ECLIPSES. 



formed at its circumference, with perfect colors. As the darkness increased, 

 we saw the shepherds on all sides hastening to fold their flocks, for they ex- 

 pected a total eclipse of an hour and a quarter duration. 



" When the sun assumed the appearance of the new moon, the sky was tol- 

 erably clear, but it was soon covered with deeper clouds. The rainbow then van- 

 ished, the steep hill I have named became very obscure, and on each side, that 

 is, north and south, the horizon exhibited a blue tint, like that which it possesses 

 in summer toward the close of day. Scarcely had we time to count ten, when 

 Salisbury spire, six miles to the south, was enveloped in darkness. The hill 

 disappeared entirely, and the deepest, night spread around us- We lost sight 

 of the sun, whose place till then we had been able to distinguish in the clouds, 

 but whose trace we could now no more discover than if it had never existed. 



" By my watch, which I could scarcely discern by some light that reached 

 us from the north, it was thirty-five minutes past six. Shortly before, the sky 

 and the earth had assumed, literally speaking, a livid tint, for it was a mixture 

 of black and blue, only the latter predominated on the earth and at the horizon. 

 There was also much black diffused through the clouds, so that the whole pic- 

 ture presented an awful aspect, that seemed to announce the death of nature. 



" We were now enveloped in a total and palpable darkness, if I may be al- 

 lowed the expression. It came on rapidly, but I watched so attentively, that 

 I could perceive its progress. It came upon us like rain, falling on our left 

 shoulders (we were looking to the west), or like a great black cloak thrown 

 over us, or like a curtain drawn from that side. The horses we held by the 

 bridle seemed deeply struck by it, and pressed to us with marks of extreme 

 surprise. As well as I could perceive, the countenances of my friends wore a 

 horrible aspect. It was not without an involuntary exclamation of wonder I 

 looked around me at this moment. I distinguished colors in the sun, but the 

 earth had lost all its blue, and was entirely black. A few rays shot through 

 the clotids for a moment, but immediately afterward the earth and the sky ap- 

 peared totally black. It was the most awful sight I had ever beheld in my 

 life. 



" Northwest of the point whence the eclipse came on, it was impossible for 

 me to distinguish in the least degree the earth from the sky, for a breadth of 

 sixty degrees or more. We looked in vain for the town of Amesbury, situated 

 below us ; scarcely could we see the ground under our feet. I turned fre- 

 quently during the total darkness, and observed that, at a considerable distance 

 to the west, the horizon was perfect on both sides, that is, to the north and to 

 the south ; the earth was black, and the lower part of the sky clear ; the ob- 

 scurity, which extended to the horizon in those points, seemed like a canopy 

 over our heads, adorned with fringes of a lighter color, so that the upper edges 

 of all the hills, which I recognised perfectly by their outlines, formed a black 

 line. I saw perfectly that the interval between light and darkness, observable 

 in the earth, was between Mortinsol (?) and St. Anne ; but to the south it was 

 less distinctly marked. 



" I do not mean to say that the line of shadow passed between these two 

 hills, which were twelve miles distant from us ; but as far as I could distin- 

 guish the horizon, there was none behind, and for this reason : My elevated 

 position enabled me to see the light of the sky behind the shadow ; still, that 

 yellowish green line of light I saw was broader toward the north than toward 

 the south, where it was of a tan color. At this period it was too black behind 

 us, that is, to the east, looking toward London, to enable me to see the hills 

 beyond Andover, for the anterior extremity of the shadow lay beyond that 

 place. The horizon was then divided irvto four parts, differing in extent, in 

 light, and in darkness. The broadest and least black was to the northwest, and 





