EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
I 
important moment in connection with the fasting 
during Ramadan. 
The zodiacal light is often brilliant in the evening, 
especially in the neighbourhood of the equator, and it 
persists longer than the morning form. AYhen the 
moon shines in the early morning it is difficult to dis¬ 
tinguish the false dawn with certainty ; when Venus is 
a morning or an evening star, her rays are sufficient to 
obscure the zodiacal light. The brilliancy of those 
stars which lie in the luminous triangle is in no way 
diminished. 
In Mombasa the stars sometimes shine with extra¬ 
ordinary brilliancy, and it is an impressive sight to see 
Orion glittering in the zenith, with Sirius, Fomalhaut, 
and the Southern Cross, in the east, and the Great Bull 
‘‘ low on the Western Main.” 
Among other natural phenomena of the tropics which 
appeal to those visiting these regions for the first time, 
mention may be made of the great width and vividness 
of the rainbow; the rapidity with which the sun appears 
to rise above or slip below the rim of the horizon at 
sunrise and sunset, and the briefness of the twilight. It 
is true that in order to appreciate the cosmic as well as 
the biologic aspects of countries on, or near, the equator 
“ they must be seen with northern eyes.” 
