390 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



METEOROLOGY. 



The following account of an extraordinary meteor seen 

 in the valley of Canete, on the evening of the 25th of Decem- 

 ber, 1790, was communicated to the Academical Society of 

 Lima by an inhabitant of the city of Canete. 



*' The sun having set at twelve minutes after six in the even- 

 ing, had scarcely, by its absence, begun to obscure the night, 

 when, the atmosphere being clear and serene, a dusky meteor, 

 running north and south below the zenith, presented itself to 

 the view, and illuminated the whole of the valley. Its figure 

 was that of a segment of a circle, about 1 1 5 degrees in circum- 

 ference, the two extremities of which, perpendicular to the 

 horizon, were accurately defined, and suspended in the air. 

 Its equal aspe6l in«very part, denoted its thickness to be about 

 half a yard. It was embellished, or rather rendered terrific, 

 by the mixture of black and ash colours, which resembled an 

 overshadowed iris. It remained fixed and motionless in its 

 primitive situation until half past ten o'clock, when it began 

 to be dispersed by the rays of light emitted by the moon. 

 *' While the people, with uplifted hands, implored the 

 - Deity to suspend the calamities which this sinister token, as 

 they thought it, announced to them, my mind was wholly 

 occupied by refledlions on the nature of meteors. The know- 

 ledge, such as it is, which I possess on that subje6t, impelled 

 me to make a philosophical exhortation to the spe6lators, and 

 to combat their vain terrors ; but I was deterred by the recol- 

 ledlion of the austral aurora which appeared at Cusco in the 

 year 1742, and did not wish to bring down mischief on my 



head. 



