THE EARTH. 151 



lives, from their frequency. The wonders of air, fire, and water, ara 

 there combined, to produce the most tremendous effects ; and to sport 

 with the labours and apprehensions of mankind. Lightnings, that 

 Hash 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 ; cir- 

 cular rainbows ; halos ; fleeting balls of fire ; clouds, reflecting back 

 the images of things on earth, like mirrors; and water-spouts, that 

 burst from the sea, to join with the mists that hang immediately above 

 Jiem. These are but a part of the phenomena that are common in 

 those countries ; and from many of which our own climate is, in a 

 p-eat measure, exempted. 



The meteors of the torrid zone, are different from those that are 

 found near the polar circles ; and it may readily be supposed, that in 

 those countries where the sun exerts the greatest force in raising va- 

 pours of all kinds, there should be the greatest quantity of meteors. 

 Upon the approach of the winter months, as they are called, under 

 the Line, which usually begin about May, the sky, from a fiery bright- 

 ness, begins to be overcast, and the whole horizon seems wrapt in a 

 muddy cloud. Mists and vapours still continue to rise ; and the air, 

 which so lately before was clear and elastic, now becomes humid, ob- 

 scure, and stifling ; the fogs become so thick, that the light of the sun 

 seems, in a manner, excluded; nor would its presence be known, but 

 for the intense and suffocating heat of its beams, which dart through 

 the gloom, and, instead of dissipating, only serve to increase the mist. 

 After this preparation, there follows an almost continual succession of 

 thunder, rain, and tempests. During this dreadful season, the streets 

 of cities flow like rivers ; and the whole country wears the appear- 

 ance of an ocean. The inhabitants often make use of this opportu- 

 nity to lay in a stock of fresh water, for the rest of the year ; as the 

 same cause which pours down the deluge at one season, denies the 

 kindly shower at another. The thunder which attends the fall of 

 these rains, is much more terrible than that we are generally ac- 

 quainted with. With us, the flash is seen at some distance, and the 

 noise shortly after ensues ; our thunder generally rolls in one 

 quarter of the sky, and one stroke pursues another. But here it is 

 otherwise ; the whole sky seems illuminated with unremitted flashes 

 of lightning; every part of the air seems productive of its own thun- 

 ders ; and every cloud produces its own shock. The strokes come so 

 thick, that the inhabitants can scarce mark the intervals ; but all is 

 one unremitted roar of elementary confusion. It should seem, how- 

 ever, that the lightning of those countries is not so fatal, or so dan 

 gerous, as with us ; since, in this case, the torrid zone would be unin- 

 habitable. 



When these terrors have ceased, with which, however, the natives 

 are familiar, meteors of another kind begin to make their appearance 

 The intense beams of .he sun, darting upon stagnant waters, that ge- 

 nerally cover the surface of the country, raise vapours of various 

 kinds. Floating bodies of fire, which assume different names, rather 

 from their accidental forms, than from any real difference between 

 them, are seen without surprise. The draco volans, or flying dragcm t 



