308 
I’OI'ULAli SCIENCE REVIEW. 
of night, yet something altogether different from twilight or 
the gloom of a rainy winter evening. The scenery around was 
illuminated, not only by the light of the corona, but by the 
more remarkable light which was seen in the southern horizon. 
For an altitude of some fifteen degrees, towering above, and in 
the direction of the plains of Castile, we saw the most glorious 
crimson and yellow tints colouring the sky and meeting the 
dark-blue clouds above in a rich purple. The effect was magical 
— almost similar to the earth iUumined by a splendid aurora ; or, 
rather, imagine passing from the brilliant sunshine into a Gothic 
cathedral, where the dim religious light enters through richly- 
coloured oriel and lancet windows — one may thus have a faint 
idea of the gloom — singular and terrible at the same time, which 
is produced by a solar eclipse. The hushed whispers of those 
around who pointed to some bright star or planet overhead, 
added to the solemnity of the scene and the sombre faces of 
the worshippers, put one as much in mind of the countenances 
of the witches round the caldron in “ Macbeth” as of the wit- 
nesses of a great natural phenomenon. When the darkness 
was at the greatest, the wind moaned with a melancholy souud 
“ le vent de l’eclipse,” our neighbours call it, and did not serve 
to raise one’s spirits. The pigeons rushed to their dovecot — 
butterflies fell down as if dead — a vulture seated on a rock on a 
neighbouring hill dropped as if shot — a group of goats formed 
into line and marched in the direction of home — the matutinal 
chants of chanticleer were intermingled with the sounds pro- 
ceeding from the maternal cares of the feathered domestic 
tribes of the farmyard in which we were situated. Such effects 
of the darkness came under our own notice. And although we 
found that the boasted clearness of “ le beau del de l’Espagne” 
was rather a myth and might lie aptly compared to the famous 
“chateaux d’Espagne” ( Anglice , castles in the air), 'yet we did not 
think our journey from the banks of the Seine, across the Loire, 
the Garonne, and the Adour, altogether lost, even although we 
came across much unfavourable weather near the source of the 
Ebro ; and met not only with snow to the depth of eight feet 
on the mountains (in the middle of July), but with solid mist 
and fog which could only be paralleled in November in London. 
Although we perfectly perceived the corona, yet it was too 
cloudy to detect the rudely prominences ; so that our evidence 
is negative in this respect, and it proves that the first-named 
was brighter than the latter, which some observers deny. The 
broken crescent, if not the Baily beads, were seen to great 
advantage by Messrs. Buckingham and Wray, as well as by the 
writer, and the extraordinary brushes of light from the corona, 
crooked and intermingling with each other, were likewise plainly 
visible to all the party. We have heard of Spaniard and Moor 
