4 AT SEA — SUNSETS. Book I. 
western sky was of the deepest vermilion. Golden 
threads, as if of a metallic web, were spun over its surface. 
Northward and southward the burning red, with a transi- 
tion through all gradations of carmine, purple, violet, and 
indigo, ultimately passed into brown. Here and there, 
like the unveiled portion of an upper sky, some ethereal 
region beamed through between the more earthly colours 
of the lower atmosphere, and appeared in a bluish green 
of the softest hue. Broad rays of light, of alternating gold 
and azure, diverging from the sun's place behind the hori- 
zon and extending towards the zenith, passed over the 
whole picture like the transparent radii of a gigantic fan. 
Fleecy clouds, resembling rose-tinged veils, hung over us, 
while sails and masts were steeped in the mellow tints of a 
delicate lilac, which, in different shades, dyed the northern 
half of the firmament. The next morning exhibited a 
picture of similar beauty and interest. An arch of flaky 
clouds of a dark olive colour, with glowing edges of gold, 
was stretched over a wide clear expanse of the western sky. 
In the centre of this bright semicircle thick masses of a 
dark violet, resting on the sharp outline of the ocean, 
were piled up in strange forms. From west to east, on 
either side, the horizon passed through every shade of 
violet and blue, the gradual transition here and there inter- 
rupted by dusky piles of a brownish green. A veil of 
pale lilac was thrown from the zenith towards the east, 
the form of the moon glimmering through the delicate 
tissue. 
On the 5th of November, towards the evening, the 
mountains of the Isthmus of Panama came in sight: — 
isolated cones of a truncated form. On the next morning 
a hilly coast extended before us, showing a long line of 
country covered with forest, and a chain of mountains in 
