en, as it gained the beach, and seemed
almost within one's grasp, vanishing amid the storm of which it had been
the lovely but treacherous forerunner. It is, I suppose, a consequence
of our situation, and the close connexion between sea and mountain, that
the rainbows here are so frequent and so peculiarly beautiful. Of an
amazing breadth, and of colours vivid beyond description, I know not
whether most to admire this aerial phenomenon, when suspended in the
western sky, one end of the bow sinks behind the Island of Boffin, while
at the distance of several leagues the other rests upon the misty hills
of Ennis Turc; or when, at a later hour of the day, it has appeared
stretched across the ample sides of Mulbrea, penetrating far into the
deep blue waters that flow at its base. With feelings of grateful
recollection, too, we may hail the repeated visits of this heavenly
messenger, occasionally as often as five or six times in the course of
the same day, in a country exposed to such astonishing, and, at times,
almost incessant floods of rain."

The beauty of the rainbow is not the only reason why we should regard it
with interest. The rainbow was appointed by God himself as a sign of the
covenant of mercy, made with Noah and with all mankind, after the flood.
The words in which this declaration was made to mankind, are recorded in
the Book of Genesis, chap. ix. ver. 11 to 16.

Burnet, in his "Sacred Theory of the Earth," has some remarks on the
first appearance of the rainbow to the inhabitants of the earth after the
deluge. He says, "How proper and how apposite a sign would this be for
Providence to pitch upon, to confirm the promise made to Noah and his
posterity, that the world should be no more destroyed by water! It had a
secret connexion with the effect itself, and was so far a natural sign;
but, however, appearing first after the deluge, and in a watery cloud,
there was, methinks, a great easiness and propriety of application for
such a purpose. And if we suppose, that while God Almighty was declaring
his promise to Noah, and the sign of it, there appeared at the same time
in the clouds a fair rainbow, that marvellous and beautiful meteor which
Noah had never seen before; it could not but make a most lively
impression upon him, quickening his faith, and giving him comfort and
assurance that God would be stedfast to his promise."

A rainbow is sometimes formed by the rays of the moon falling upon drops
of rai