n equaled.

It took three or four days to get everything ready, and this interval
was, of course, utilized by Scudder in making his collections.
He let the fishermen of the region know that he wanted specimens of
every kind of fish that could be found in the lake. A very small
reward stirred them into activity, and, in due time, the fish were
brought to the naturalist,--but lo! all nicely dressed and fit for
cooking. They were much surprised when told that all their pains in
dressing their catch had spoiled it for the purposes of the visiting
naturalist, who wanted everything just as it was taken from the water.

Slow indeed was progress through the lake. A canoe can be paddled
only in almost smooth water, and we were frequently stormbound on some
desolate island or point of land for two or three days at a time.
When, after many adventures, some of which looked like hairbreadth
escapes, we reached the Saskatchewan River, the eclipse was only three
or four days ahead, and it became doubtful whether we should reach
our station in time for the observation. It was to come off on the
morning of July 18, and, by dint of paddling for twenty-four hours
at a stretch, our men brought us to the place on the evening before.

Now a new difficulty occurred. In the wet season the Saskatchewan
inundates the low flat region through which it flows, much like
the Nile. The country was practically under water. We found the
most elevated spot we could, took out our instruments, mounted
them on boxes or anything else in the shallow puddles of water, and
slept in the canoe. Next morning the weather was hopelessly cloudy.
We saw the darkness of the eclipse and nothing more.

Astronomers are greatly disappointed when, having traveled halfway
around the world to see an eclipse, clouds prevent a sight of it;
and yet a sense of relief accompanies the disappointment. You are
not responsible for the mishap; perhaps something would have broken
down when you were making your observations, so that they would
have failed in the best of weather; but now you are relieved from
all responsibility. It was much easier to go back and tell of
the clouds than it would have been to say that the telescope got
disarranged at the critical moment so that the observations failed.

On our return across Minnesota we had an experience which I have
always remembered as illustrative of the fallacy of all human
testimony about ghosts, rappings, and other phen