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In Jamaica the aurora borealis was witnessed for the first time,
perhaps, since the discovery of this island by Columbus. So rare is the
phenomenon in those latitudes, that it was taken for the glare of a
fire, and was associated with the recent riots.
Mr. E.B. Elliot of Boston, in an interesting article upon the recent
aurora, points out the simultaneous occurrence of the auroral display
of February 19th, 1852, with the eruption of Mauna Loa,--the largest
volcano in the world, situated on Hawaii, (one of the Sandwich Island
group,)--on the 20th of February; on which occasion, the side of the
mountain gave way about two-thirds of the distance from the base,
giving passage to a magnificent stream of lava, five hundred feet deep
and seven hundred broad.
Again, on the 17th of December, 1857, between the hours of one and four
in the morning, there occurred an aurora of unwonted magnificence. The
first steamer arriving from Europe after that date brought the
following intelligence, which is taken from one of the journals of the
day:--"An earthquake took place on the night of the 17th, throughout
the whole kingdom of Naples, but its effects were most severe in the
towns of Salerno, Potenza, and Nola.
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