulty, however, here arose which threatened at one time to be serious, namely, the flocking to the spot of people from the town. I had already noticed, with some pleasure, the interest excited by the eclipse among the natives generally, and the desire that had often been manifested to obtain information about it; but we were hardly prepared for a manifestation of curiosity coming so nearly home to ourselves. The arrivals increased fast as the eclipse went on; and, notwithstanding the exertions of ourselves and our man, the people began to crowd inconveniently close to us, with some noise and disturbance. had remonstrated for some time, and tried to persuade them that other points on the hill would answer their purpose fully as well as that where we stood; but this appeared quite ineffectual, and, when I saw long strings of new comers winding slowly up the hill, and directing their files exactly upon us, I confess my heart failed me, and I began to consider the advisability of moving our station further away before the totality came on. All at once, however, actuated either by some inward compunction, or by some other motive I have never been able quite to understand, they, with one unanimous impulse, suddenly drew back, distributed themselves quietly over the hill, and sat down in a most orderly manner upon the grass.

The time of totality is so short, and the observer, if he has never seen a total eclipse before, and has any sensibility to the sublime in nature, must be so overpowered by the novel and supernatural effect of the scene, that it will be impossible for him to remark with any accuracy more than a small fraction of what there is to observe. It is, therefore, only by the careful subsequent comparisons of the accounts of many observers that anything like a definite, complete, and accurate description of the phenomena of the eclipse can be obtained. In the present case it has been arranged that all the reports of the

members of our expedition shall be furnished to the Astronomer Royal, and it is believed they will be subsequently published in such manner as he may advise. All I will attempt here, therefore, is to give some notion of the general phenomena, which were generally observed to attend this, as they have attended former eclipses of the

sun.

I had calculated from the data in the Nautical Almanac, that the first contact would take place about 1h. 49m. ; and, at fifteen to twenty seconds after, I saw the slight indentation commence on the point where I was looking for it. From the commencement till within a quarter of an hour of the totality there was nothing calling for particular remark, except the gradual diminution of light, which, the variation being not greater than is often observed from other causes, did not excite particular attention. As, however, the totality approached, a great change came on. The colour of the landscape took strange unearthly hues ; the shadows, from the absence of penumbra, became peculiarly sharp and intense, although the light was now rapidly diminishing; the clouds began to look dark and threatening, and appeared to lower down towards the earth, while the parts of blue sky gradually changed to a deep sombre purple.

A minute or two before the totality the shadow had reached our visible horizon in the north-west, and after enveloping that part of the sky in a dense shroud of the most fearful gloom, the most awful thing I ever saw, it began to cover the distant mountains, and then gradually to creep towards us over the plain. I shall never forget this sight. My companion was engaged at his telescope, but I well recollect the vehemence with which I urged him to "look at the sky." Another minute and the darkness was upon us, and then I recollect also trying to make some remark, when the words failed me altogether. I had presence of mind enough at once to turn to the telescope, to bring the sun into the field, and to make as good use of the time as I could for observation; looking

off occasionally upon the landscape to rest the eye. I should say that our view of the sun, during the progress of the eclipse, had been frequently obscured by clouds, and we had been in a state of great anxiety lest this should happen during the short time of the totality; and when, a few minutes before, we saw a huge cloud to windward gradually approaching, we had almost given our chance up for lost; but fortunately the sun remained perfectly visible the whole time, being only occasionally covered with passing films of a thin transparent haze.

The appearances in the sun and moon generally noted as of interest in a total eclipse are three-Baily's Beads, the Corona, and what are called the Red Prominences. At the moment when the advancing moon's limb is about to obliterate the last remaining thin crescent of the sun, the latter is seen to break up into small pieces, like beads, which have been sometimes described as playing about and running into each other, like drops of quicksilver. These were first noticed by that celebrated astronomer, the late Mr. Baily, and at first were made some mystery of; but they are now known simply to arise from the projections, or mountains, upon the moon's limb, which cut up the fine wire of light into fragments, the supposed motion being a mere optical illusion; and they consequently do not in the present day attract much attention.

The corona is a halo of soft white light which surrounds the dark circle of the moon as soon as the more powerful illumination of the sun is shut out, and which much resembles the glory shown round the heads of saints in old pictures. It forms a beautiful object, and, from the nebulous nature of its light, is better seen with the naked eye than in the telescope. It is supposed to be a sort of faint luminous envelope encircling the sun, the appearance of which, however, may be probably modified by being seen through our atmosphere. It has different appearances at different times. In this eclipse it seemed to be formed of welldefined rays, spreading out radially from

the sun, and of very unequal length, some very long, and some stated to be curved at the outer extremity.

