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National Geographic : 1947 Sep
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The National Geographic Magazine Ambassador Pawley and Brazilian General Coelho Were Among Eclipse Day Visitors The United States envoy to Brazil (left) and the general headed a delegation of distinguished American and Brazilian guests who made the trip from Rio de Janeiro to witness the solar blackout. Much assistance was given to the expedition both by the Embassy and by Brazilian military authorities (Plate XI). Southern Cross and other constellations of the Southern Hemisphere not visible in the northern skies. "Now hear this," droned a voice over the public-address system. "The movie tonight willbe..." That final touch of home was provided through courtesy of the War De partment Motion Picture Service. Soon after 9 o'clock most of us were in bed, but for some work went on through the night hours. Out in the darkness of the scientific ob servation area a tiny electric motor hummed quietly, keeping a telescope pointed at the Milky Way shining brightly in a broad band across the sky overhead. Father Francis J. Heyden, S. J., of George town College Observatory, stood by patiently, now and then clicking a switch to keep his in strument focused accurately. He was taking advantage of our presence in the Southern Hemisphere to make photographs with two-hour exposures of vast aggregations of stars in the Milky Way, at inconceivable distances from the earth. Halfway through the night he awoke his assistant, Father Lau rence C. McHugh, S. J., to relieve him at his lonely task. At an hour past midnight the soldiers on the night shift in the weather tent sent another balloon soaring aloft toward the stars to radio back its message on conditions high in the sky. Over a wood fire, in a big caldron, other weather men were busy boiling their synthetic rubber balloons to restore the "stretch" after long storage. Long before dawn the cooks and their Brazilian helpers were busy in the kitchen mixing pancake batter and making gallons of coffee for another breakfast. Food and Supplies Brought In by Plane Not all of our people shared the compara tive comfort of the big main camp. Two of the scientists, James Watts and Franklin Kral of the National Bureau of Standards, and half a dozen officers and soldiers, under command of Lt. Charles Webb, served as a small but essential outpost at the landing field near Bocaiuva to which all our food, mail, and supplies were transported by plane from Rio. Their tents and the open shed which served as combination kitchen, mess hall, and repair shop for planes and motor vehicles, were baked by the tropic sun and swept by clouds of dust that blew off the field whenever a plane landed or took off. For a time they 296
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