338 |  Anfluence of the Great Lakes on our Autumnal Sunsets. 
position of the sun, appear above the horizon, and are sometimes so 
well defined that they can be distinctly traced nearly to the zenith. 
At other seasons of the year, clouds just below the horizon at sunset 
produce a somewhat similar result in the formation of brushes of 
light ; and elevated ranges of mountains, by intercepting and divi- 
ding the rays, whether direct or reflected, effect the same appearan- 
ces; but in this case there are no elevated mountains, and on the 
most splendid of these evenings the sky is always perfectly cloudless. 
We have marked the uniformity in the relative position of these 
pencils at the same season of the year for a great number of years; 
and this uniformity, while it proves the permanence of their cause, 
has led us to trace their origin to the peculiar configuration of the 
country bordering on the great lakes. 
‘At the time of year these pencils are beginning to be the most 
distinct, a line drawn from this point to the sun would bear at sun- 
set, about twenty five degrees north of west, passing over the west 
end of lake Ontario, the greatest diameter of Lake Huron, and across 
a considerable portion of Lake Superior. At this time, or about 
the first‘of September, the streamers or pencils exhibit somewhat 
the appearance shown in the following engraving : 
Here A, represents the place of the sun, some two or three de- 
grees below the horizon B, B. Fig. 1, denotes the reflections from 
Lake Erie. 2, the comparatively dark space caused by the penin- 
sula between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. 3, represents the re- 
flected rays from St. Clair. 4, the now reflecting peninsula between 
the St. Clair and Lake Huron; and 5 to 13 the reflection from 
Lake Huron, broken into pencils by the elevated lands on the south- 
eastern margin of the lake. 
