APPEARANCE OF THE SOUTHERN HEAVENS AT NIGHT--HOMESICKNESS--I TAKE
SEVERAL OBSERVATIONS--ASTONISHMENT OF ROGALA--FIND THAT I AM NINETY
MILES SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
AT last the sun set behind the trees. Darkness came on, and the stars
made their appearance one by one. Soon the heavens glittered with
them. The murmur of the wind passing through the top of the trees and
the gentle noise of the river gliding along the shores were all that
disturbed the absolute silence of the night. I was happy to see the
stars again. How beautiful they were in the blue heavens!
I gazed upon them silently for quite a while, then I said to them: "I
love you, dear twinkling stars, for you are my friends and companions
of the night. Without you I should be lost in this great forest. You
and the moon tell me where I am. I miss you ever so much when I am
without you. I feel lonely without you."
But I missed many of the stars that I loved at home. The little ship
that had carried me across the ocean to those southern latitudes had
taken me away from them. Many stars that were unknown to me had taken
their place, and though they were beautiful and I admired them, I did
not love them. The stars that twinkle and look down upon the bright
glittering snow, the Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains, the Alleghanies,
upon our great lakes, prairies, dales, and hills, upon the pine, the
oak, the beech, the elm, and the birch, upon the violets, buttercups,
and goldenrods, were those I loved the best.
An uncontrollable fit of sadness seized me as I missed them. I thought
of home, of friends. Tears filled my eyes, I could not help it.
Fortunate was it that Rogala was not near me. He might have thought
that the Oguizi was, after all, a human being.
But there were stars that were old friends. The Pleiades were there,
the stars of the constellation of the Great Bear. Vega, that I loved so
much at home, seemed to be right above me; so were Aldebaran and the
stars of the constellation of Orion. Here the position of the stars
made the sword perfectly straight.
The sky of the southern hemisphere was very unlike that of the
northern. One of the most striking sights was the constellation of
the Cross, commonly known by mariners as the Southern Cross, composed
of four brilliant stars. The three brightest stars in the heavens,
Sirius, Canopus, Centaur, filled a part of the heavens with their light.
Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were looking upon me. That part of the
Milky Way between the stars Sirius and Centaur was so rich in stars and
crowded nebulæ that it seemed a perfect blaze of light.
There were the Magellanic clouds, white-looking patches, made
up of countless stars unseen to the eye, and nebulæ,--stars in
formation,--shining brilliantly and revolving round the starless South
Pole.
Then, looking northward, I saw the constellation of the Great Bear,
which reaches its meridian altitude at about the same time as the
constellations of the Cross and of the Centaur.
I gazed upon the heavens almost all of the night. I was perfectly
oblivious of everything else. Stars appeared and disappeared. They were
like a succession of guests coming and going.
At last I said good-night to the stars, and pulling my old panama hat
over my head, to protect my eyes from the rays of the moon, I soon fell
asleep on the sand, under the blue heavens and the stars twinkling over
me. I dreamt of friends, of boys and girls at home, of the North Star,
of snow, of strawberries, peaches, and jam. I was suddenly awakened
by the sharp barking of Andekko. It was broad daylight. Rogala was
cooking turtle's eggs. Ndova was looking at me. All the stars had
disappeared, and the sun had risen to give life and food to the sons of
men, for without the sun there would be no life, no vegetation upon the
earth. I spent the day quietly, waiting impatiently for the night to
take astronomical observations.
After sunset I said to Rogala: "Bring me the 'precious box.'" After he
had laid it at my feet I opened it.
Rogala stood up close to me, looking on with mingled feelings of
curiosity and fear. First, I took from the box two sextants--one was
to determine the altitude of the stars, planets, and moon; the other
the distance between them from east to west, or _vice versa_. Then I
took out a trough, which I filled up with quicksilver to be used as an
artificial horizon, on which the stars were to be reflected.
From a little copper-screwed water-tight box I took two watches out
of four which all marked the seconds, a bull's-eye lantern, and
other objects that excited the wonder of Rogala. Before taking the
observations, I thought I would have some fun with Rogala. I placed my
telescope in position for Jupiter and said to him: "In the land of the
Oguizi this star is called Jupiter. Do you see little stars round it?"
I meant the satellites.
[Illustration: "_When I was ready to take observations, I seated myself
cross-legged before the artificial horizon._"]
"No," he replied.
"There are stars near it," said I, "but your eyes cannot see them. I
will show them to you."
Then I made him look with the telescope towards Jupiter, and he saw the
satellites. He looked at me with awe, then with wonder. Fortunately he
knew I would not harm him, but throwing himself at my feet, he took
hold of them and exclaimed: "You are a great Oguizi. My eyes have seen
what no other black man's have seen before;" then he got up and in a
loud voice invoked the spirits of his ancestors to protect and watch
over him, and shouted, "Great indeed is the Oguizi."
When I was ready to take observations, I seated myself cross-legged
before the artificial horizon. On my right was a sextant to take the
distance between the moon and the lunar stars that were in position.
Close by was one of the watches; also the magnifying-glass to help me
to read the degrees, minutes, and seconds on the sextant.
On my left was the sextant for taking altitudes, near which was the
slate with pencil to write down the figures, and the bull's-eye lantern
was lighted to help me to read the sextant. Also a thermometer for
ascertaining the temperature.
The most important thing was to make the observations as quickly as
possible and read from the watch the space of time between them.
After spending four hours in making observations I stopped. I looked at
Rogala. He was fast asleep, for he was very tired and had worked hard
during the day. I awoke him, and we went to our little hut and lay down
to sleep. We knew that if natives came up or down the river Andekko
would warn us in time.
When I awoke, Rogala was still asleep. Ndova had his eyes shut and
his head was hanging down on his breast. Andekko lay across the door,
apparently asleep, but as soon as he heard me he wagged his tail and
followed me to the river and remained by me until I had had a good bath.
For three days and three nights I worked very hard. I took many
observations, and made calculations which showed my latitude,
longitude, the day of the month and of the week, and gave me the month
in which I was. I found that it was Wednesday, the 17th of August, that
I was ninety miles south of the equator, and two hundred and ten miles
in the interior.