The Sunsets of Autumn 1883 251 



fallen in showers upon ships hundreds of miles from land. In 

 Cadiz the sunset was as brilliant as close to the coast of Africa. 

 In Seville the colours were distinctly less deep than at sea or 

 on the coast, but when reflected from the roofs and towers, and 

 especially from the Cathedral and the Giralda, the scene was 

 one which it would be impossible to forget. Going further 

 inland, the sunsets at Madrid could not in any way be compared 

 with even those of Seville in brilliancy and depth of colour. 

 It must be mentioned that during the fortnight over which 

 these observations on land extended the same bitterly cold, 

 but clear and cloudless weather, with north-east wind, pre- 

 vailed all over Spain, from Madrid to Cadiz. 



\Yith regard to the sunrises, I can speak only of those 

 occurring in the genial climate of the Canaries. For about 

 ten days I was able to observe, from the island of La Palma, 

 or the anchorage in front of its chief town, Santa Cruz, the sun 

 rise every morning behind the Peak of Teneriffe, or, more 

 orrectly, behind its western shoulder, formed by the secondary 

 crater of Chahorra. As soon as the light became sufficiently 

 -trong a bank of clouds was seen to stretch along the eastern 

 horizon, and as the sky behind became better illuminated the 

 loudv upper edge of this bank was seen to be interrupted by 

 the sharp lines of the familiar profile of the Peak, which stood 

 "in as a cold, grey screen against the more distant sky, already 

 illuminated by the direct rays of the sun. As the moment 

 of sunrise approached the Peak stood out more and more 



idly, until the sun actually rose, when its outline became 

 dim and it rapidly faded from view, its place being taken by 

 the now illuminated particles of dust and spray in the inter- 



:ng 70 miles of air. The colours attending the sunrise 

 were in no way remarkable either for variety or brilliancy. 

 Almost exactly the same view repeated itself every morning, 

 the Peak being visible dailv from dawn till about half an hour 

 after sunrise. 



From the fact that the brilliancy of the colours certainly 



;ised on approaching the Afn i horn the sea, 



I - <m< hide that much of the effect wafl due t duM tlcatini; in 



ii. ( )n the other hand, looking t<> the ta t tli.it at 



