32 
EARLY REMINISCENCES 
in riding (or rather in being driven by the guides) to the greater altitude. The 
animals are poor creatures, badly saddled and harnessed, overworked, and not too 
well looked after. It should be mentioned that none of the party were experienced 
mountaineers. 
NOTE ON “THE SPECTRE OF THE BROCKEN.” 1 
The Val de Taoro is bounded on the west by the crags of Mount Tigayga, 
which rise about 3000 ft. above it. This mountain is a spur of the Peak of 
Tenerife running down from the lip of the Canadas, or old crater, towards the sea. 
For a considerable distance its northern slope forms a table-land, perhaps half a 
mile or more wide, sloping evenly and gradually towards the sea, and limited on 
the east by a cliff, which falls by a succession of crags to the valley or rather 
plain below. Along the top of this wall of rock, one of the paths to the Peak 
runs for several miles. On March 8th, 1887, again on the 13th, and also on 
April 5th, I passed along this path in the afternoon, an hour or two before sunset. 
The Yal del Taoro was on each occasion covered with thin white mist, which did 
not extend appreciably above the top of the cliff, being probably so limited by 
currents of air. As we stood near the edge of the precipice looking over the 
valley, with the setting sun behind us, we saw our shadows projected on the thin 
mist; each shadow of course followed every movement of its owner (keeping for 
example excellent time to a reel), and on one occasion (March 8th) it was so sharp, 
that when I went through some cuts and guards of the sword exercise the shadow 
of my walking stick was perfectly clearly defined. I should say that the spectre 
varied in distinctness on different occasions and at different spots on the same day, 
the variations being evidently due to the varying density and changing form of 
the surface of the mist. A lady friend saw it again on April 12th, under similar 
circumstances in the same place, but it was then far less clear. When seen at its 
best the spectre was surrounded by a halo consisting of three complete sets of 
faintly coloured rings, the head of the figure being in the centre of the system. A 
blue haze surrounded the head and reached about to the shoulders; the colours 
followed in the reversed order of the spectrum, green, yellow, orange and red; the 
first red ring crossed the figure at its middle, then came blue again, and so on, the 
second red ring reaching about to the feet; outside this again a third reversed 
spectrum, the outside red ring extending about once and a half the height of the 
figure. Beyond this triple system of coloured rings, at a distance of perhaps 15° 
from the line connecting the spectator’s eye with the head of the shadow, was an 
arch of white light, broad and faint, like a lunar rainbow, but sufficiently distinct. 
Each person could see the rings around his own spectre only, or that of a person 
standing very close to him. 2 It was extremely difficult to judge the apparent 
height of the spectre, or its distance from the spectator. It was certainly larger 
than life, perhaps three times as large ; its distance might have been two hundred 
yards; but I regret that I did not pay especial attention to these points. 
1 Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society , Vol. XIII., No. 64, 
October, 1887. 
2 In company with a scientific clergyman I was one day complacently contem¬ 
plating my Spectre and chaffingly remarked : “ I am a holier man than you, 
Padre, I have a nimbus.” His prompt reply was: “ My dear fellow, no one can see 
it but yourself.” 
