SHOOTING STARS. 58 1 



November: 12th~14th, very seldom the 8th or 10th, 

 The great fall of meteors of 1799 in Cumana on the 

 llth-12th of November, which Bonpland and I have 

 described, so far gave occasion to believe in periodic 

 appearances upon certain days, that on the occasion of 

 the great fall of meteors in 1833 (November I2th-13th) 

 the phenomenon of the year 1799 was called to mind. 11 



outras para ontra. E despois descerao do ceo tantes e tarn 

 spessas. que tanto que forao baxas no ar, pareciao grandea 

 fogueiras. e que o ceo e o ar ardiao, e que a mesma terra queria 

 arder. O ceo parecia partido em muitas partes, alii onde 

 strellas nao stavao. E isto durou per muito spa^o. Os que 

 isto viao, houverao tarn grande medo e pavor, que stavao 

 como attonitos e cuidavao todos de ser mortos, e que era 

 vinda a fim do mundo." " In the year 1366. and xxii days of 

 the month of October being past, three months before the 

 death of the king, Dom Pedro, (of Portugal), there was in 

 the heavens a movement of stars, such as men never before 

 saw or heard of. At midnight, and for some time after, all 

 the stars moved from the east to the west ; and after being 

 collected together, they began to move, some in one direction*,, 

 and others in another. And afterwards they fell from the sk^* 

 in such numbers, and so thickly together, that as they de- 

 scended low in the air, they seemed large and fiery, and the 

 sky and the air seemed to be in flames, and even the earth 

 appeared as if ready to take fire. That portion of the sky 

 where there were no stars, seemed to be divided into many 

 parts, and this lasted for a long time. Those who saw it were 

 filled with such great fear and dismay, that they were 

 astounded, imagining they were struck dead, and that the 

 end of the world had come." 



* Nearer epochs of comparison might have been brought 

 forward, if they had been known at that time ; for example, 

 the streams of meteors observed by Kldden, 1823, Nov. 

 12th-13th, in Potsdam; by Berard, 1831. Nov. 12th-13th, 

 on the Spanish coast ; and by Graf Suchtelu, at Orenberg, 

 1832, Nov. 12th-13th (Cosmos, vol. i. p.112; and Schum. 

 Astr. Nadir, no. 303, p. 242). The great phenomenon of 



