THE CAITAKY ISLAHDS. 
29 
the observations of Messrs. Benzenberg and Brandes, many 
of the falling stars seen in Europe have been only. thirty 
thousand toises high. One was even measured winch did 
not exceed fourteen thousand toises, or live nautical leagues. 
These measures, which can give no result but by approxima- 
tion, deserve well to be repeated. In warm climates, espe- 
cially within the tropics, falling stars leave a tail behind them, 
which remains luminous 12 or 15 seconds: at other times 
they seem to burst into sparks, and they are generally lower 
than those in the north of Europe. We perceive them only 
in a serene and azure sky ; they have perhaps never been 
below a cloud. Balling stars often follow the same direc- 
tion for several hours, which direction is that of the wind. 
In the bay of Naples, M. Gay-Lussac and myself observed 
luminous phenomena very analogous to those which fixed 
my attention during a long abode at Mexico and Quito. 
These meteors are perhaps modified by the nature o.t the 
soil and the air, like certain effects of the looming or mirage, 
and of the terrestial refraction peculiar to the coasts ot 
Calabria and Sicily. r 
When we were forty leagues east of the island ol Ma- 
deira, a swallow* perched on the topsail-yard. It was so 
fatigued, that it suffered itself to bo easily taken. It i\as 
remarkable that a bird, in that season, and in calm v eat he i , 
should fly so far. In the expedition of d Entrecasteaiix, <i 
common swallow was seen 60 leagues distant from wape 
Blanco : but this was toward# the end ot October, and 
M. Labillardiere thought it had newly arrived from Europe. 
We crossed these latitudes in June, at a period when the 
seas had not for a long time been agitated by tenmests. J 
mention this last circumstance, because small birds and 
even butterflies, are sometimes forced out to sea by the 
impetuosity of the winds, as we observed ill the dacinc 
ocean, when we were on the western coast of Mexico. 
The Pizarro had orders to touch at the isle ot Lancerota, 
one of the seven great Canary Islands ; and at mem ne 
afternoon of the 16tli of June, that island appeared so dis- 
tinctly in view that I was able to take the angle oi altitude 
of a conic mountain, which towered majestically oier the 
* Uiniulo rustics., Linn. 
