Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/113

Rh Here is an example from the English Channel, and two beautiful examples from near Teneriffe.

It is evident that the form is not very distinctive, but you see in one of the last two pictures (Fig. 6) a striking appearance, which has apparently impressed men's minds in all countries. When the sun shines through the chinks of this kind of cloud we see a sheaf of diverging rays radiating from him. This is when he is above the horizon, but in finer climates than our own we sometimes see a beautiful fan

Fig. 6.—The Ropes of Maui. Rays of light diverging from the sun behind a cloud. Near Teneriffe.

of pink rays streaming up from below the horizon just after sunset or before sunrise. These last are technically known as crepuscular or twilight rays.

In this country the first of these kinds of rays, when the sun is above the horizon, is universally known as "the sun drawing water." In Yorkshire, I believe, they call this appearance "the ship," from a fancied resemblance to the shrouds and rigging of a ship; and when looking at these rays I have heard a sailor say that "the sun was setting up his back-stays."

In Denmark they talk of "Locke drawing water," which is a distinct survival of some attribute of that strange god Locke in the Eddas, who is alternately the betrayer and saviour of his brother Asas.

Both forms of rays are very common in Ceylon, where they are