A GREEN SUN AND ASSOCIATED PHENOMENA. 399 



any stations farther north except Vizagapatam, Rajamundry, and Simla, and 

 unfortunately I cannot obtain the dates at which it was seen at these places. 

 At Bombay it cannot have been at all conspicuous, for though noticed by some 

 persons it was not seen at the Observatory, and so I cannot obtain any accurate 

 details as to the date of first appearance, &c. Beyond India we have several 

 dates which seem to be fixed with considerable certainty. In Honolulu, on 

 September 5th, the sun's disc before setting was seen to be green [Nature, 

 vol. xxix. p. 549). On September 4th, at 5 p.m., the master of the " Jennie 

 "Walker" "noticed the strange appearance of the sun, which was greenish." 

 The ship's position then was long. 155° 28' W., lat. 8° 20' N. A passenger 

 travelling from San Francisco to Sydney, three days out from Honolulu, writes : 

 — " On Wednesday, September 5th, we witnessed a most curious phenomenon. 

 The sun set perfectly blue, and next morning it rose a flaming ball of blue " 

 (Nature, vol. xxix. p. 181). From Barinas, in Venezuela, we have a report 

 that " on September 2nd, from daylight until noon, and from 3 p.m. to sundown, 

 the sun appeared like a globe of burnished silver ; between noon and 3 o'clock 

 it was of a bluish-green colour " (Nature, vol. xxix. p. 77). At Trinidad, on 

 September 2nd, the sun was observed as a blue globe at 5 o'clock (Nature, 

 vol. xxviii. p. 577). It was seen at Panama on the 2nd and 3rd, and at Cape 

 Coast Castle, apparently, on the 1st. All these dates refer to the first appear- 

 ance, but we have a series referring to the second. Of these the earliest that I 

 can find is in an extract from the log of the P. and 0. s.s. " Nizam," with which 

 Captain Harvey has favoured me : — "September 20th, in lat. 12° 50' N., long. 

 48° 26' E., and the sun at the time being about 15° high, a greenish haze was 

 noticed gathering over it and the sky generally in the west. As the sun 

 decreased in altitude the green became more distinct, until a bank of green 

 cloud, of various shades, formed on each side of the sun, and as the sun 

 disappeared below the horizon so the cloud closed over the point of its setting. 

 This peculiar sky lasted nearly an hour after sunset, and made a greenish twi- 

 light most wonderful to look at. The light air blowing at the time was from 

 the eastward, and the weather fine and clear." On the 21st the same pheno- 

 mena were observed, but not so clearly, owing to the ship's proximity to 

 Socotra, "the wind at this time was S.S.W. and the air moist." The entry for 

 the following day is also of interest. " September 22nd, in lat. 12° 00' 1ST., 

 long. 58° 00' E., the S.W. monsoon blowing fresh in this position and the sky 

 cloudy, but there was unmistakably a greenish tinge in the west at sunset, 

 From this date until September 25th the weather was overcast and cloudy, so 

 that no observations were made; but in lat. 8° 50' N., long. 71° E., the sun was 

 again observed to set with a green tinge over it. The weather at this time was 

 fine and clear, with a light northerly wind." At almost all stations in South 

 India the greenness reappeared on the 22nd. Finally, we have the letter from 



