694 ULLOa's voyage to south AMERICA. , 



for a confiderable fpace towards the eaft, as if carried by the wind. The light ot 

 this meteor was fuch, that the watch on the quarter-deck could plainly diftinguifh 

 erery perfon on the fore-caftle ; and both were not a little terrified. The phsenomenon 

 lalled between three and four minutes, and half an hour after we felt two violent ihocks, 

 at an interval of about a minute and a half betwixt them, fo that all apprehended the 

 fhip had flruck on fome fhoal ; but on refiedion, we concluded it to be the eifed: of 

 an earthquake. 



The fquadron being fafely arrived at Callao, with the commander-in-chief of the 

 South Sea, a title given to Don Jofeph Pizarro, and a fufficient number of officers of 

 fuch diftinguifhed zeal and experiefice, that they might well fupply our place without 

 detriment to the fervice ; and at the fame time, we being willing to put the finifhing 

 hand to our principal work, we afked the viceroy's leave to return to Quito ; but his 

 excellency was defirous that we fhould firfl complete fome particulars he had committed 

 to our care. Accordingly we applied ourfelves afliduoufly to our work ; and Don George 

 Juan, having finifhed his part firfl, left Callao on the 14th of November, propofing 

 to make all the neceffary preparatives againfl my arrival, that the proper obfervations 

 might be made without delay. On the 27th of January 1744, I reached Quito, where 

 I found that Don George Juan had, by his extraordinary care, nearly finifhed every 

 thing neceffary for the continuation of our work ; and whilfl the lemainder was per- 

 forming, we had an opportunity, in conjundion with M. Godin, the only French 

 academician now remaining in this province, of obferving the comet which appeared 

 this year. 



Though the comet might have been feen on the 2d and 3d of February, the atmof- 

 phere of Quito being fo unfavourable to aftronomical obfervations on account of the 

 clouds, it was the 6th before we could obferve it. The comet was then near the weft- 

 em part of the horizon, and being behind the mountain of Pichincha, its altitude 

 concealed it from our fight, fo that we could not obferve it after feven or eight at 

 night. On the 6th, at feven in the evening, we found its altitude above the horizon 

 to be fifteen degrees, and its azimuth from the north, feventy-two degrees ; M. Godin 

 and Don George Juan judged its nucleus to be oblong, to me it appeared perfedly 

 circular ; but we all agreed that it was larger than Jupiter. The tail, which was dif- 

 cerned through fome light clouds, feemed to extend two degrees, and to form with 

 the vertical circle, an angle of near thirty degrees. 



On the 7th, at eight minutes after feven in the evening, on repeating our obferva- 

 tions, we found its altitude to be 11° 11', and its azimuth from the north 72^ 45'. 

 From this fecond obfervation, which we confidered as more -accurate than the former, 

 having made proper allowances for refradion, we concluded that the right afcenfion 

 of the comet was 332° 50', and that its northern declination was 20° 5'. Whence we 

 inferred, that its trajedory was the fame with that obferved in 1681 by Caffini, and by 

 Tycho Brahe in 1572, and that in all probability, it was the fame; for though the 

 periods do not agree, it might have appeared twice in the firfl interval. After this we 

 were hindered from profecuting our obfervations by the cloudinefs of the nights ; and 

 fome days afterwards we were affured by feveral, that they had feen it in the morning. 



As all the triangles on the north fide from Pambamarca to the place where M. Godin 

 had made his fecond aflronomical obfervations were not completed, and the inflrument 

 conflruded for that purpofe kept in readinefs, we made that our firfl tafk ; M. Godin 

 not having then gone through them all. After finifhing every thing here, we repaired 

 on the 2 2d of March to the obfervatory De Pueblo Viejo de Mira, where, meeting with 



the 



