FIRE-FLIES. 101 



FIRE-FLIES. 



" How beautiful is night ! 



A dewy freshness fills the silent air ; 



No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain, 



Breaks the serene of heaven ; 



In full-orbed glory yonder moon divine 



Rolls through the dark blue depths." 



Thalaha, i. \. 



A noble description, though expressed in few 

 words ; but fully to enter into its beauty, we must 

 have seen the glorious nights of the tropics. There 

 the " dewy freshness " receives a heightening charm 

 by its contrast with the burning day : there the sky 

 has, indeed, a " dark blue depth," into which the eye 

 seems to go onward and onward interminably ; and 

 gains an idea of the illimitable expanse, the infinity 

 of space, that our paler skies fail to convey. And 

 surely nowhere else does the moon appear invested 

 in such " full-orbed glory," or pour down such a flood 

 of brilliant lustre on forest and sea, as from those 

 " serene," transparent heavens. 



A scene particularly lovely is presented by one of 

 those little glades, or open spaces of greensward, in 

 the midst of the woods, that are not uncommon in 

 Jamaica, — when seen under the light of a brilliant 

 vertical moon. The forest, like a bounding wall, 

 rises all around, within which everything is hidden 

 under the blackest gloom. The thick leathery leaves 

 of many of the trees, however, reflect from their 

 glossy surfaces the moon's light, and, moved by the 

 gentle land-wind, throw off" the flashes in all direc- 

 tions. And, after the daily shower in the rainy 



