The Leonid star shower radiates from the vicinity of the star Y in the Sickle of Leo and rains most thickly in the early morning hours. On an average of every 33 years the earth's orbit seems to cut through a denser portion of this meteoric swarm which causes especially beautiful displays. There is a record of this spectacular performance for a thousand years back, although it was not until after the brilliant displays of 1799, 1833 and 1866 that astronomers began a vigorous investigation of the subject of shooting stars. On the night of November 13th, 1833, "the stars fell like flakes of snow, varying in size from a moving point or phosphorescent line to globes of the moon's diameter." A witness of the spectacle wrote for the Christian Advocate and Journal of the following month, 1833, the following enthusiastic description: "It seemed as if the whole starry heavens had congregated to a point near the zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet they were not exhausted; thousands swiftly followed in the track of thousands, _as if created for the occasion_." This shower was particularly well observed in the eastern part of North America. One eye-witness in the Southern States says that the negroes on the plantations were so unnerved that they "lay prostrate on the ground, some speechless and some with the bitterest cries, but with their hands upraised, imploring God to save the world and them." Another witness of the scene in the vicinity of Niagara Falls says that "no spectacle so terribly grand and sublime was ever before beheld by man as that of the _firmament descending in fiery torrents over the dark and roaring cataract_." Comstock tells of one illiterate observer being anxious to see how the heavens would appear the next evening, for he believed that there would be no stars left. In 1866 this shower was also a wonderful spectacle commencing "about 11:30 P. M., with the appearance at brief intervals of single meteors; then they came in twos and threes, steadily and rapidly increasing in number till 1 h. 13 min. A. M. on November 14th, when no fewer than 57 appeared in one minute. From this time the intensity of the shower diminished gradually, wholly ceasing about 4 A. M. The total number of meteors which at that time came within the limits of the earth's atmosphere was estimated at about 240,000." This was not as brilliant a spectacle as when in 1833 the meteors fell like snowflakes, but it must have been very fine for, to continue with the description of an observer who witnessed it from Great Britain: [Figure 146: METEORIC SHOWER OF NOVEMBER 13, 1833. "The stars from Heaven like rain-drops from a bough. Like tears they poured adown creation's face." --_Bailey_.]