L *> 1 



No. VIII. 



Extracts from a letter, from William Dunbar Esq. of the Natchez, 

 to Thomas Jefferson, President of the Society. 



Natchez, Aug, 22, 1801. 



Read December 18th, 1801. 



BY the present occasion I have the honor of transmitting 

 you a monthly recapitulation of meteorological observations 

 for the year 1800; to which I have subjoined remarks calcu- 

 lated to convey some idea of the nature of our climate. — I 

 have also attended to a hint dropt in one of your letters respect- 

 ing the Mississippi, by preparing a short account of that river, 

 but my copyist having fallen sick, I am obliged to defer trans- 

 mitting it until next post. 



I have some time since received notices of fossil bones dis- 

 covered to the west of the Mississippi, and lately an intelligent 

 French gentleman, Commandant of the Apelousas, informs 

 me, that at three different places of that country, bones have 

 been found which are supposed to resemble those of the big- 

 bone-lick near the Ohio, and at another place that he is well 

 assured that in digging a well, a set of human teeth (la denture 

 d'un homme) have been found at the depth of 30 or 35 feet. 

 I have recommended to that gentleman to set on foot a diligent 

 investigation of those objects and if practicable to transmit me 

 specimens of the bones, particularly a jawbone with its included 

 teeth as little mutilated as possible. Should I prove so fortu- 

 nate as to acquire the possession of any object worthy the at- 

 tention of the society I shall take an early opportunity of pre- 

 senting it. Mr. Nolan has formerly given me some intimation 

 of fossil bones of great magnitude being found in various parts 

 of New Mexico. 



Your observation of a lunar rain-bow is entirely new to me, 

 but I have often observed a Phenomenon which seems to have 

 been overlooked by Philosophers; it is slightly noticed in 

 Brydone's tour through Sicily and Malta Vol. 1. p. 356. 2d. 



