332 



and this blew from the east. No trace of 

 clouds was to be seen, Mr Bonpland relates, 

 that, from the beginning of the phenomenon, 

 there was not a space in the firmament equal 

 in extent to three diameters of the moon, that 

 was not filled at every instant with bolides and 

 falling stars. The first were fewer in number, 

 but as they were seen of different sizes, it was 

 impossible to fix the limit between these two 

 classes of phenomena. All these meteors left 

 luminous traces from five to ten degrees in 

 length, as often happens in the equinoctial 

 regions # . The phosphorescence of these traces, 

 or luminous bands, lasted seven or eight se- 

 conds. Many of the falling stars had a very 

 distinct nucleus, as large as the disk of Jupiter, 

 from which darted sparks of vivid light. The 

 bolides seemed to burst as by explosion ; but 

 the largest, those from 1° to 1° 15' in diameter, 

 disappeared without scintillation, leaving be- 

 hind them phosphorescent bands (trabes) ex- 

 ceeding in breadth fifteen or twenty minutes. 

 The light of these meteors was white, and 

 not reddish, which must be attributed, no doubt, 

 to the absence of vapours, and the extreme 

 transparency of the air. For the same reason, 

 under the tropics, the stars of the first magni- 

 tude have at their rising a light evidently whit- 

 er than in Europe. 



* See vol. i, p. 75. 



