can we conceive why the whole stratum of those fluids does not at once take fire, but that the gaseous emanations, like the clouds, occupy only limited spaces? How can we suppose an electrical explosion without some vapours collected together, capable of containing unequal charges of electricity, in air, the mean temperature of which is perhaps 25° below the freezing point of the centigrade thermometer, and the rarefaction of which is so considerable, that the compression of the electrical shock could scarcely disengage any heat*? These difficulties would in great part be removed, if the direction of the motion of falling stars allowed us to consider them as bodies with a solid nucleus, as cosmic phenomena (belonging to space beyond the limits of our atmosphere), and not as telluric phenomena (belonging to our planet only).

Supposing that the meteors of Cumana were only at the usual height, at which falling stars in general move, the same meteors were seen above the horizon in places more than 310 leagues distant from each other. Now what

See an explanation of the heat produced by the electrical shock given by Mr. Gay-Lussac, in the year 1805, in a Paper which I published jointly with him in the Journal de Phys. vol. Ix.

It was this circumstance, that induced Lambert to propose the observation of falling stars for the determination of

an extraordinary disposition to incandescence must have reigned on the 12th November, in the higher regions of the atmosphere, to have furnished during four hours myriads of bolides and falling stars visible at the equator, in Greenland, and in Germany!

Mr. Benzenberg judiciously observes, that the same cause, which renders the phenomenon more frequent, has also an influence on the largeness of the meteors, and the intensity of their light. In Europe, the nights when there are the greatest number of falling stars are those, in which very bright ones are mixed with very small ones. The periodicalness of the phenomenon augments the interest which it excites. There are months, in which Mr. Brandes has reckoned in our temperate zone only sixty or eighty falling stars in one night; and in other months their number has risen to two thousand. Whenever one is observed, which has the diameter of Sirius or of Jupiter, we are sure of seeing so brilliant a meteor succeeded by a great number of smaller meteors. If the falling stars be very frequent during one night, it is very probable, that this frequency will continue during several weeks. It would seem, that in the higher regions of the atmosphere,

terrestrial longitudes. He considered them as celestial sig nals seen at great distances,

near that extreme limit where the centrifugal force is balanced by gravity, there exists at regular periods a particular disposition for the production of bolides, falling stars, and the. Aurora Borealis *. Does the periodicalness of this great phenomenon depend upon the state of the atmosphere? or upon something which this atmosphere receives from without, while the Earth advances in the ecliptic? Of all this we are still as ignorant as men were in the days of Anaxagoras.

With respect to the falling stars themselves, it appears to me from my own experience, that they are more frequent in the equinoctial res gions than in the temperate zone; more frequent over the continents, and near certain coasts, than in the middle of the ocean.. Do the radiation of the surface of the globe, and the electric charge of the lower regions of the atmosphere, which varies according to the nature of the soil, and the positions of the continents and seas, exert their influence as far as those heights, where eternal winter reigns? The

* Ritter, on the periods of nine or ten years (1788, 1798, 1807,) in Gilbert's Annals, Vol. xv, p. 212; vol. xvi, p. 224. He makes a distinction, like several other natural philosophers, between the bolides mingled with falling stars and those luminous meteors, which, enveloped in vapours and smoke, explode with great noise, and let fall (mostly in the day-time) aërolites. These latter certainly do not belong to our atmosphere,

total absence even of the smallest clouds, at certain seasons, or above some barren plains destitute of vegetation, seem to prove, that this influence can be felt at least as far as five or six thousand toises high. A phenomenon analogous to that of the 12th of November was observed thirty years before, on the table-land of the Andes, in a country studded with volcanoes. At the city of Quito there was seen in one part of the sky, above the volcano of Cayambo, so great a number of falling stars, that the mountain was thought to be in flames. This singular sight lasted more than an hour. The people assembled in the plain of Exido, where a magnificent view presents itself of the highest summits of the Cordilleras. A procession, was already on the point of setting out from the Convent of St. Francis, when it was perceived, that the blaze on the horizon was caused by fiery meteors, which ran along the skies in all directions, at the altitude of twelve or thirteen degrees.

CHAPTER XI.

Passage from Cumana to La Guayra.-Morra of New Barcelona.- Cape Codera. - Road from La Guayra to Caraccas.

On the 16th of November, at eight in the evening, we were under sail to pass along the coast from Cumana to the port of La Guayra, by which the inhabitants of the province of Venezuela export the greater part of their produce. The passage is only sixty leagues, and often takes only thirty-six or forty hours. The little coasting vessels are favored at once by the wind, and by the currents, which run with more or less strength from east to west, along the coasts of Terra Firma, particularly from Cape Paria to that of Chichibacoa. The road by land from Cumana to New Barcelona, and thence to Caraccas, is nearly in the same state as before the discovery of America. The traveller must contend with the obstacles of a miry country, large scattered rocks, and the force of vegetation. He must sleep in the open air, pass the vallies of the Unare, the Tuy, and