COMETS. 



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the tail rendered it remarkable ; indeed, it was the largest which we, who stood assembled, 

 had ever witnessed in our lifetime. I still recollect the beautiful comet of 1811, with its 

 diverging beams of fiery hue, but its tail was much less in length than the one now looked 

 upon. It was a scene which has fixed itself firmly upon my memory. There we stood, 

 upon a small island in the middle of the Essequibo, surrounded by foaming waters which, 

 opposed in their course by dykes of granite, went thundering away over the black stony 

 masses, I the only European among a number of naked savages, the coppery tint of whose 

 bodies shone in strong contrast when the burning embers of the camp fires threw a ray 

 upon their figures ; some standing upright, with their arms across their breast, others 

 squatting on the ground, but their fearful eyes all directed towards the strange star with 

 its luminous train. No word was spoken. The rush of the foaming waters was the only 

 interruption of the silence. Tamanua, a young Wapisiana, of more intelligence than is 

 generally met with among his tribe, at last broke silence : " This is the Spirit of the 

 stars, the dreadful Capishi famine and pestilence await us ;" and, as if they had only 

 wanted the utterance of a syllable to give vent to their feelings, the assembled Indians 

 burst into a torrent of declamation, lamenting the appearance of the dreaded Capishi, as 

 the precursor of pestilence and famine, and raising, with violent gesticulations, their arms 

 towards the comet. I was surprised to find among my Indian followers the same 

 superstitious dread of a comet which, in all ages, rendered their celestial appearance the 



terror of the uninstructed and vulgar. The Indians around me consisted of Arecuna ; 

 Wapisianas, and Macusis. The first called the comet Wataima, signifying, like Capishi, 

 the Spirit of the stars. The Macusi Indians named it Ca-poeseima, " a fiery cloud," or 

 Woe-inopsa, " a sun casting its light behind." Must we not acknowledge that these 

 simple children of Nature have given to this magnificent phenomenon a more expressive 

 name than we civilised nations ? 



The leading features of the chief cometary appearances of modern times have now been 

 sketched. There are various inquiries which naturally suggest themselves with reference 

 to these bodies. What is their physical constitution ? What their origin and office in 



