888681-The-Malay-Archipelago-by-Alfred-Russell-Wallace

twilight with the brilliancy of a new moon, and casting a very
distinct shadow. We left again a little before seven, and as we
got out from the shadow of the mountain I observed a bright light
over one part of the edge, and soon after, what seemed a fire of
remarkable whiteness on the very summit of the hill. I called the
attention of my men to it, and they too thought it merely a fire;
but a few minutes afterwards, as we got farther off shore, the
light rose clear up above the ridge of the hill, and some faint
clouds clearing away from it, discovered the magnificent comet
which was at the same time, astonishing all Europe. The nucleus
presented to the naked eye a distinct disc of brilliant white
light, from which the tail rose at an angle of about 30° or 35°
with the horizon, curving slightly downwards, and terminating in
a broad brush of faint light, the curvature of which diminished
till it was nearly straight at the end. The portion of the tail
next the comet appeared three or four tunes as bright as the most
luminous portion of the milky way, and what struck me as a
singular feature was that its upper margin, from the nucleus to
very near the extremity, was clearly and almost sharply defined,
while the lower side gradually shaded off into obscurity.
Directly it rose above the ridge of the hill, I said to my men,
"See, it's not a fire, it's a bintang ber-ekor" ("tailed-star,"
the Malay idiom for a comet). "So it is," said they; and all
declared that they had often heard tell of such, but had never
seen one till now. I had no telescope with me, nor any instrument
at hand, but I estimated the length of the tail at about 20°, and
the width, towards the extremity, about 4° or 5°.
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