CANAPwY ISLANDS. 49 



and which Father Feijoo believed to be the image of the 

 isle of Hierro, reflected on a fog bank, was ceded in the 

 16th century, by the King of Portugal, to Luis Perdigon, 

 at the time the latter was preparing to make a conquest of 

 it." * It is supposed to have been caused by a peculiar 

 humid wind from the W.S.W., which produces an aston- 

 ishing effect of mirage in these latitudes. 



At half past six, I reached La Estancia, where I passed 

 the night in the open air and suffered intolerably from the 

 cold. But a more glorious evening there never was 

 beheld. The sky was not, as seen from the lower regions, 

 " an ebon concave gemmed with brilliants," but one calm 

 expanse of the darkest blue, 



" So cloudless, pure, and beautiful, 

 That God alone was to be seen in heaven." 



The stars shone with peculiar brilliancy, and were 

 increased in numbers and in size. The galaxy appeared 

 a flame of pure white, and in some parts, was composed 

 of clusters of minute stars ; in others, nebulae of the richest 

 pearl, gradually blending with the deep-blue sky ; while in 

 another part, appeared a delightful vista which seemed to 

 lead through the com.mon firmament to regions more ethe- 

 rial and more pure. At first, I was astonished at these 

 scenes, but when I came to reflect that I had passed 

 through ten thousand feet of dense atmosphere, charged 

 with vapors, which have a tendency to blunt and confuse 

 every ray before it reaches the earth, I was at once con- 

 vinced of the cause. 



Ere the dawn of day, I was again on the march, and at 

 twilight, arrived at Alta Vista. Here my attention was 

 arrested with some curious flashes of light, shooting up 

 from, the east, resembling small rockets. But soon, how- 

 ever, I found them to be nothing but the images of the 

 stars, magnified and refracted by the vapors which were at 

 that time spread along the horizon. Sometimes these licfhts 

 remained stationary, while at others, they rose perpendicu- 

 larly, and then descended laterally to their former position. 



* Humboldt. 



