In Sumatra

If they have traveled according to schedule, a party of Swarthmore College scientists and their wives have reached Benkulen, in the Dutch East Indian island-continent of Sumatra. The wives are adapting themselves to the comforts of a miserable hill-perched village, while the scientists are setting up sky-scouring 'scopes. Nearby, anchored in the blaze of ocean, is the naval transport, Chaumont, nest of balloons, dirigibles, airplanes. Both the Swarthmore men and the U. S. Navy men are preparing for three weird minutes on Jan. 14, when the sun will be blackened, the earth move to the dance of cosmic shadows. The terror of chattering natives will be reported by the scientists at a total eclipse of the sun, the second in a year. (The other eclipse took place on the morning of Jan. 24 at 9:03-- TIME, Jan. 5, Feb. 2).