36 
MADEIRA. 
of a large stone which, in the days of Anaxagoras the astro- 
nomer, is supposed to have fallen from the sun in a district 
of Thrace, near the river ^igos ; which stone, he tells us, 
was shewn in his own time. To this passage the very in^- 
genious author of Hudibras has thus humourously alluded : 
*' For Anaxagoras, long agone, 
" Saw hills, as well as you, i' th' moon, 
*' And held the sun was but a piece 
" Of red hot iron, as big as Greece ; 
" Believ'd the heavens were made of stone» 
" Because the sun had voided one." 
But this meteor, I perceive, like an ignis fafuus, has led 
me astray from my subject, which, not being sufficiently in- 
teresting to resume, I shall here conclude, and proceed with- 
out fiirther delay on our voyage. 
