AN AERIAL PAGEANT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 70

AN AERIAL PAGEANT.

By a Banker,

The writer, during a recent visit to the coast, had the good fortune to witness a cloud-effect, which was =o remarkable and striking that a brief notice of the cxtiaordinary phenomenon may be of interest.

The clouds are arranged in several distinct and well-defined horizontal sections, tier upon tier. The lowest range, forming the base, as it were, of the entue superstructure, ajjpears to be a band of liquid file, crimson and vermilion vying in ardour with indigo and orangepmk, the latter tint, however, gradually gaming the predominance, until the entire western horizon is a blaze of deep orange; the rippling ocean itself also appearing as if tinged with the same glowing hue. Immediately above this great glittering plinth, and resting upon it, aie massed together a prodigious herd of heterogeneous and grotesque monsters, .some like the hideous gargoyles so often seen in meclueval architecture ; some like an ill-favoured animal, half-=hark, half-rhinocoios, ungainly and weird : &orne like exaggerated ostriches, upon who^e backs arc riding great ugly babconb; pud some like the graceful little '"seahorses" oi the Mediterranean, their heads the exact counterpart oi that of a wild horse, while then tail and body is like that of a lizard. The whole array lemindcd the sxiectator forcibly of the urocessioa o: animals marching into the ark. Above this wondeiful animal Assemblages hangs a macs al dark, heavy and lowering nimbus cloud, both base and upper suiface sharply denned, its black and ponderous sombiPiiess bringing iaio greater relief the animated page. nits beneath and above it. And ini^ laLtei display is a veritable battlefield, a fi'iious contest between cavalry and infantry; cquadions of horse charging the serried ranks of the enemy; lipikl- to-hand fights, confused nielee=, batteii.es of guns hurrying to and fio ; in fact the imagination pictures all the actual incidents of a .sanguinary battle in this realistic and .strange cloud-picture.

Aad, C'bn icing th° biillianry of all this vivid cclest:al panoply of war, above it is another <kik band of vapour, ieiniing a fit frame to fciio woadeiful s.pcotacl©»

But gradually and insensibly a veil is drawn over the whole, first orange-tinted, then darker and thicker, until soon all is meiged into one heavy, lurid pall, all is transformed into sombio and lowcmig obscurity. Yet this murky and dismal gloom proves to be but a storehouse of hidden light, for suddenly the whole is illumined from time to time by bright gleams of diffused electricity, while in the distance can bo heard the continuous discharge of heaven's aitillevy, lolling away in throbs of rumbling expiring cadence. And as these coiuscations of light continue to break forth, the biilliance is such that it appears as if the very heavens were opened to our view.

And doubtless many of the young, like the writer m his child days, have looked upon these discharges of "sheet-lightning" as really giving glimpses of the brightness of the realms of glory, and have earnestly sought duimg the momentary apparent unveiling for the bright angels and for the piese-nce of Him whom they have been taught to love in return for all that

_ _\ He suffered for them in order that they might for 'ever dwell in the hereafter with Him in. those ever ladiant and glorious realms.

An individual famed for economical habits recently walked into a telegraph office not far from Masterton to send a telegram to his wife in the country. When informed that ifc would cost 3s in mileage to have the telegram delivered he remarked, " Oh, let the wire stop at the office, and I'll write to the missus, telling her to call for it." Reefton was aroused the other day by the loud report of an explosion at the shop of a Chinese fruiterer. An examination revealed the fact that about 10ft of fuse, with a dynamite cap attached, the latter being inserted in a bottle containing kerosene, had been' placed in the building by someone, and the outside boards also saturated with kerosene. The explosion did not result in very serious consequences.