320 HISTORY OF 



vapour of sulphur attended the storm. All the 

 birds and beasts of the country were entirely 

 destroyed. Numbers of the human race suffered 

 the same fate. But what is still more extraordi- 

 nary, the fishes found no protection from their 

 native element, but were equal sufferers in the 

 general calamity. 



These, however, are terrors that are seldom 

 exerted in our mild climates. They only serve 

 to mark the page of history with wonder ; and 

 stand as admonitions to mankind, of the various 

 stores of punishment in the hands of the Deity, 

 which his power can treasure up, and his mercy 

 can suspend. 



In the temperate zones, therefore, meteors are 

 rarely found thus terrible ; but between the tro- 

 pics, and near the poles, they assume very dread- 

 ful and various appearances. In those inclement 

 regions where cold and heat exert their chief 

 power, meteors seem peculiarly to have fixed their 

 residence. They are seen there in a thousand 

 terrifying forms, astonishing to Europeans, yet 

 disregarded by the natives from their frequency. 

 The wonders of air, fire, and water, are there 

 combined, to produce the most tremendous ef- 

 fects, and to sport with the labours and appre- 

 hensions of mankind. Lightnings, that flash 

 without noise; hurricanes, that tear up the 

 earth ; clouds, that all at once pour down their 

 contents, and produce an instant deluge ; mock 

 suns, northern lights, that illuminate half the 

 hemisphere ; circular rainbows ; halos j fleeting 

 balls of firej clouds, reflecting back the ii 



