The Rain Cloud: Or, An Account of the Nature, Properties, Dangers, and Uses of Rain, in Various Parts of the World, Etc

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Christian Knowledge Society, 1846 - 215 pages
 

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Page 202 - Last night the sun went pale to bed, The moon in halos hid her head-: The boding shepherd heaves a sigh, For, see ! a rainbow spans the sky : The walls are damp, the ditches smell, Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel; Hark ! how the chairs and tables crack...
Page 198 - Can you explain this omen ? Phys. A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing or depositing the rain are opposite to the sun, — and in the evening the rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west ; and as our heavy rains, in this climate, are usually brought by the westerly wind, a rainbow in the west indicates that the bad weather is on the road, by the wind, to us ; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in these clouds is passing from us.
Page 130 - Without doubt several hundred thousand animals thus perished in the river ; their bodies when putrid were seen floating down the stream ; and many in all probability were deposited in the estuary of the Plata.
Page 199 - No such thing. The storm is their element ; and the little petrel enjoys the heaviest gale, because, living on the smaller sea insects, he is sure to find his food in the spray of a heavy wave, and you may see him flitting above the edge of the highest surge. I believe that the reason of this migration of sea-gulls, and other...
Page 91 - A vapour sometime like a bear or lion, A towered citadel, a pendent rock, A forked mountain, or blue promontory With trees upon't that nod unto the world And mock our eyes with air.
Page 92 - That which is now a horse, even with a thought The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct, As water is in water.
Page 128 - ... so little rain fell, that the vegetation, even to the thistles, failed; the brooks were dried up, and the whole country assumed the appearance of a dusty high road. This was especially the case in the northern part of the province of Buenos Ayres and the southern part of St.
Page 109 - A fence of thistle-stalks round the hovel was nearly broken down, and my informer, putting his head out to see what was the matter, received a severe cut, and now wore a bandage. The storm was said to have been of limited extent: we certainly saw from our last night's bivouac a dense cloud and lightning in this direction. It is marvellous how such strong animals as deer could thus have been killed; but I have no doubt, from the evidence I have given, that the story is not in the least exaggerated....
Page 202 - The glow-worms, numerous and bright, Illumed the dewy dell last night. At dusk the squalid toad was seen, Hopping and crawling o'er the green ; The...
Page 193 - I may now state, that in a majority of our summers, a showery period, which, with some latitude as to time and local circumstances, may be admitted to constitute daily rain for forty days, does come on about the time indicated by this tradition ; not that any long space before is often so dry as to mark distinctly its commencement.

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