HXVIIT 
SP ORMS. 
WIERRINGS. 
SCHETLAND AND 
brifkly along the heavens: are fuddenly extinguifhed, and leave behind an uniform 
dufky traé&t. This again is brilliantly illuminated in the fame manner, and as fud- 
denly left a dull blank. In certain nights they affume the appearance of vaft co- 
lumns, on one fide of the deepeft yellow, on the other declining away till it becomes 
undiftinguifhed from the fky. They have generally a ftrong tremulous motion 
from end to end, which continues till the whole vanifhes. In’a word, we, who only 
fee the extremities of thefe northern phcenomena, have but a faint idea of their 
fplendor, and their motions. According to the ftate of the atmofphere they differ 
in colors. They often put on the color of blood, and make a moft dreadful ap- 
pearance. The ruftic fages become prophetic, and terrify the gazing fpectators 
with the dread of war, peftilence, and famine. ‘This fuperftition was not peculiar 
to the northern iflands ; nor are thefe appearances of recent date. ‘The antients 
called them Cha/mata, and Trabes, and Bolides, according to their forms or colors *. 
In old times they were extremely rare, and on that account were the more taken 
notice of. From the days of Plutarch to thofe of our fage hiftorian Sir Richard 
Baker, they were fuppofed to have been portentous of great events: and timid 
imagination fhaped them into aerial conflicts, 
Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds 
Jn ranks and fquadrons and right form of war. 
After, I fuppofe, a very long intermiffion, they appeared with great brilliancy in 
England, on March 6th, 1715-16. The philofophers paid a proper attention +, 
The vulgar confidered them as marking the introduction of a foreign race of 
princes. The novelty is now ceafed, and their caufe perhaps properly attributed 
to the greater abundance of electrical matter. 
The tempefts which reign over thefe ifands during winter is aftonifhing. The 
cold is moderate ; the fogs great and frequent; but the ftorms agitate the water 
even to the bottom of thefe comparatively fhallow feas. The fifth feek the bottom 
of the great deeps: and the Herrings, which appear off the Schetlands in amazing 
columns in une, perform the circuit of our ifland, and retire beyond the know- 
lege of man. When the main body of thefe fith approaches from the north, it 
alters the very appearance of the ocean. It is divided into columns of five or fix 
miles in length, and three or four in breadth, and they drive the water before them 
with a fort of rippling current. Sometimes they fink for a fmall fpace, then rife 
again; and in bright weather reflect a variety of {plendid colors, like a field of moft 
® Ariftol. Meteorolog. \ib.i.c. 5. Plin. Nat. Hif. lib. ii. c. 26. 
‘ See various accounts of them in the Phil, Tranf. abr. iv. part ii. 138. 
precious 
