TCD MS 10516 folio 83 verso
[12th October 1916] dense and black, concealing the evening heavens in an impenetrable cloud. The sun sank behind this pall of smoke, presenting an unreal face, deprived of its piercing rays and glittering lustre. It peered blood-red through the wall of blackest cloud or streamed in a coppery disc through a dense and dingy sky. It reminded me of the descriptions of the setting sun behind the clouds of volcanic dust that burst from the vent of Cotopaxi.
Clouds: – The cloudless desert skies can scarcely be imagined by the European. Month after month may roll by without a visible trace of watery vapour to obscure the constant sky. Dark veils of dust may float over the horizon but seldom in the hot season do we see the faintest cloud.