126 SCENERY OF THE HEAVENS. 



meteoric or nebulous coruscation. It becomes visible about seven o'clock, p. M., and 

 remains in sight for about -two hours. Its position is nearly S.S.W., and its magnitude, 

 measured by the sextant, is 1 in breadth and 21 in length, with a dip of 45. The 

 appearance of this phenomenon has excited general interest among the natives. The 

 mounejimbashy (chief astrologer) declares that it prognosticates great disasters to people- 

 residing southwards ; it forebodes, in the first place, divers calamities to Greece ; and. 

 secondly, a termination of French Razias in Algiers. On the other hand, the Greek 

 priests, with no other instruments than their spectacles, announce that they read in its 

 luminous tail the restoration of the profligate Greek empire, and the downfal of modern 

 rule in Europe. Then, again, the Persian muchats at the Valide Khan all stroke their 

 beards, and swear by the twelve Imans that the meteor represents the flaming death-bladed 

 sword of Ali uplifted to wreak vengeance upon the heretic followers of Omer, for the 

 outrages recently committed upon the sainted tombs of Kerbebah. In the meanwhile, as 

 there are neither astronomers nor instruments at this place, nothing is left for us but to 

 await accounts from Europe, in order to determine the real nature of this extraordinary 

 and splendid phenomenon." 



A European, travelling in the wilds of America, the only representative of the civilised 

 world present upon the occasion, has graphically narrated his own impressions, and those 

 of his Indian companions : " We were ascending the Essequibo, that noble river which, 

 though a small rill among the mountains of the equator, disembogues its accumulated 

 waters through three channels nearly twenty miles wide. The weather was unfavourable ; 

 torrents of rain had descended, and the sky had been covered with clouds for weeks. 

 We were approaching the cataract Ouropocari in 4 11' north latitude, and had encamped, 

 on the 8th of March, three miles below it, when, for the first time since our departure 

 from the coast, the sky, hitherto a uniform mass of greyish clouds, cleared in the evening, 

 and exposed, towards the south-west, the deep tropical blue, spangled with stars. We 

 hailed with pleasure the prediction of better weather ; but what was our amazement when 

 we observed, in the W.S.W., a broad, white, nebulous band, inclining towards the horizon, 

 and stretching to an altitude of 45 ! The zenith was covered with those beautiful clouds 

 which the meteorologist calls cirro-cumulus* j the sky was, however, perfectly clear on 

 both sides of the band which, 64' (in arc) broad, and of a pure white, almost transparent, 

 formed a strong contrast with the deep azure of the tropical sky. I could not observe 

 whether the band rested apparently on the horizon, as the wall-like forest, near the edge 

 of which we were encamped, prevented me from seeing that portion of the sky. From 

 the point where the band became visible it appeared of a uniform breadth, becoming 

 more transparent, and slightly diverging, near the summit. What can it be ? was the 

 first question. My Indian friends stood around, looking now with wonder at the 

 phenomenon, now askance at me. Our doubts were solved next evening, March 9. : it 

 was a comet ! Our camp was so favourably situated that the south-western horizon was 

 exposed to our view. The sky was partially clouded until seven o'clock, when the clouds 

 to the west cleared away, and there stood the comet in all its grandeur, the nucleus being 

 about 12 above the horizon, and the tail extending to the star v Eridani, then about 45 

 high. The nucleus appeared, to the naked eye, like a star of the second magnitude ; its 

 tail, near the base like a narrow band, spread in its broadest part 1 10', and lost itself 

 in the constellation Eridanus. The whitish light and transparent vapour of its tail, 

 resembling more those clouds compared to 



" The beauteous semblance of a flock at rest," 



diverged about 20 below the foot of Orion, in nebulous stripes. We stood amazed. A 

 bright moon somewhat lessened the effect which this most wonderful of all natural 

 phenomena would have produced had all else been hidden in darkness ; but the extent of 



