Influence of the Moon on the Weather.

On one occasion when conveying a body of Dutch troops from Batavia to Padang, the seat of Government in Sumatra, a calm set in and lasted for nearly a whole week. We were about ten miles from the land, but a heavy swell from the Indian Ocean was rolling in toward the steep shore. We got the boats out and tried to tow the ship off, but it was unavailing, and at last I was obliged to anchor in fifty fathoms water. An old Malay fisherman came alongside, and when I asked him at what time we might expect a breeze he said confidently, "Bulon Barn" (new moon), and his prediction came true. With the hour of the moon's change came a wind which enabled us to get safe away from an unpleasant position, and proceed on our voyage. The expectation of changes of wind and weather at the principal phases of the moon seems to prevail amongst seafaring people in all parts of the page 23 world, and though discredited by some men of science, others of great practical experience believe in it, and my own careful observation leads me to look for the most marked alterations in the weather and the heaviest gales at full and change of the moon. Whilst we were at anchor on the coast of Sumatra I took the Dutch officers with me to visit an island not very far from us, and we were delighted with the aspect of a village embowered amongst shady groves of palms and other sheltering trees. The men were engaged in cultivating the fields, and the women in bearing jars of water on their heads from a spring on the highest part of the island. The Rajah of this apparently happy little community gave us a courteous reception, and when we spoke of returning to live amongst his people in that earthly paradise he seemed to take our proposal seriously, and promised a hearty welcome.