A GLANCE AT THE STARS. 



14-5 



round Cape Horn, and across the South Atlantic to Rio Janeiro. Arrived within a few 

 days' sail of Rio, he took a set of lunar observations, to ascertain his true position, and 

 the bearing of the harbour, and shaped his course accordingly. Afterwards, as he remarks, 

 "I hove to, at four in the morning, till the day should break, and then bore' up ; for, 

 although it was hazy, we could see before us a couple of miles or so. About eight o'clock 

 it became so foggy, that I did not like to stand in farther, and was just bringing the ship 

 to the wind again, before sending the people to breakfast, when it suddenly cleared off, 

 and I had the satisfaction of seeing the great Sugar-loaf rock, which stands on one side of 

 the harbour's mouth, so nearly right ahead that we had not to alter our course above a point 

 in order to hit the entrance of Rio. This was the first land we had seen for three months, 

 after crossing so many seas, and being set backwards and forwards by innumerable 

 currents and foul winds." The crew might well cheer their skilful commander upon en- 

 tering the port. 



On a clear night in winter, when the moon is absent, the heavens exhibit an aspect of 

 great brilliancy, attractive to the eye of childhood and maturity. But to see the stars to 

 advantage, in the utmost of that glory which they reveal to the gaze of man, we must 

 cruise in tropical seas, or wander with the Bedouins in their deserts. There, through a 

 more transparent medium, the lesser lights of heaven shine with a lustre and vivacity of 

 which we have no conception, who are only familiar with a denser atmosphere. Known 

 to be at a distance from us, in comparison with which the interval between us and the 

 farthest planet is but a hand- breadth, the stars far surpass that planet in their light, and 

 hence it follows that they are not like him dependent upon the central luminary of our 

 system, but self-luminous bodies, independent suns. This is rendered unquestionable by 

 the fact, that while every reflected light is susceptible of polarisation, the light of the 

 stars, like that of the sun, is incapable of it. The tremulous emission of the stellar light, 

 the scintillation or twinkling of the stars, is a remarkable feature, and was long a puzzle 

 to philosophers. It is now generally supposed to arise from the molecules of the atmo- 

 sphere constantly undergoing sudden compressions and dilatations, which produce changes 

 in its refractive power, and consequent changes in the direction of the rays of light, 



