306 EAMBLE8 OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. XVIII. 



that charming character which in England we should caU 

 perfect summer weather, but which is very rare even in the 

 height of summer in our climate. The thermometer stood 

 at 82° Fahr. in the shade, and of course the sun was in- 

 tensely hot ; but at night there was usually an off-shore 

 breeze which kept the air pleasantly cool. And when the 

 sun sank in purple and gold behind Mariveles, and the stars 

 shone down in all the brilliancy of a tropical night, the 

 scene was often indescribably beautiful. The aspect of the 

 sky was, of course, quite different from that seen in our 

 latitude — ^the Great Bear and the Pole-star having given 

 place to the Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds, 

 the wonderful Nebula in Argo, and their accompanying 

 clusters. Much has been said about this Southern Cross, 

 and most travellers have spoken rapturously of the glories 

 of that constellation. That it is an interesting and beau- 

 tiful one is undeniable — ^but one always feels how much 

 more beautiful it would be were it a perfect -cross, instead 

 of the one-sided affair it reaUy represents — and if 8 Crucis 

 were a star of equal magnitude with the other three. The 

 beauty of the Southern Cross is really derived from its 

 association with other constellations, and maialy to those 

 two magnificent stars of the Centaur, which seem to point 

 up to it. The Milky-Way is here, too, of remarkable bril- 

 liancy, heightened rather than impaired by the two myste- 

 rious black starless patches which show out blacker and 

 darker the more briUiant the night. But in reality the 

 Northern sky is nothing inferior to the Southern, so far as 

 regards richness in constellations. Our Ursa Major has no 

 match in the Southern hemisphere ; and aided by Arcturus 

 and Capella, Vega and Altair, the North is well able to 

 compete with anything the South has to show ; — while the 



