OBSERVATIONS. 479 



AURORA BOREALIS. 



November 1, 1788. The N. aurora made a particular 

 appearance, forming itself into a broad, red, fiery belt, which 

 extended from E. to W. across the welkin : but the moon 

 rising at about ten o'clock, in unclouded majesty, in the E. 

 put an end to this grand, but awful meteorous phenomenon. 

 WHITE. 



BLACK SPRING, 1771. 



Dr. Johnson says, that "in 1771 the season was so severe 

 in the island of Sky, that it is remembered by the name of the 

 black spring. The snow, which seldom lies at all, covered the 

 ground for eight weeks, many cattle died, and those that sur- 

 vived were so emaciated that they did not require the male at 

 the usual season." The case was just the same with us here 

 in the south ; never were so many barren cows known as in 

 the spring following that dreadful period. Whole dairies 

 missed being in calf together. 



At the end of March the face of the earth was naked to a 

 surprising degree. Wheat hardly to be seen, and no signs of 

 any grass; turnips all gone, and sheep in a starving way. 

 All provisions rising in price. Farmers cannot sow for want 

 of rain. WHITE. 



