3 HISTORY OF THE [BOOK j. 



this refreshing wind, than all nature revives, and the 

 climate, in the shade, becomes not only very tolera- 

 ble, but pleasant. The thermometer now varies but 

 little in the whole twenty-four hours: its medium, 

 near the coast, may be stated at about eighty degrees. 

 I have seldom observed it higher than eighty-five de- 

 grees at noon, nor much below seventy-five degrees 

 at sun-rise. 



The nights at this season are transcendently beau- 

 tiful. The clearness and brilliancy of the heavens, the 

 serenity of the air, and the soft tranquillity in which 

 all nature reposes, contribute to harmonize the mind* 

 and produce the most calm and delightful sensations. 

 The moon too in these climates displays far greater 

 radiance than in Europe : the smallest print is legible 

 by her light ; and in the moon's absence her function 

 is not ill supplied by the brightness of the milky-w r ay, 

 and by that glorious planet Venus, which appears here 

 like a little moon, and glitters w r ith so refulgent a 

 beam as to cast a shade from trees, buildings, and 

 other objects, making full amends for the short stay 

 and abrupt departure of the crepusculum or twilight. 



In the mountainous and interior parts of the larger islands, innume- 

 rable fire-files abound at night, which have a surprising appearance to a 

 stranger. They consist of different species, some of which emit a light, 

 resembling a spark of fire, from a globular prominence near each eye j 

 and others from their sides in the a<t of respiration. They are far more 

 luminous than the glow-worm, and fill the air on all sides, like so many 

 living stars, to the great astonishment and admiration of a traveller un- 

 accustomed to the country. In the day-time they disappear. 



