266 iiisroBY OF 



always readily known Ijy 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 bosorn of a 

 frozen cloud. 



But of all the meteors which mock the imagination with an 

 appearance of reality, those strange illusions that are seen there, 

 in fine serene weather, are the most extraordinary and enter- 

 taining. " Nothing," says Crantz, " 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 dif- 

 ferent 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 fiUed 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 it- 

 self. The islands seemed to travel to the shore, and represented 

 a wood, or a tall cut hedge. The scene then shifted, and showed 

 the appearance of all sorts of curious figures j as ships with sails, 

 streamers, and flags ; antique elevated castles, with decayed tur- 

 rets : 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 such subtile vapours, as it is in very 

 hot weather ; and these appearing between the eye and the ob- 

 ject, give it all that variety of appearances which glasses ot 

 different refrangibilites would have done." Mr Crantz ob- 

 sei'ves, that commonly a couple of hours afterwards a gentle 

 west wind and a visible mist follow, which put an end to this 

 lusus naturae. 



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

 of many 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 vapours, raised from the earth to small heights, and 

 continuing to shine till that matter which first raised and sup- 



