Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Arch
Appeared Higher Than The Moon; This Iris-Band Was Near 2 Degrees
Broad, And Its Summit Seemed To Rise Nearly From 80 To 85 Degrees
Above The Horizon Of The Sea.
The sky was singularly pure; there was
no appearance of rain; and what struck me most was that this
phenomenon, which perfectly resembled a lunar rainbow, was not in the
direction opposite to the moon.
The arch remained stationary, or at
least appeared to do so, during eight or ten minutes; and at the
moment when I tried if it were possible to see it by reflection in the
mirror of the sextant, it began to move and descend, crossing
successively the Moon and Jupiter. It was 12 hours 54 minutes (mean
time) when the summit of the arch sank below the horizon. This
movement of an arch, coloured like the rainbow, filled with
astonishment the sailors who were on watch on the deck. They alleged,
as they do on the appearance of every extraordinary meteor, that it
denoted wind. M. Arago examined the sketch of this arch in my journal;
and he is of opinion that the image of the moon reflected in the
waters could not have given a halo of such great dimensions. The
rapidity of the movement is no small obstacle in the way of
explanation of a phenomenon well worthy of attention.
On the 3rd of December we felt some uneasiness on account of the
proximity of a small vessel supposed to be a pirate but which, as it
drew near, we recognized to be the Balandra del Frayle (the sloop of
the Monk). I was at a loss to conceive what so strange a denomination
meant. The bark belonged to a Franciscan missionary, a rich priest of
am Indian village in the savannahs (Llanos) of Barcelona, who had for
several years carried on a very lucrative contraband trade with the
Danish islands. M. Bonpland and several passengers saw in the night at
the distance of a quarter of a mile, with the wind, a small flame on
the surface of the ocean; it ran in the direction of south-west and
lighted up the atmosphere. No shock of earthquake was felt and there
was no change in the direction of the waves. Was it a phosphoric gleam
produced by a great accumulation of mollusca in a state of
putrefaction; or did this flame issue from the depth of the sea, as is
said to have been sometimes observable in latitudes agitated by
volcanoes? The latter supposition appears to me devoid of all
probability. The volcanic flame can only issue from the deep when the
rocky bed of the ocean is already heaved up so that the flames and
incandescent scoriae escape from the swelled and creviced part without
traversing the waters.
At half-past ten in the morning of the 4th of December we were in the
meridian of Cape Bacco (Punta Abacou) which I found in 76 degrees 7
minutes 50 seconds, or 9 degrees 3 minutes 2 seconds west of Nueva
Barcelona.
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