70 NOCTURNAL SCENESi 



traveller, Tournefort, when I see the inordinate 

 violence of tliese high-minded gentlemen. *' The 

 Turk, (says he) take 'em one with another, are 

 much honester men than renegadoes ; and perhaps 

 it is out of contempt that they do not circumcise 

 renegadoes : for they have a common saying, 

 that a bad Christian will never make a good 

 Turk." 



LETTER XV. 



Canandaigua, June, 1820. 

 My dear Sir, 



Every country strikes a traveller by the appear- 

 ance of some strange phenomena or uncommon 

 exhibitions — and the novelty of the spectacle im- 

 presses him sometimes so deeply, that he is apt to 

 over-rate its importance. In travelling on the 

 canal, I heard for the first time, the sounds and 

 cries of strange anin)als, and perceived sights 

 which I had never witnessed betore. 



The country appeared in the nighttime full of 

 sparks of fire in continual motion. It was easy 

 to understand that these were the phosphoric emis- 

 sions of insects on the wing. T accordingly caught 

 some of the strangers and found them to be a spe- 

 cies of lampyris ; I believe the lampyris corrusca 



