OUTWARD PASSAGE.—WEATHER-GALL. 23 
In consequence of the violent flapping of the 
sails, during a calm which occurred in the night, 
the leach-rope of the fore-top-sail gave way, and 
the sail was a little torn. While the calm con¬ 
tinued, it was unbent, repaired, and restored to its 
place. In the afternoon we had a fresh of wind, 
and the weather, which liad previously been clear, 
became dark, showery, and threatening: in the 
evening the wind increased to a smart gale. A 
little before sun-set, a iveathcr-gall (or the limb 
of a rain-bow), of extraordinary brilliancy, appear¬ 
ed. It seemed to me that all the colours of the 
spectrum were repeated two or three times in suc¬ 
cession, and in close connection with the primi¬ 
tive arch, which was on the exterior of the bow. 
A double set of colours was certainly perceptible; 
and, when at the brightest, there were evidently 
either three or four concentric yellow arches, and 
I imagine, also, as many arches of the other co¬ 
lours of the spectrum; but the yellow only was 
distinctly visible, excepting in the second arch. 
The interior arches diminishing successively in 
distinctness, had the appearance almost of the 
cloisters of a cathedral, as exhibited in a transpa¬ 
rency, where they recede into the obscurity of dis¬ 
tant perspective. These spectra rose only to the 
altitude of 4° or 5°. They took their rise from 
the surface of a cloud of dismal appearance and 
