the ocean, so that, for a time, the ship seemed to be sailing in a sea of fire.

On the eastern coast of Samos, meteoric fires are often seen hovering in stormy nights upon the mountains. They are frequent, too, upon the mountains of Lycia, proceeding, it may be supposed, from exhalations of ignited hydrogen gas. In Peru meteors have been known to exhibit themselves, that lasted from half past six in the evening till half past

ten.

RED SNOW.

WHEN Captain Ross gave an account of red snow seen by him in the Arctic Regions, it was received in England as a phenomenon before unheard of. Pliny and Aristotle, however, mention red snow, and say that it becomes red by giving shelter to innumerable red worms that breed in it. Both red and green snow is said also to be seen in the frigid regions of the Cordilleras, between Mendoza and Santiago.

Showers of blood are frequently spoken of in history, and these were for the most part, no doubt, showers of red snow; but in 1017 a shower of rain of a blood colour fell in Aquitaine. In 1819 a red shower fell in Carniola. Upon being analyzed, it was found to be impregnated with silex, alumine, and oxide of iron. Red rain fell also at Dixmude, in Flanders, Nov. 2, 1819, and on the following day at Schenevingen, the acid obtained from which was chloric acid, and the metal, cobalt. A shower of red earth fell in Calabria in January, 1817. Being analyzed by Signor Sementini, it was found to consist of silex, alumine, lime, chrome, iron, and carbonic acid; and from the presence of chrome, it was supposed to associate with aerolites.

Turner mentions a curious circumstance: "While

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I remained in Zante," says he, an extraordinary phenomenon occurred. At the end of February there was a torrent of rain, with which were mixed vast quantities of reddish sand, that soon darkened every window in the place. This the inhabitants attributed to a strong south or southwest gale, bringing that substance from Egypt or the deserts of Africa." Red snow has been observed among the Alps; Raymond mentions it, too, among the Pyrenees, at the height of 2000 and 2500 yards above the level of the Bay of Biscay. Saussure attributes that of the Alps to the seminal powder of certain plants peculiar to high mountains; but Raymond to the mica, which abounds so much in the Pyrenees as to colour the water as the snow melts. Sarotti saw red snow, also, among the mountains north of Genoa, and Martin near the seven Icebergs in the Northern Seas.

In the year 1810 (Jan. 17) red snow fell upon the mountains of Placentia, in Italy, particularly on the Cento Croci. For some time snow had lain upon those mountains; but on this day peals of thunder were heard, accompanied by several vivid flashes of lightning, and the snow that fell immediately after was red then white snow fell, and thus the red became enclosed between two strata of white. By this it appears that red snow has some connexion with the electrical state of the atmosphere. Some of the snow which Captain Ross found in the Arctic Regions he preserved in three states: dissolved, the sediment bottled, and the sediment dried. Upon the analyzation of these specimens, Dr. Wollaston coincided in opinion with Captain Ross, that the redness was occasioned by a vegetable substance, produced on the mountain above the spot where the snow lay. It was not seen at a distance of less than six miles from the sea, and always on the face or at the foot of a mountain. When analyzed it appeared to consist of minute globules from Too to Tooo of

an inch in diameter; the coat colourless, and the contents of an oily nature; which, though not soluble in water, was soluble in rectified spirits of wine; and, when dried by the heat of boiling water, it sustained no loss of colour.*

AERIAL COLOURS.

WHAT is there more delightful than to watch the changing colours of the aërial landscape, when the sun is rising in all his glory, or setting in all his majesty ? Or when the moon, ascending in fullorbed splendour, tinges the edges of the clouds with saffron, and depicts rivers, and plains, and mountains along the circle of the horizon?

These appearances, lovely as they are in our hemisphere, are far less so than those observed in more southern climates. "In California," says Humboldt, "the sky is constantly serene, of a deep blue, and without a cloud. Should any appear for a moment at the setting of the sun, they display the finest shades of violet, purple, and green. All those who have ever been in California, preserve a recollection of the extraordinary beauty of this phenomenon."

