Natural History, 8?c. 203 



Indeed, whoever notices while at sea the atmospheric phenomena 

 of these southern latitudes, will be struck by the deformity of 

 objects as they pass through this medium ; what the sailors term a 

 fog-bank is the first stage of our see-kote. I observed it on my 

 voyage home, but more especially in my passage out. About six 

 o'clock on a dark evening, while we were dancing on the water, I 

 perceived a ship bearing down with full sail upon us so distinctly, 

 that I gave the alarm in expectation of a collision ; so far as I recol- 

 lect, the helm was instantly up, and in a second no ship was to be 

 seen. The laugh was against me. I had seen the 'Flying Dutch- 

 man/ according to the opinion of the experienced officer on deck, 

 and I believed it was really a vision of the mind ; but I now feel con- 

 vinced it was either the reflection of our own ship in a passing cloud 

 of this vapour, or a more distant object therein refracted *. 



30. VILLAGE LIGHTED BY NATURAL GAS. 



The village of Fredonia in the western part of the state of New 

 York presents this singular phenomenon. I was detained there a 

 day in October of last year, and had an opportunity of examining it 

 at leisure. The village is forty miles from Buffalo, and about two 

 from lake Erie ; a small but rapid stream called the Canadaway 

 passes through it, and after turning several mills discharges itself 

 into the lake below ; near the mouth is a small harbour with a 

 lighthouse. While removing an old mill which stood partly over 

 this stream in Fredonia, three years since, some bubbles were 

 observed to break frequently from the water, and on trial were 

 found to be inflammable. A company was formed, and a hole an 

 inch and a half in diameter, being bored through the rock, a soft 

 fetid limestone, the gas left its natural channel and ascended 

 through this. A gasometer was then constructed, with a small 

 house for its protection, and pipes being laid, the gas is conveyed 

 through the whole village. One hundred lights are fed from it 

 more or less, at an expense of one dollar and a half yearly for each. 

 The flame is large, but not so strong or brilliant as that from gas 

 in our cities : it is, however, in high favour with the inhabitants. 

 The gasometer I found on measurement collected eighty-eight 

 cubic feet in twelve hours during the day ; but the man who has 

 charge of it told me that more might be procured with a larger 

 apparatus. About a mile from the village, and in the same stream, 

 it comes up in quantities four or five times as great. The con- 

 tractor for the lighthouse purchased the right to it, and laid pipes 

 to the lake ; but found it impossible to make it descend, the differ- 

 ence in elevation being very great. It preferred its old natural 

 channels, and bubbled up beyond the reach of his gasometer. 

 The gas is carburetted hydrogen, and is supposed to come from 

 beds of bituminous coal.: the only rock visible, however, both here, 

 and to a great extent on both sides along the southern shore of the 

 lake, is fetid limestone t. 

 * Silliman's Journal, svii, 398. f Brewster's Journal; 1830, p, 265. 



