'
The pigeons now flew up to crevices in the rocks, the fowls
perched themselves on our tent pole, and the ducks and geese
waddled off cackling and quacking to the marshy margin of the
river. We too were ready for repose, and having loaded our guns,
and offered up our prayers to God, thanking him for his many
mercies to us, we commended ourselves to his protecting care,
and as the last ray of light departed, closed our tent and lay
down to rest.
The children remarked the suddenness of nightfall, for indeed
there had been little or no twilight. This convinced me that we
must be not far from the equator, for twilight results from the
refraction of the sun's rays; the more obliquely these rays fall,
the further does the partial light extend, while the more
perpendicularly they strike the earth the longer do they continue
their undiminished force, until when the sun sinks, they totally
disappear, thus producing sudden darkness.
Chapter 2
We should have been badly off without the shelter of our tent,
for the night proved as cold as the day had been hot, but we
managed to sleep comfortably, every one being thoroughly fatigued
by the labours of the day.
The voice of our vigilant cock, which as he loudly saluted the
rising moon, was the last sound I heard at night, roused me at
daybreak, and I then awoke my wife, that in the quiet interval
while yet our children slept, we might take counsel together on
our situation and prospects.
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