But the most singular and mysterious of the phenomena of a total eclipse are certain protuberances which also, when the sun is entirely covered, are seen projecting round the black disk of the moon, and which, on account of their colour, are called " the red prominences." They are often very numerous, and very varied and singular in shape. Some are low long serrated ridges, like ranges of mountains; others are isolated objects of the oddest forms, which have been likened to pyramids, cabbages, flowers, flags, boomerangs, scimitars, hooks, ships in full sail, mitres, &c. &c.; and some have been frequently seen detached altogether, like balloons. Their colour is called generally red, but the precise hue is probably a pale rose colour inclining to violet. To my own vision, being colour-blind,1 they appeared white, like the corona, but distinguished from it by their greater compactness and brilliancy. What these prominences can be is a great mystery. They vary much in different eclipses, and are supposed therefore to be fluctuating, and not solid. It has long been a question whether they belong to the sun or the moon, but I believe the observations of this eclipse decide in favour of the former. As far as a conjecture can be hazarded, they are supposed to be clouds of some luminous matter exhaling from the sun, or floating round it in the circumambient atmosphere of the corona. They are enormous in size; some projecting two minutes from the sun-equivalent to a height above his surface of fifty or sixty thousand miles, or as many times bigger than Mont Blanc as Mont Blanc is bigger than a paving-stone! Mr. De la Rue has obtained interesting photographs of these prominences, and from his and other data there will be no lack by-and-by of good drawings, exhibit

1 See Phil. Trans. for 1859. This observavation of the appearance to a colour-blind eye is said by one of the greatest authorities on the subject to be of much value.

ing with tolerable accuracy all the phe

nomena.

There has been heretofore a doubt whether the corona and prominences were at all visible, except when the sun was perfectly shut out. The present observations have completely proved that the total exclusion of the light is not necessary. I myself saw them distinctly a minute and a half after the end of totality, and when the returning crescent of the sun had become so light as to require a dark glass to shield the eye. An important question hangs upon this, as to whether it may even be possible to get glimpses of those interesting appearances at other times, than the few and far between opportunities which total eclipses afford.

The darkness during totality was not so great as on a dark night. I had a lantern lighted, but did not use it, as I could see the seconds hand of my watch without much difficulty. But it was of a very unusual character. Various parts of the sky horizon, where the sun yet partly shone, were lighted up with an unearthly lurid light, which, though it was what probably gave us the little light we had, added much to the awe of the scene. Many large stars were visible; Jupiter and Venus, particularly, were very close to the sun, and shone with much brilliancy.

The native spectators seemed much interested with the sight. I had expected they would be frightened; but, on the contrary, as soon as the sun quite disappeared, they set up a great shout of applause!

The eclipse being over, and a stereoscopic view taken as a memorandum of the preparations and apparatus employed, we returned to Logroño, where I immediately put into writing and drawing my impressions of the phenomena, before communicating with any one respecting them-a plan always considered proper in such cases, to secure the independence of the descriptions. On Friday, the 20th, we returned to Vitoria, and on Saturday the 21st, to Bilbao, where we had to amuse ourselves for some days, as the steamer delayed

starting from Santander, for the sake of a "Fiesta de Toros" which took place there on the 25th. She arrived off Portugalete, on the morning of Thursday, the 26th, and, to make amends for her former unpoliteness, received visitors and excursionists on board all day. In the afternoon we took leave of our kind hosts, dropped down the river, went on board, and at half-past six P.M. we were on our way home.

We had now rejoined the rest of the expedition, with the exception of some few who had gone home overland, and we had the opportunity of learning the proceedings of other observers. The weather on the day was more or less cloudy everywhere; and, though the majority of the party were fortunate like ourselves, many lost the totality altogether. The Astronomer Royal and his friends were located at Pobes, a village on the southern slope of the mountains, not far from Miranda; they had rain in the morning, but it cleared off just in time to allow of good observations. Professor Otto Struve, who had seen the two eclipses of 1842, and of 1851, in company with Mr. Airy, determined to cast in his lot with him this third time also. Mr. De la Rue had a similar narrow escape ;1 and so had the continental observers at Vitoria. Near Bilbao itself, the totality was well seen. Santander party were hospitably received, and had free passes given them on the line of railway there. In that district, however, the weather was less favourable. Those who stayed by the coast saw the eclipse, but I believe it was lost by almost all who went into the mountains.

The

On Friday morning, the 27th, a meeting was held on board, for the purpose of expressing the cordial thanks of the expedition to various parties from whom we had received kindness and courtesy. Thanks were voted, first, to the Spanish

1 A long account of Mr. De la Rue's proceedings is published in the Times of August 9th, and of Mr. Lowe's in that of July 25th. A list of the whole party, and of their various stations of observation, is given in the Times of July 30th.

Government, who had behaved most liberally. Our luggage had never been once looked at either at the coast or interior douanes, nor our passports once asked for. And it is only due to the people of the country to state that this friendly spirit towards us seemed to obtain in all classes. I do not recollect a single instance of imposition, or scarcely of an incivility offered to us by any person whomsoever. The only evidence of a contrary spirit I heard of was from a Spaniard of some education, who threatened us with all sorts of vengeance if, in the course of our proceedings, we did any damage to the sun.

Then we had to thank the railway companies, both of Bilbao and Santander, as well as Mr. Vignoles personally,

and to express our sense of the courteous behaviour of the captain and officers of the ship; and we had also the pleasure of collecting a testimonial of a substantial character for the crew. These things being put in proper train, we had only to take advantage of the circumstance of its being the Astronomer Royal's birthday, to drink his health at dinner (a pleasant form of the usual concluding thanks to the president), and the business of the voyage came to an end.

