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January 1851. At Tripoli we had heavy dews at night; and I 

 observed the same until we had passed a small chain of mountains 

 fifteen miles north of Sokna ; from thence we had no dew, and it was 

 even often impossible to get the dew-point with Daniell's hygro- 

 meter. In the desert the thermometer generally rose till 4 p.m., 

 from the sand (which was sometimes heated to 140° at 1 p.m.) giving 

 out its heat. Earthquakes are unknown in Fezzan ; slight shocks 

 are sometimes felt at Benioleed and Sokna, as was the case the end 

 of last May. Shooting stars were observed in great quantities 

 (about forty an hour) on the 7th, 8th, and 31st of July; very few 

 on the evenings of the 9th, 10th, and 11th of August, averaging 

 fifteen an hour, mostly coming from Cassiopea and Ursa Minor. On 

 the 10th, at 8 A.M., I saw in ten minutes three shooting stars coming 

 from a Cassiopese, and rising right upwards towards the zenith. 

 About 4 A.M. on the 11th, I observed in a quarter of an hour about 

 twenty very bright ones in Pegasus and Aries. Shooting stars were 

 numerous also on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of October." 



2. Notice of a Comet seen from H.M. Brig Penguin off the Coast 

 of South Africa. ^ - Sept. 29, 1853. 



" Sir, — I am not aware that it can be of any service, still I have 

 thought proper to write you, for the information of the Royal Society, 

 that on the 1st of May 1853, on board H.M. brig Penguin, in lat. 

 35° 0' S., long. 21° 52' E., at 6^ 30™ p.m. I observed a comet 

 bearing N.W. by W. ^W., measuring from the centre star in the 

 belt of Orion 14° 30', the altitude of the comet being 26° 19', its 

 length being about 5°. It went down at 9^ 10™, bearing W. i N., 

 and from the altitude, time, and rate it appeared to move at, it must 

 have been the first evening of being seen. On first observing it, it 

 appeared to be making a retrograde motion, or tail first, and not 

 travelling as fast as the two small stars above it, as by the time it 

 set it had approached very close to them : the weather fine, warm, 

 and cloudy. On the 3rd of May a gale came on which lasted till 

 the 7th, after that time it became rather indistinct, not being seen 

 but when very clear, or by the aid of a glass. Having sailed on the 

 29th April from Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and not hearing 

 there, or seeing anything of a comet, in either the Nautical or Cape 

 Almanacs, I concluded it had not as yet been observed, and there- 

 fore have thought it my duty to forward a rough sketch of its 

 appearance on the days mentioned, and its positions, as near as 1 

 could place it with my left hand, my right unfortunately having been 

 partially smashed and disabled on the night the gale commenced, 

 and which also prevented me from measuring its distance from any 

 of the stars, &c. A copy of the latitude, longitude, and bearings is 

 from the ship's log. I found on our arrival at Quilemane that it had 

 been observed by the other two cruisers, but not till the 6th of May. 

 I must apologize for troubling you with the above, but considering 

 it as a point of duty that I should do so, I have the honour to be, 



" Sir, your very obedient Servant, 

 " The Secretary, " W. B. Edwards, 



Royal Society." " Master H.M. Brig Penguin." 



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