i MOMBASA 13 



The zodiacal light is visible in Northern latitudes in 

 the morning during the months of September and 

 October, and in the evening during February and 

 March. For many years I have watched for this cone 

 of light in England and never felt satisfied that I 

 had seen it. In 1903, when I was watching from the 

 deck of a ship in the Indian Ocean in order to see the 

 planet Mercury rise shortly before the dawn, the eastern 

 sky was illuminated by a large triangular area of soft 

 white light, so bright that I hastily looked at my 

 watch fearing lest I had come on deck too late, and 

 had missed my opportunity of seeing Mercury. To my 

 great astonishment this beautiful luminous area con- 

 tracted, shortened, and faded away ; the darkness again 

 became profound until the true dawn. Then, realising 

 that I had seen the "false dawn," the lines of Omar's 

 quatrain came instinctively to my lips : 



Before the phantom of False morning died, 

 Methought a voice within the tavern cried 

 " When all the Temple is prepared within, 

 Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside." 



I have often watched on deck in the early morning 

 when crossing the Indian Ocean, but have never seen 

 the light so intense as on this occasion. A captain 

 who had spent many years in traversing this ocean 

 told me that one morning when lying outside an Indian 

 harbour, with a difficult entry, waiting for the dawn, 

 the " false dawn " was so bright that he mistook it for 

 the real dawn, and, having weighed anchor, proceeded 

 to steam into the harbour, but the light faded and he 

 had to await the real dawn. 



The " false dawn " or dawn's " left hand." as it is 

 sometimes called in the poetical imagery of the East, is 

 of some concern to the muezzin who wakes the " drowsy 

 worshipper " by shouting from the minaret. The 

 Mahomedan day begins with the real dawn, an 



