252 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xvi. 



occurred at Quebec about four in the afternoon, and 

 during its continuance the sky in the north-east quarter of 

 the heavens exhibited a luminous appearance upon the 

 line of the horizon of a yellow tinge. On the 15th there was 

 a repetition of the same phenomena at a little earlier hour, 

 with violent gusts of wind, lightning, thunder, and rain 

 accompanied, as on the 9th. The morning of October 16 

 was perfectly calm, and there was a thick fog. Towards 

 nine o'clock a light air from the north-east sprang up, 

 which increased rapidly. The fog by ten o'clock was 

 entirely dissipated ; black clouds were then seen rapidly 

 advancing from the north-east, and in half an hour print 

 could not be read. The darkness lasted for about ten 

 minutes. At twelve a second period of obscurity took 

 place ; then a third, and a fourth, and fifth, at intervals : at 

 half-past four it was dark as midnight.' 



Four distinct accounts of similar phenomena are 

 recorded by Chief Justice Sewell* as occurring on July 3, 

 1814. One from the pen of an officer of the Eoyal 

 Engineers, supposed to be Captain Payne, taken from 

 Tulloch's ' Philosophical Magazine,' describes the appear- 

 ances at the Bay of Seven Islands above Anticosti on July 

 2nd and 3rd. A second describes what occurred on the 

 2nd at Cape Chat, from observations made by some officers, 

 who were on board the transport Sir William Heathcott, 

 which lay the whole of the day at anchor in the Eiver 

 St. Lawrence at that point. The third contains some 

 additional observations respecting the appearances on 



* A Few Notes on the Dark Days of Canada. By the Honourahle Chief 

 Justice Sewell ; President of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. 



