434 



NORTHERN CHILE. 



June, 1835. 



a large meteor of great splendour.^^ It is remarkable that 

 on this same day, according to the Journal of Science,* 

 Copiapo to the northward was visited by a severe earth- 

 quake, which on the fifth was followed by a much more 

 violent shock. Molina t states that the first shock which 

 announced the great earthquake at midnight on the 24th of 

 May, 1751, "was accompanied by a ball of fire, which 

 precipitated itself from the Andes toward the sea.^' It is 

 said in the Encyclo. Metropol. — (art. Meteorology) — "At 

 Kingston, in Jamaica, in November 1812, a large meteor 

 appeared a few minutes previous to some alarming and 

 tremendous concussions.'^ AguerrosJ states, on the autho- 

 rity of Ovalle, that in the morning of May 14th, 1633, 

 Carelmapu (north of Chiloe) was overthrown by a bad 

 earthquake, accompanied by a great noise ; and that while 

 the people were considering the cause, they saw over a 

 high hill near the village a globe of fire, which appeared 

 to threaten the last day. It rose and quickly proceeded so 

 as to fall in the sea, disturbing the neighbouring waters. 

 This was accompanied by a great tempest, darkness, and 

 a hail- storm, in which pieces of ice fell as large as 

 musket-balls. 



I have copied the foregoing notices, because under any 

 point of view, it is remarkable that in one quarter of the 

 globe there should have been so many coincidences between 

 phenomena of not very common occurrence. It must, how- 

 ever, be observed, that the coincidence is not precise ; the 



* Vol. xvii. 



f Molina (Spanish edition), vol. i., p. 33. At six o'clock in the even- 

 ing of the 26th of May of the same year, that is about thirty-seven hours 

 after the Concepcion earthquake, two meteoric stones fell near Agram in 

 Croatia. They were seen coming^om the west, which is in an opposite 

 direction to the course of the Chilian meteor. This n^ar coincidence of 

 time was of course only accidental. 



X Descripcion Historial de Chiloe, p. 104. " Vieron sobre un monte 

 o cerro alto inmediato al pueblo, un globo de fuego que parecia amene- 

 zada la ultima desgracia. Elevo se y fue luego a caer al mar, alterando 

 inmediatamente sus aguas." 



