Sergeant Steel’s first station was at Hensbarrow,[57] from which he was removed to South Barule, and after completing his observations there, he was stationed for a time on the wild and romantic hill of Ben Lomond. There he witnessed a phenomenon which, perhaps, had never before been seen by any one. He had frequently been _above_ the clouds, and at Hensbarrow, of a low altitude compared with Ben Lomond, he had observed the stars a whole night when the clouds _beneath him_ were saturating with their vapour the little village of Roach below; but on Ben Lomond he saw extensive masses of cloud settle down into a level wide-spread stratum, the upper surface of which was at least 500 feet beneath the camp. This was after sunset, on the 10th September, 1845, with a beautiful moon and a clear blue sky above, altogether presenting an impressive _coup d’œil_. Such was the depth and density of the mass, that it required the powerful influence of the sun’s rays for the two following days to dispel it. The whiteness of snow was grey, contrasted with the silver hoar of the heavy cloud when the sun rose on the 11th, and it offered, said Steel, in his forcible language, “a strong temptation to a lover of nature’s wildest grandeur, to treat himself to a celestial walk on its upper surface to the peak on the neighbouring hill.” Some tourists ascended the mountain on the 11th and 12th of September in the true spirit of enthusiastic enterprise, wishing to connect their names in history with this startling, yet truly magnificent phenomenon, but their amazement was indeed great, when, after penetrating the cloud, they saw above them an encampment of soldiers carrying on the official services of the station, with all the activity and fearlessness of men accustomed to such extraordinary appearances.