EXTRAORDINARY DISPLAY OF METEORS. 107 



horary variations was in no way interrupted. In 

 the night, betvv^een the 3d and 41h of November, the 

 red vapour was so thick that the place of the laoon 

 could be distinguished only by a beautiful halo, 20° 

 in diameter. 



Scarcely twenty-two months had elapsed since 

 the almost total destruction of Cumana by an earth- 

 quake ; and as the people look on the vapours, and 

 the failure of the breeze during the night, as prog- 

 nostics of disaster, the travellers had frequent visits 

 from persons desirous of knowing whether their in- 

 struments indicated new shocks on the morrow. On 

 the 5th, precisely at the same hour, the same phe- 

 nomena recurred, but without any agitation ; and 

 the gust, accompanied by thunder, returned period- 

 ically for five or six days. 



This earthquake, being the first that Humboldt 

 ever felt, made a strong impression upon him • but 

 scenes of this kind afterward became so familiar as 

 to excite httle apprehension. It appeared to have a 

 sensible mfiuence on the magnetical phenomena 

 Soon after his arrival on the coasts of Cumana he 

 found the dip of the needle 43-53° of the centesimal 

 division. On the 1st November it was 43-65° On 

 the 7th, three days after the concussion, he was 

 astonished to find it no more than 42-75°, or 90 cen- 

 tesimal degrees less. A year later, on' his return 

 from the Orinoco, he still found it 42-80°, thouo-h the 

 intensity of the magnetic forces rem-ained the^ame 

 after as before the event under consideration, being 

 expressed by 229 oscillations in ten minutes of time 

 On the 7th November he observed the magnetic va- 

 riation to be 4° 13' 50' E. 



The reddish vapour which appeared about sunset 

 ceased on the 7th November. The atmosphere then 

 assumed its former purity ; and the night of the 11th 

 was cool and extremely beautiful. Towards morn- 

 ing a very extraordinary display of luminous meteors 

 was observed m the east by M. Bonpland, who had 



