92 FALLING STARS. 



the air, perceived them first. Thousands of bolides and 

 falHng stars succeeded each other during the space of four 

 hours. No trace of clouds was to be seen. From the 

 first appearance of the phenomenon, there was not in the 

 firmament a space equal in extent to three diameters of 

 the moon, which was not filled every instant with bolides 

 and falling stars. The first were fewer in number, but 

 as they were of different sizes, it was impossible to fix 

 the limit between these two classes of phenomena. All 

 these meteors left luminous traces from 5^ to 10° in 

 length. The phosphorescence of these traces, or lumi- 

 nous bands, lasted seven or eight seconds. 



The phenomenon ceased by degrees after four o'clock, 

 and the bolides and falling stars became less frequent, 

 though Humboldt still distinguished some to the north- 

 east by their whitish light, and the rapidity of their 

 movement, a quarter of an hour after sunrise. 



On the evening of the 16th of November the travellers 

 set sail from Cumana for La Guayra, descending the 

 little river of Manzanares, the windings of which were 

 marked by cocoanut-trees. At high water they passed 

 the bar at its mouth. The evening breeze gently swelled 

 the waves in the gulf of Cariaco. The moon had not 

 risen, but that part of the milky way which extended 

 from the feet of the Centaur towards the constellation of 

 Sagittarius, seemed to pour a silvery light over the sur- 

 face of the ocean. The white rock, crowned by the 

 castle of San Antonio, appeared from time to time be- 

 tween the high tops of the cocoa-trees which bordered 

 the shore, and the voyagers soon recognised the coasts 

 only by the scattered lights of the Guayqueria fishermen. 



As they advanced towards the shoal that surrounded 



