wonders, rivaling the tales of Gulliver, and needing the conscientious
descriptions of exact scientists to make them credible.

The members of the observing party took up their abode in the larger of
the three houses, sleeping in swinging cots slung from the verandas,
which afforded shade on three sides of the building. The second house
was occupied by the sailors, while the third was left to the natives.
These latter were sufficiently conversant with English to serve as
excellent guides. Each day the party bathed in a lagoon in the center of
the island. This lagoon was bordered by a beach of dazzling white coral
sand, and all through its water extended reefs of living coral of
the more delicate and elaborate kinds. These corals gave the lake a
wonderful variety of colors, forming a picture impossible to paint or
describe, and with the least ripple from a passing breeze the whole
scene changed to new groups of color. The water was very clear, and
in some places deep; in others so filled with coral that a boat could
barely skim over the surface without scraping the keel. After crossing a
long reef, one day, they entered on a sheet of water so deep that their
longest line would not reach the bottom, plainly visible beneath. Fish
swarmed here, and it was characteristic of them that every species, if
not brilliantly colored, was marked in the most peculiar manner. One
variety which frequented the shallow water, where it was heated to the
degree uncomfortable to the touch, was a pure milky white, with black
eyes, fins, and tail.

The French party arrived two days after the Americans. They had steamed
directly from Panama with the hope of anticipating the Americans.

It rained on the morning of the eclipse, but cleared off in good time,
and the definition was particularly good. Photographs occupied the time