A report from Prof. Matthew Spriggs, an anthropologist from Australia
Return-Path: Matthew.Spriggs@anu.edu.au
Dear Jay, I am afraid the digital photos we tried of the eclipse were a
failure, but Jacob Kapere of the Vanuatu National Museum Film Unit (Fax
678-265900 apparently got some good footage. I was up in Maewo Island and
doing all that stuff with the paper and pinpricks, when someone looked up
and saw it all, quickly followed by everyone else I am afraid. There were
two layers of cloud. When one dissipated one could see what was going on
quite clearly but not very brightly (I hope!) so I don't think too much eye
damage was caused. We put out your press release but I don't know if it was
covered in detail in the two vanuatu newspapers, the Vanuatu Weekly and the
Trading Post, as I was not in town to see them. We organised an astronomer
now anthropologist from Cambridge, called Carlos, to explain it all on TV
and how to make the pinhole camera and that went down well, being shown on
the Friday night. There was at least one letter in the Vanuatu Weekly the
week after, which I think I have somewhere. The Vanuatu Weekly has a web
edition and that may well have the story up there.
Thanks for your help in this,
Matthew Spriggs
Professor Matthew Spriggs Head of Department, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, A.D. Hope Building, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Telephone: (02) 6279-8229, international 61-2-6279 8229 Fax: (02) 6249-2711, international 61-2-6249 2711