We turned Ushant at bed-time, and after passing the Queen near the Needles, we anchored in Spithead at four P.M. on Saturday, the 28th, and in an hour or two were all on the way to our respective homes.

THE budgets here proposed for discussion, are the two which relate respectively to our own country and its greatest dependency. The one was laid before the House of Commons on the 10th of February, by Mr. Gladstone, and the other before the Legislative Council at Calcutta eight days later, by Mr. Wilson. For the first time a budget has been produced in India exactly on the English model, and though there is still a great and fundamental difference between the English and Indian systems of finance, to the advantage of the former, the two financial statements of the present year have some striking points of resemblance. Both begin by announcing a tremendous deficit, and both end by filling up the gap with an income tax. Both make important commercial reforms, and in the face of a great deficiency make remissions of taxation for the relief of trade. Both deal with a high level of expenditure, which of late years has in both countries been enormously raised. The reception, too, which these budgets met with, has not been dissimilar. Both have encountered the most strenuous opposition, leading to important modifi

cations of the original proposals, and to other serious results; in the one case a conflict between the two Houses of Parliament, and in the other, a mutiny of the Government of Madras against the Supreme Government, which was only terminated by the recall of Sir Charles Trevelyan.

There is much in the circumstances of the present year to make both these budgets conspicuous. The decrease of about 2,000,000l. in the annual charge of the national debt which took effect this year by the expiration of terminable annuities, was enough to make 1860 a marked year in English finance. And it gained additional distinction from the prospective financial legislation of 1853. In the budget of that year, Mr. Gladstone did not confine himself to the ordinary estimates, but extended his calculations to 1860, for which the most desirable results were predicted. The present year had therefore prospectively double claims to attention. It was a year of relief, and a year of prophecy. In future it will be associated with the French commercial treaty, with the completion of the reform of our tariff so

happily commenced by Sir Robert Peel in 1842, and with the final triumph of free trade.

But the year 1860 is a marked year in Indian as well as English finance. Between the 30th of April, 1857, and the 30th of April, 1860, the Indian debt increased by no less a sum than 38,000,000l., involving an increase in the annual charge for interest of nearly 2,000,000. This permanent addition of 2,000,000l. to the annual expenditure of India is one result of the mutiny quite definite and calculable. There is another which seems at present quite incalculable. Between the dates mentioned above, the military expenditure rose from 13,200,000l., at which it stood the year before the mutiny, to 21,700,0007. which is the estimate for the year ending April, 1860; and Mr. Wilson affords no hope that in the present year this estimate can be reduced by more than 1,740,000. It must not be forgotten that the three years preceding the mutiny, which were years of peace, were years of deficiency. In those three years the expenditure exceeded the income by nearly 3,000,000l., giving, on the average, an annual deficit of nearly 1,000,000l. If to this be added the increase of the charge for debt, it will appear, that, omitting altogether the increase of the military expenditure, a permanent deficiency may be expected for the future of about 3,000,000l. This gives a very insufficient idea of the present position of Indian finances. Very few reductions have yet been effected in the military expenditure; and how much may with safety be effected in that direction is a question of policy not yet settled. One thing is certain, that, for the present year, the deficiency of income as against expenditure would, without the aid of new sources of revenue, rise to more than double the amount just stated. Mr. Wilson enters on the new scene of his labours at the most important crisis which has ever occurred in the finances of India. This year is more embarrassing to a financier than the years of the war. The easy path of borrowing is closed to him, and new sources of

income must be discovered, or the old rendered more fruitful. It was high time that that department should be placed under the charge of a competent person. India now possesses an annual income of nearly 40,000,000l., and yet, till the end of last year, had no Chancellor of the Exchequer. From facts which transpired at the beginning of this year, the Indian accounts seem to have been kept with a carelessness which exceeds belief. In last September, a financial balance sheet was drawn up at Calcutta, and published in the public. prints, in which errors existed to the extent of above 2,000,000l. One most important account was entirely omitted. The final balance presented an appearance of prosperity so different from the reality, that, for a time, the impression prevailed in England that the neck of our financial difficulties in India was broken. A system in which such errors were possible required immediate change; and every one will be of opinion that the appointment of Mr. Wilson has not been made a moment too soon.

To recur with some detail to each of these budgets, in order; and, first, Mr. Gladstone's. The scheme originally proposed by him on the 10th of February has, in the course of the session, undergone one very important alteration, and several others of less moment. Besides, it has lately received at the hands of Mr. Gladstone himself a very unpleasant addition in the shape of a supplemental war budget, to meet the expense of the Chinese expedition. A very brief sketch of the original proposals, with the subsequent changes and additions, will here be given.

According to the scheme of 1853, the income-tax was to terminate on the 5th of April, 1860. And the tea and sugar duties, after a gradual descent for several years from the duties then existing, were to remain at the following rates :— that on tea ls. a pound, and those on sugar, which vary with the quality, at about an average of 11s. a cwt. Though these duties were granted only to the 5th of April, 1860, it was understood that they should be then renewed at those mini