MR. DAVTs's JOURNAL. 249 



full moon rose in such majesty as I never before witnessed ; 

 it was indescribably beautiful. Late in the evening we still 

 walked the deck, admiring the scene. 



Tuesday, 14^/^. — By observation, in Lat. 40° 4', Long, about 

 14°, in a direct course for Madeira : and the prospect of putting 

 a letter on shore has led me to write this : — of course I keep up 

 my journal daily. This has been quite an eventful day ; early 

 in the morning, a whale was observed spouting away to lee- 

 ward of us — this was before I was up ; then we had a shoal of 

 porpoises round the bows ; subsequently the stormy petrels 

 flew about the stern : they are very pretty birds — their flight 

 graceful ; they skim the crested waves, and appear to be inces- 

 santly on the wing. I hope to get more opportunities for 

 observing them ; they staid but a little while. Small patches 

 of rainbows were visible on the clouds on the horizon very 

 early : these the captain calls sun-dogs ; their canine qualifica- 

 tions I do not understand. In the evening there was a fine 

 lunar rainbow, and at ten o'clock a splendid aurora. You will 

 probably remember a luminous arch of red vapour, visible in 

 February, near London ; the phenomenon was of this kind. 

 It was most vivid in the N.E. about forty degrees above the 

 horizon, and extended, with varying intensity, far to the N.W. 

 tinting all the clouds in the distance. The stars were distinctly 

 visible through it. The colour was deep crimson. It con- 

 tinued visible nearly an hour, the moon shining brightly, and 

 the breeze strong from the N.N.E. As the clouds came over, 

 it gradually disappeared, but was again seen about midnight 

 in a more defined form, consisting of several luminous arches. 



Thursday, \Qth. — We had two lunar rainbows last night, 

 both of which I was fortunate enough to see. The first occurred 

 about half-past nine o'clock, nearly due west, forming a seg- 

 ment of a circle with the horizon ; it was very well defined, 

 and the colours could all be detected, though some of them 

 were faint. The whole internal part of the bow was beauti- 

 fully clear, and rather luminous; above it, dark and cloudy. 

 It remained visible about fifteen minutes — some portions of it, 

 the more westerly, much longer ; and about a quarter past ten 

 o'clock there was a second, not nearly so well defined, nor so 

 vivid. The moon approaching the last quarter, having been 

 at full last Sunday: a fine N.E. breeze, and cloudy in the 

 N. and W. 



NO. III. VOL. V. K K 



