THE EARTH. 155 



.orty (fays, died, at last, of a good old age ; and that his widow con 

 tinued for half a day to deplore his loss, with great fidelity, befon> 

 she admitted a second hushand. 



The meteors of the day, in these countries, are not less exii-aordi- 

 nary than those of the night: mock suns are often reflected upon an 

 opposite cloud ; and the ignorant spectator fancies that there are ofteir 

 three or four real suns in the firmament at the same time. In this splen- 

 did appearance the real sun is always readily known by its superior 

 brightness, every reflection being seen with diminished splendour. 

 The solar rainbow there, is often seen different from ours. Instead 

 of a pleasing variety of colours, it appears of a pale white, edged 

 with a stripe of dusky yellow ; the whole being reflected from the 

 bosom of a frozen cloud. 



But, of all the meteors which mock the imagination with an ap- 

 pearance of reality, those strange illusions that are seen there, in 

 fine serene weather, are the most extraordinary and entertaining. 

 " Nothing," says Krantz, " ever surprised me more, than on a fine 

 warm summer's day, to perceive the islands that lie four leagues west 

 of our shore, putting on a form quite different from what they are 

 known to have. As I stood gazing upon them, they appeared at first 

 infinitely greater than what they naturally are ; and seemed as if I 

 viewed them through a large magnifying glass. They were not thus 

 only made larger, but brought nearer to me. I plainly descried every 

 stone upon the land, and all the furrows filled with ice, as if I stood 

 close by. When this illusion had lasted for a while, the prospect 

 seemed to break up, and a new scene of wonder to present itself. 

 The islands seemed to travel to the shore, and represented a wood, 

 or a tall cut hedge. The scene then shifted, and showed the ap- 

 pearance of all sorts of curious figures ; as ships with sails, streamers, 

 and flags; antique elevated castles, with decayed turrets; and a 

 thousand forms, for which fancy found a resemblance in nature. 

 When the eye had been satisfied with gazing, the whole group of 

 riches seemed to rise in air, and at length vanish into nothing. At 

 such times the weather is quite serene and clear ; but compressed 

 with subtle vapours, as it is in very hot weather ; and these appear- 

 ing between the eye and the object, give it all that variety of appear- 

 ances which glasses of different refrangibilities would have done." Mr. 

 Krantz observes, that commonly a couple of hours afterwards, a 

 gentle west wind and a visible mist follows, which puts an end to this 

 lusus naturae. 



It were easy to swell this catalogue of meteors with the names of 

 jnany others, both in our own climate and in other parts of the world. 

 Such as falling stars, which are thought to be no more than unctuous 

 v apours, raised from the earth to small heights, and contini- ng 

 f o shine till that matter which first raised, and supported them, b-- ng 

 burnt out, they fall back again to the earth, with extinguished flune. 

 Burning spears, which are a peculiar kind of aurora borealis ; bloody 

 rains, which are said to be the excrements of an insect, that at ifiat 

 v.me has been raised into the air. Showers of stones, fishes, and ivy- 

 berries, at first, no doubt, raised into the air by tempests ia one countr}, 

 and falling at some considerable distance in the manner of rain, to as. 



