326 Voyage to Batchian. 



again. We landed on a nice sandy beach to cook our suppers 

 just as the sun set behind the rugged volcanic hills to the 

 south of the great cone of Tidore, and soon after beheld the 

 planet Venus shining in the twilight with the brilliancy of a 

 new moon, and casting a very distinct shadow. We left again 

 a little before seven, and as Ave got out from the shadow of the 

 mountain I observed a bright light over one part of the ridge, 

 and soon after what seemed a fire of remarkable whiteness on 

 the very summit of the hill. I called the attention of my men 

 to it, and they too thought it merely a fire ; but a few minutes 

 afterward, as we got farther off shore, the light rose clear up 

 above the ridge of the hill, and some faint clouds clearing away 

 from it, discovered the magnificent comet which was at the 

 same time astonishing all Europe. The nucleus presented to the 

 naked eye a distinct disc of brilliant white light from which 

 the tail rose at an angle of about 30° or 35° with the horizon, 

 curving slightly downward, and terminating in a broad brush 

 of faint light, the curvature of which diminished tilf it was 

 nearly straight at the end. The portion of the tail next the 

 comet appeared three or four times as bright as the most 

 luminous portion of the Milky Way, and what struck me as a 

 singular feature was that its upper margin, from the nucleus 

 to very near the extremity, was clearly and almost sharply de- 

 fined, while the lower side gradually shaded off into obscurity. 

 Directly it rose above the ridge of the hill, I said to my men, 

 " See, it's not a fire, it's a bintang ber-ekor " (" tailed-star," 

 the Malay idiom for a comet). " So it is," said they ; and all 

 declared that they had often heard tell of such, but had never 

 seen one till now. I had no telescope with me, nor any instru- 

 ment at hand, but I estimated the length of the tail at about 

 20°, and the width, toward the extremity, about 4° or 5°. 



The whole of the next day we were obhged to stop near 

 the village of Tidore, owing to a strong wind right in our 

 teeth. The country was all cultivated, and I in vain searched 

 for any insects worth capturing. One of my men went out to 

 shoot, but returned home without a single bird. At sunset, 

 the wind having dropped, we quitted Tidore, and reached the 

 next island, March, where we staid till morning. The comet 

 was again visible, but not nearly so brilliant, being partly ob- 

 scured by clouds, and dimmed by the light of the new moon. 