In Japan clouds are seen to assume the shapes of irregular fortifications, giving great richness and variety to the ethereal concave. In the tropics

* M. Bauer says that the particles colouring the snow red consist of a species of the uredo, a fungus, a perfect globule of which is so small that 2,560,000 occupy the space of only one square inch.

Milton has imagined a splendour which only the imagination of a poet is capable of picturing to the fancy. Adam, observing the approach of Raphael, describes him as

Another morn

Risen on mid-noon!

Isaiah declares that in the day of grace the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and that of the sun sevenfold.

they roll themselves into enormous masses as white as snow, turning their borders into the forms of hills, piling themselves upon each other, and frequently exhibiting the appearance of caverns, rocks, and mountains. There, as may be collected from St. Pierre, may be perceived, amid endless ridges, a multitude of valleys, whose openings are distinguished by shades of purple and vermillion. These aërial valleys exhibit among their different colours matchless tints of white, sinking into every variety of hue. Here and there may be observed torrents of light issuing from the dark sides of the mountains, and pouring their streams, like liquid gold and silver, over rocks of coral. These exhibitions are not more to be admired for their beauty than for their endless combinations, as they vary every instant: what a moment before was luminous, becomes coloured; and what was coloured mingles into shade, forming singular and most enchanting representations of islands and hamlets, bridges stretched over wide rivers, immense ruins, huge rocks, and gigantic mountains.

The clouds which precede the typhons in the East pile up their rounded summits, move simultaneously along, and exhibit volume rising above volume in magnificent regularity. The edges are fringed with various colours from faint yellow to deep crimson, towards the middle becoming of a copper colour, while the body of the cloud is of a deep sable.

Those who, from the tops of high mountains, have beheld the clouds rolling along the lower regions of the air, always retain a lively recollection of the grandeur of the scene. When Dr. Kraskovitz made his sixth ascension at Vienna, no feeling, he says, that he ever experienced, would compare with the transport with which he beheld the silver shroud of vapour beneath him, appearing like a solid silver-coloured mass, with the summits of Styria and Hungary

rising through it; while above, the heavens were pure and serene, and the moon and the sun vying with each other, as it were, to render the universe more splendid and magnificent.

In the southern hemisphere the nights are more dark than in the northern, and there are fewer stars. Towards the north pole the skies are serene, and the stars exceedingly brilliant, and, with the snow beneath illumined by the moon, the entire midnight landscape appears as if it were studded with gems. The stars are of a fiery red, and the sun rises and sets with a light inclining to a yellow glow. On the summit of Mont Blanc, the snow reflecting with dazzling brilliancy, the moon rises in all its splendour in the midst of a sky as black as ebony; while at the southern cape of Africa, when the south winds prevail, she appears to have an undulating motion, the stars at the same time revolving in a fantastic manner, and the planets seeming all bearded like a

comet.

The clouds among the Highlands of Scotland frequently display the finest outlines, and assume the loveliest shapes, especially when viewed from their wild and lofty summits. Beattie finely alludes to these appearances in his poem of the Minstrel :

Oft when the wintry storm had ceased to rave, He roam'd the snowy waste at even, to view The clouds, stupendous, from the Atlantic wave High towering, sail along the horizon blue : Where, mid the changeful scenery, ever new, Fancy a thousand wondrous forms descries, More wildly great than ever pencil drew; Rocks, torrents, gulfs, and shapes of giant size, And glittering cliffs on cliffs, and fiery ramparts rise. In the tropical climates the stars seem whiter than in the northern, owing to the greater transparency of the air. Humboldt and Bonpland once saw Jupiter distinctly with the naked eye, eighteen minutes after the sun had appeared in the horizon, so clear is the atmosphere at Cumana. On Mont Blanc, Jupi