426 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
IGNIS FATUUS. 
In travelling through the dense forest which extends from 
Kaitaia to Waimate, near the Bay of Islands, I encamped, one 
extremely rainy night, on a small open spot by the side of a 
stream. The natives who accompanied me, soon erected a 
large commodious shed, which they roofed with palm leaves, 
and rendered quite impervious to the rain; the sides of the 
building were thatched with the same; along the front, which 
was left open, a line of fires soon warmed our shivering 
company. 
No sooner had my companions composed themselves to sleep, 
and the fires began to die away, than I observed a light in the 
corner of the hut next to me, like the moon shining through 
a chink. Being surprised at the sight, and knowing that it was 
a moonless night, and very dark, I got up to examine the 
cause. The object which attracted my attention, appeared 
like a globe of pale light, attached to the point of a palm 
leaf, which hung from the roof. The rain was falling in 
torrents. Whilst steadily regarding this curious sight, I was 
still further surprised by seeing another 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 
adhered. It was not a quivering light, but pale and steady. 
The air appeared to be charged with these luminous 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 extremity. 
Sometimes there were two globes, one about two feet from 
the other, connected by a luminous band; at other times, 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, from N. to S., which was remark¬ 
able, as the rapid river close by, which must have created some 
