midday
I did not attempt to enlighten them as to its true cause , but gave them to understand vaguely that I had something to do with it . I also told them that the great spirit , whose representative I was , was burning up the land . Another phenomenon that caused much mystification and terror was an eclipse of the sun . Never have I seen my blacks in such a state of excitement and terror as when that intense darkness came suddenly over the world at midday . They came crowding instinctively to me , and I stood silent among the cowering creatures , not thinking it politic for a moment to break the strange and appalling stillness that prevailed on every hand -- and which extended even to the animal world . The trembling blacks were convinced that night had suddenly descended upon them , but they had no explanation whatever to offer . They seemed quite unfamiliar with the phenomenon , and it was apparently not one of those many things which their forefathers wove superstitious stories around , to hand down to their children .