Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/143

Rh Some bathing again takes place towards half-past five, when the tide again rises, and occasionally I also take a second bath, but in a general way I find that once a day is sufficient, because the wrestling with the waves makes bathing fatiguing. I mostly about that time take a walk, and sometimes call on people who have visited me, either in this great hotel where we are, or in some of the small cottages scattered about. When it gets dark, and it gets dark early here, I walk backwards and forwards in the upper piazza, which runs round our hotel—the Columbia House—and contemplate the glorious spectacle produced by the lightning, and the unusual eruptions of light with which the heavens have favoured us every evening since I have been here, without thunder being audible. The one half of the vault of heaven during these wonderful lightning-exhibitions will be perfectly clear and starlight; over the other half rests a dense cloud, and from its extremities, and from various parts of it, flash forth eruptions of light such as I never saw before; fountains of fire seem to spring forth at various points, at others they flash and sparkle as from the burning of some highly inflammable substance; gulfs open full of brilliant and coloured flames, which leap hither and thither; and from the edges of the cloud where it appears thin and grey, spears and wedge-like flashes are sent forth incessantly, while towards the horizon, where the cloud seems to melt into the sea, it is illumined by far-extended and mild gleams of lightning. In short it is an exhibition of celestial fire-works, which are always new, astonishing, and, to me, enchanting. We have had two magnificent thunder-storms, when the lightnings flashed and crossed each other over the ocean, so that it was a really grand spectacle. The weather just now is perfectly calm, and the days and nights are uninterruptedly delicious and beautiful. We have frequently music and earthly fireworks on the beach opposite our hotel, so that we do not &emsp;