708 THE UNIVERSE. 



engineer on the Suez canal. There, each evening, plunged 

 in melancholy meditation, and tranquilly reclining on the 

 ancient balustrade of the building, I watched the setting 

 of the sun as it sank behind rocks as black as ebony; and 

 there also, having slept under the open sky, I rose so soon 

 as the first gleams of day began to disperse the night, in 

 order to seat myself upon the lofty parapet of the great 

 gate-tower, in order to enjoy the indescribable spectacle 

 of the dawn. 



The setting of the sun is each day the same uniform 

 spectacle. KoUing through a sky of which its rays have 

 absorbed all the vapours, it plunges into the sea of sand 

 like an immense globe of fire hung in a burning horizon. 

 After its disappearance, the blazing luminary only leaves 

 a fiery hue, which extends over an immense portion of the 

 distant plain. If at this time a caravan happen to pass the 

 desert on the west of us, the men and camels are clearly 

 defined against the reddish tint of the sky like so many 

 animated silhouettes of an intense blackness ; they might 

 be taken for some of the welbknown Chinese shadows. 

 Then all at once the night comes on, for the twilight in 

 these burning zones is only of short duration. 



The dawn on the contrary is infinitely varied, and pre- 

 sents by turns the most majestic spectacle one can imagine. 

 The freshness of night has condensed all the vapou.rs on 

 the surface of the desert, and the lamp of day which 

 lights us has first of all to disperse the thick veil of mist 

 ere it can appear in all its splendour. 



In our foggy country night fades away in tranquil 

 majesty. When dawn begins to appear behind the forest 

 or the icy diadem of the mountain, the first gleams of day 

 scarcely illume the pale azure of the sky. And if Ave 

 were permitted to see our pale Aurora athwart the last 



