unanimously voted that the timely discharge of that
pistol was the only thing that drove away the shadow and saved them from
the public inconvenience that would have certainly resulted from the
entire extinction of the Sun."

A certain Mr. F. Kerigan, in a book published in 1844, made the
following remarks on ancient Jewish ideas respecting eclipses:--

"The Israelites, like their benighted neighbours, esteemed an eclipse of
either luminary as a supernatural and inauspicious omen, which filled
them with the most gloomy and fearful apprehensions: as may fairly be
deduced from the 8th chapter of Ezekiel, v. 15: 'Then he brought me to
the door of the Lord's House, which was towards the N.; and, behold
there sat women weeping for Tammuz.' Now Tammuz is the name under which
Adonis was known in Palestine: he was the favourite of Venus, or
Astarte, the principal goddess of the Philistines and Phoenicians. Being
killed by a wild boar, the prevailing superstition of the age induced
the uninformed multitude to believe that when the Moon was eclipsed, it
was in complement to their beloved goddess Venus or Astarte, who,
concealed behind the full Moon, sat weeping under a dark veil for the
loss of her beloved Tammuz or Adonis."[164]

The African travellers, R. and J. Lander, have given[165] a graphic
account of what took place on the occasion of the eclipse of the Moon of
Sept. 2, 1830, as witnessed by themselves:--"The earlier part of the
evening had been mild, serene, and remarkably pleasant. The Moon had
arisen with uncommon lustre, and being at the full, her appearance was
extremely delightful. It was the conclusion of the holidays, and many of
the people were enjoying the delicious coolness of a serene night, and
resting from the laborious exertions of the day; but when the Moon
became gradually obscured, fear overcame every one. As the eclipse
increased they became more terrified. All ran in great distress to
inform their sovereign of the circumstance, for there was not a single
cloud to cause so deep a shadow, and they could not comprehend the
nature or meaning of an eclipse.... Groups of men were blowing on
trumpets, which produced a harsh and discordant sound; some were
employed in beating old drums, others again were blowing on bullocks'
horns.... The diminished light, when the eclipse was complete, was just
sufficient for us to distinguish the various groups of people, and
contributed in no small degree to render the sc