363 



January 7, 1836. 



FRANCIS BA1LY, Esq., Vice-President and Treasurer, in 

 the Chair. 



A paper was read, entitled, te Meteorological Journal kept at the 

 Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, from the 1st of June to 

 the 31st of December, 1834?." Communicated by Capt. Beaufort, 

 R.N., F.R.S., Hydrographer to the Admiralty. 



The observations recorded in this Journal are those of the baro- 

 meter, and of two thermometers, one in, and the other out of doors; 

 taken at sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight, in each successive day 

 from the 1st of June, 1834<, to the end of the year. 



" Some Account of the Volcanic Eruption of Cosiguina in the 

 Bay of Fonseca, commonly called the Coast of Conchagua, on the 

 Western Coast of Central America." By Alexander Caldcleugh, 

 Esq., F.R.S. 



The particulars recorded in this narrative are derived partly from 

 a voluminous collection of official reports transmitted from the au- 

 thorities in various towns to the government of Central America, 

 and partly from the information of intelligent eye-witnesses of the 

 phenomena. The eruption occurred on the 19th of January, 1835, 

 and was preceded by a slight noise, accompanied with a column of 

 smoke issuing from the mountain, and increasing till it took the form 

 of a large and dense cloud, which, when viewed from a distance of ten 

 leagues to the southward, appeared like an immense plume of white 

 feathers, rising with considerable velocity and expanding in every 

 direction. Its colour was, at first, of the most brilliant white; but 

 it gradually became tinged with grey; then passed into yellow; and 

 finally assumed a beautiful crimson hue. In the course of the fol- 

 lowing days several shocks of an earthquake were felt, the last of 

 which were most terrific. On the morning of the 22nd, the sun had 

 risen in brightness; but a line of intense darkness denoted the pre- 

 sence of the same cloud which had before presented such remarkable 

 appearances, and which, extending with great rapidity, soon ob- 

 scured the light of day ; so that in the course of half an hour the 

 darkness equalled in intensity that of the most clouded night : per- 

 sons touched without seeing one another ; the cattle hurried back 

 to their folds ; and the fowls went to roost, as on the approach of 

 night. This atmospheric darkness continued with scarcely any di- 

 minution for three days ; during the whole of which time there fell 

 a fine impalpable dust, covering the ground at St. Antonio to the 

 depth of two inches and a half, and consisting of three layers of 

 different shades of grey colour : and for ten or twelve succeeding 

 days the sky exhibited a dim and murky light. At Nacaome, to 

 the northward of the volcano, the same degree of darkness was ex- 

 perienced, and the deposit of ashes was from four to five inches in 

 depth, and exhaled a fetid sulphureous odour, which penetrated 

 through every interstice in the buildings. The complete obscurity 



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