VI.] REMARKABLE SIGHTS. 107 they quitted the spot incontinently1. The bay here mentioned is that of Bissagos, which lies between the Gambia and Sierra Leone at the mouth of the Rio Grande; and one of the numerous islands which lie about it and in front of it— that called Harang or Orango— exactly corresponds to what Hanno describes, having a land-locked port with a smaller island in its middle. The sights and sounds, which awoke the superstitious fears of the navigators, may well have been the accompaniments of a native festival. As it approaches its close, the story of the explorers becomes almost sensational. We hear of country-sides blaz- ing in the night-time with flames which sent forth Mountain- an aromatic odour, of torrents of fire rushing down towards the sea, and, in particular, of a burning mountain which towered above all9. We cannot wonder if this part of the narrative has awakened incredulity, and yet the accounts of modern travellers in Africa provide us with an easy explanation of it, if we allow for the impression produced on men who Explanation viewed it from a distance and were ignorant of its of the Pheno- cause. The following is Mungo Park's description of the spectacle which he saw in Western Africa, at the season when the dry grass is set on fire with the view of producing a fine crop for the following year. "The burning of the grass in Manding exhibits a scene of terrific grandeur. In the midst of the night I could see the plains and mountains, as far as my eye could reach, variegated with lines of fire; and the light reflected on the sky made the heavens appear in a blaze3." Similar testimony is borne by other African travellers, and the 1 § 14 ; ij\don&r vrjcros £r£pa, els ty faopAvrcs fy^pas fdv otfSev d^ewpw/w? #rt Trvpd re iroXX& Karipeva xal rvpirdvuv Tfaayov K\oybs fjt^ff(f yv tyd/Harto -ri Tup, ToDro $' ^ju^pas $po$ tyatver 8 Mungo Park's Travels in ike Interior of Africa, I, pp. 959, 2(Jcx