SHOOTING STARS. 215 



The latter instituted observations on the 21st of October, 

 1766, 18th October, 1838, 17th October, 1841, 24th of 

 October, 1845, |ith October, 1847, and ||th October, 1848. 

 (See remarks upon three October phenomena, in the years 

 902, 1202, and 1366, Cosmos, vol. i., p. 128, and note f.) 

 The conjecture of Boguslawski, that the Chinese swarm;:; 

 of meteors, of the 18th and 27th of July, and the fall of 

 shooting stars of the 21st of October (O.S.), 1366, may be 

 the now advanced August and November periods, loses 

 much of its weight after the recent experience of 1838- 

 1848.=^ 



November: yfth, very seldom the 8th or 10th. The 

 great fall of meteors of 1799, in Cumana, on the j^th 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 me- 



* An entirely similar fall of shooting stars as that which the younger 

 Boguslawski found for October 21st, 1366 (O. S.), in Benesse de Horo- 

 vie, Chronicon EcclesifB Pragensis {Cosmos, vol. i., p. 128), is fully de- 

 scribed in the famous historical work of Duarte Nunez do Liao {Chron- 

 icas dos Reis de Portugal Reformados, pt. i., Lisb., 1600, f. 187), but 

 placed in the right of the 22d to 23d of October (0. S.). Were there 

 two streams seen in Bohemia, and on the Tagus, or has one of the 

 chroniclers erred in a day ? The following are the words of the Portu- 

 guese historian : " Vindo o anno de 1366, seudo andados xxii. dias do 

 mes de Octubro, tres meses antes do fallecimento del Rei D. Pedro (de 

 Portugal), se fez no ceo hum movimento de estrellas, qual os homees 

 nao virao nem ouvirao. E foi que desda mea noite por diante correrao 

 todalas strellas do Levante para o Ponente, e acabado de serem juntas 

 come^arao a correr humas para huraa parte e outras para ontra. 1 

 despois descerao do ceo tantes e tam spessas, que tanto que forao baxas 

 no ar, pareciao grandes fogueiras, e que o ceo e o ar ardiao, e que a 

 mesma terra queria arder. O ceo parecia partido em muitas partes, 

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

 isto viaOjhouverao tam grande medo e pavor, que stavao como attoni- 

 tos 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 be- 

 fore 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 

 afterward they fell from the sky in such numbers, and so thickly to- 

 gether, that as they descended 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, imaginiiig they were struck 

 dead, and that the end of the world had come." 



