IGNIS FATUUS. 
655 
sleep, and the fires began to die away, than I observed a 
light in the corner of the hnt next to me, like the moon 
shining through a chink ; surprised at the sight, as it was a 
rainy, moonless night, and very dark, I got up to examine 
the cause ; the object which attracted my attention appeared 
to be a globe of pale light, attached to the point of a palm 
leaf, which hung from the roof; whilst steadily regarding 
this curious sight, I was still further surprised by seeing a 
ball of light come slowly sailing into the shed, where it was 
arrested in its course by the wet sleeve of a shirt hung up to 
dry, to which it attached itself ; it was not a quivering light, 
but pale and steady ; the air seemed charged with these lumi- 
nous vapours, for while regarding the two in the shed, a series 
of them floated past, at an elevation of about a yard from the 
ground. The first I noticed had a globular form, having a 
brighter spot in the centre, or, more generally, at one extre- 
mity ; sometimes there were two globes, one about two feet 
from the other, connected by a luminous band ; at others, the 
lights appeared like little clouds, rendering the trees near 
them visible ; then they resembled rods, about four feet in 
length, moving perpendicularly to the earth, and parallel to 
each other. I counted as many as a dozen of these luminous 
rods at once, and seldom less than half that number ; they 
all invariably moved in the same direction ; at one time, the 
surface of the earth was, for a few feet, completely illuminated; 
after watching them for a long time, until the eyes were 
wearied, I laid down, when I noticed that the lights were 
more visible than when I stood up, which might arise from 
their being so near the surface of the earth, and my seeing 
under them. 
In returning again through the same forest, I had another 
opportunity of observing the Ignis Fatuus in the same place ; 
it was then a beautiful moonlight night; but, from the 
denseness of the forest, little benefit was derived from its 
rays; in this instance, there were two lights hovering over 
the river, about two feet from its surface ; they were 
nearly stationary, and shone so brightly that, although the 
natives were engaged in fishing with lighted brands, they 
