Humboldt relates, that a friend at Popayan, at an elevation of 5583
feet above the sea-level, at noon, when the sun was shining brightly
in a cloudless sky, saw his room lighted up by a fire-ball: he had his
back towards the window at the time, and on turning round, perceived
that great part of the path traversed by the fire-ball was still
illuminated by the brightest radiance. The Germans call these phenomena
_star-snuff_, from the vulgar notion that the lights in the firmament
undergo a process of snuffing, or cleaning. Other nations call it _a
shot or fall of stars_, and the English _star-shoot_. Certain tribes
of the Orinoco term the pearly drops of dew which cover the beautiful
leaves of the heliconia _star-spit_. In the Lithuanian mythology, the
nature and signification of falling stars are embodied under nobler and
more graceful symbols. The Parcæ, _Werpeja_, weave in heaven for the
new-born child its thread of fate, attaching each separate thread to
a star. When death approaches the person, the thread is rent, and the
star wanes and sinks to the earth.--_Jacob Grimm._