294 NETHER LOCHABER. 



weather, absence from home, or any other cause, we are obliged to 

 forego it. In addition to all the other attractions of a midnight 

 sea-side stroll in such weather as the tropics themselves might be 

 proud of, the reader must remember that August is one of our 

 meteor months — the second week particularly being remarkable 

 for the number and brilliancy of the Perseides, so called from 

 their seeming mainly to radiate from the direction of the con- 

 stellation Perseus. Never was there a finer season to observe 

 them than this ; and although they have, perhaps, been less 

 numerous than usual, the brilliancy of many of them was so 

 remarkable, and their paths throughout so easily followed, that 

 their very iufrequency only added to the eagerness and interest 

 with which one watched and waited for them. The finest display 

 of the season was from midnight on to nearly two A.M. on the 

 night of the 11th and 12th, in which time we counted thirty-three 

 noticeable meteors — of which seven were what might be called 

 first-class meteors of a nucleus brUliancy equal to or exceeding that 

 of first magnitude stars, with broad, bright, well-defined trains, 

 that whoUy or in part, in three or four instances, remained in sight, 

 mapping out the meteor's trajectory for several seconds after the 

 disappearance or extinction of the parent orb or meteor proper 

 itself. Mr. W. B. Symington, who was among the Hebrides at 

 the time on a yachting cruise, writes on the subject as follows : — 

 " Notwithstanding your injunction to be on the qui vive as to 

 the August meteors, I am sorry to say that I forgot all about it 

 on the nights of the 9th and 10th, although the weather was 

 beautifully clear. On the 11th, 12th, and 13th, however, the 

 sailing-master and myself were sharply on the look-out, and our 

 watchfulness was rewarded by the sight of some really very 

 splendid examples. There were on each night scores and scores 

 of the more common, lesser, and fainter meteors, but our atten- 

 tion was of course principally directed to the more brilliant ones. 



