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re 
SS Se ae Ee 
- =. ear = 
124 EXTRAORDINARY DISPLAY 
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 pheno- 
mena recurred, but without any agitation ; and the 
gust accompanied by thunder returned periodically 
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 afterwards became so familiar as 
to excite little apprehension. It appeared to have 
a sensible influence 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 Ist of 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 9G 
centesimal degrees less. A year later, on his return 
from the Orinoco, he still found it 42-80°, though 
the intensity of the magnetic forces remained the 
same after as before the event under consideration, 
being expressed by 229 oscillations in ten minutes of 
time. On the 7th November he observed the mag- 
netic variation to be 4° 13’ 50” E. 
The reddish vapour which appeared about sunset 
ceased on the 7th of November. ‘The atmosphere 
then assumed its former purity ; and the night of the 
11th was cool and extremely beautiful. Towards 
morning a very extraordinary display of luminous 
meteors was observed in the east by M. Bonpland, 
who had risen to enjoy the freshness of the air_ 
