empt to cross Haiti, while those who
went at my command made the passage without difficulty. Soon, too, shall
the divine vengeance fall on you; this very night shall the Moon change
her colour and lose her light, in testimony of the evils which shall be
sent upon you from the skies.'

"The night was fine: the moon shone down in full brilliancy. But at the
appointed time the predicted phenomenon took place, and the wild howls
of the savages proclaimed their abject terror. They came in a body to
Columbus and implored his intercession. They promised to let him want
for nothing if only he would avert this judgment. As an earnest of their
sincerity they collected hastily a quantity of food and offered it at
his feet. At first, diplomatically hesitating, Columbus presently
affected to be softened by their entreaties. He consented to intercede
for them; and, retiring to his cabin, performed, as they supposed, some
mystic rite which should deliver them from the threatened punishment.
Soon the terrible shadow passed away from the face of the moon, and the
gratitude of the savages was as deep as their previous terror. But being
blended with much awe, it was not so evanescent as gratitude often is;
and henceforth there was no failure in the regular supply of provisions
to the castaways."

Tycho Brahe observed a lunar eclipse on July 7, 1590. He writes:--"In the
morning about 33/4h. the Moon began to be eclipsed: in this eclipse it is
notable that both luminaries were at the same time above the horizon; a
like case which Pliny cites. For the centre of the Sun emerged when the
Moon was 2 deg. elevated above the Western horizon, and when her centre was
setting, the centre of the Sun was elevated nearly 2 deg.."[135]

On August 16, 1598, there occurred a total eclipse of the Moon, observed
by Kepler,[136] in which during totality a part of the Moon was visible
and the rest invisible. He says, that while one-half of the disc was
seen with great difficulty the other half was discernible by a deep red
light of such brilliancy that at first he was doubtful whether our
satellite was immersed in the Earth's shadow at all. This is an instance
of the simultaneous operation of those causes (whatever they may be)
which result in a totally-eclipsed Moon being sometimes wholly invisible
and sometimes entirely visible as a copper-coloured disc.

An eclipse of the Moon which happened on the morning of July 6, 1610,
may be mentioned as having bee