July 27, 1876] 



NATURE 



271 



were sometimes very frequent. I could not ascertain from any 

 of those resident in the neighbourhood the exact number in any 

 definite time, but for several days they must have been almost 

 hourly. The concussion was felt for a distance of four or five 

 miles only around the focus of action ; but it was so severe in 

 the nearest village, that the people deserted their homes during 

 its continuance. 



On February I, at 4.30 p.m., we had a very long shock of 

 earthquake, which was lelt all over the group. It lasted within 

 a few seconds of two minutes. The oscillation was very great. 

 The islands seemed to be in the hands of Mafui'e (the earth- 

 quake god), and he shook us with a vengeance. I took my 

 watch in hand when I felt the first indication of an earthquake, 

 and sat for a minute amidst the clatter of windows, lamp-glssses, 

 and everj- thing movable (a gentleman writing to me about it next 

 day said his house seemed turned into a factory, with the clatter 

 of machinery), but as it appealed to increase in severity, I 

 deemed it prudent to go outside the house. I then noticed that 

 the thatched roof presented the appearance of waves running 

 rapidly across from south to north. After it was over I found 

 two clocks — one facing north, the other south — had been 

 stopped ; one facing west was still going. In three parts of my 

 house the plaster at the angles of walls had been broken down. 

 Bottles were thrown down and broken. In my study, books on 

 a shelf facing north were shaken forward ; those on shelves run- 

 ning north and south were not affected. The screw of a copying- 

 pnss, which I had used just before the earthquake, and which 

 was standing up at the time, had been run down. I found 

 by experiment afterwards that it required a vigorous shake 

 with both hands for half a minute to make the screw run 

 down. 



Immediately after the earthquake I went to see if there was 

 any oscillation of the sea. There was nothing perceptible on 

 this — the north — side of the island. I have learned, however, 

 from various sources that there was much oscillation on the 

 south side. Directly after the shaking was over the reef was 

 seen to be bare, and fish were lying exposed on it. The natives 

 rushed to secure the fish, and while they were busy picking them 

 up they were overtaken by a wave, which would have proved 

 fatal to many had they not been expert swimmers. I have 

 heard of only one life lo^t — a child, who was found next 

 day jammed between two masses of growing coral. It was 

 low water at the time, but low-lying villages were flooded by 

 the wave. 



During the following night we had four slight shocks of earth- 

 quake, but have had nothing severe since. 



Upolu, Samoa, April 3 S. J. Whitmee 



P.S. — I wish to correct a misprint in my letter on "The 

 Degeneracy of Man," which appeared in Nature, vol. xii., 

 p. 47. In speaking of the language of the Polynesians, I said 

 there are many refineirents, a large proportion of which are 

 ««known to most of the present generation. Unknown is, how- 

 ever, printed known, and thus the point of the illustration is 

 lost. 



Fauna and Flora of New Guinea and the Pacific Islands 



I HAVE just read, with very great interest, some anthropo- 

 logical and zoological notes on a trip up the "Fly River" in 

 New Guinea, by Signor D'Albertis. From these notes it appears 

 that the " heaps of dung " which have been supposed to indicate 

 the presence of a rhinoceros in the island, are probably the excre- 

 ment of the Casuarius. Signor D'Albertis also reduces the 

 " tracks of buffaloes" to those of wild hogs ; and the fabulous 

 bird " with a spread of wings of 16 feet " (which, in a former 

 letter, I corijectured might have been a Casuarius, with propor- 

 tionately large wings added by the incagination of the explorers 

 under the influence of excitement), turns out to be nothing more 

 than 2> Buciros luficolUs with a spread of wings of "4 or 5 

 feet." 



We have, therefore, no reason for modifying our views as to 

 the relation which the fauna of New Guinea bears to the rest of 

 the world. Signor D'Albertis mentions a few examples only of 

 the New Guinea flora, but some of these are specifically identical 

 with common South Pacific Island plants. 



In connection with this subject, it may be interesting to some 

 of your readers to know that I have just entered into an arrange- 

 ment with a Danish botanical collector — Mr. Fritz Jensen — 

 under which he wrill start from Samoa during the present month 

 on a voyage through the Union, Ellice, and Gilbert Islands 



(Atolls), to collect for me in botany and zoology. On his return 

 to Samoa in July, he will accompany me to the Loyalty Island?, 

 where he will make a stay of four or five weeks collecting chiefly 

 in botany. At the close of that period Mr. Jensen will proceed 

 to the south-east coast of New Guinea (I have some hope of 

 accompanying him), where he will spend about two months 

 collecting. 



Mr. Jensen has been residing with me for several months 

 working at the Samoan flora, of which I have about 700 species 

 in my collection. By the time he completes his trip I hope the 

 collection will be of some value as material towards the prepara- 

 tion of a Flora of the Pacific Islands. S. J. Whitmee 



Samoa, April 3 



Optical Phenomenon 



I BEG leave to send you a brief account of a striking atmo- 

 spheric phenomenon which was visible in this neighbourhood 

 on the evening of the 27th ult. Hoping that some of your usual 

 correspondents from the North of Ireland would have sent you 

 a notice of it before this, I delayed writing to you (see voL xiv. 

 p. 231). 



The phenomenon consisted of a pillar of light which rose 

 vertically from the horizon, over the spot where the sun, then 

 set, presumably was at the time, and reached an altitude of 

 some 8°, or perhaps more. I first saw it about 8.45 p.m., when 

 the sun was set about a quarter of an hour, but it was, no doubt, 

 visible earlier, probably before sunset. As the sun moved under 

 the horizon towards the north, the pillar moved in the same 

 direction, still retaining its vertical position, but becoming 

 gradually lower, until at last it disappeared about 9.40 p.m., the 

 sun being then about 6° 30' below the horizon. The breadth of the 

 pillar was equal to the apparent diameter of the sun. Its colour 

 when first seen was a pale yellow, which as time advanced changed 

 to a golden yellow, and finally to a deep red. The pillar was 

 brighter near the horizon than at a greater altitude, and its upper 

 end was not well defined, but gradually faded away. My son, 

 who was with me, observed that the edges of the pillar were 

 slightly scolloped. The sun had been clear and very hot during 

 the day, but there was a cool air from the north-east, which 

 became colder towards sunset. I have heard that this pheno- 

 menon was also visible at Portadown and Tynan, in the County 

 Armagh, and at Aughnacloy in this county. 



I presume there can be no doubt that the pillar consisted of a 

 succession of images of the sun overlapping one another, but it 

 is not easy to see how these images were produced. A nearly 

 horizontal stratum of dense air, whose surfaces were slightly 

 inclined to one another, with a rarer medium above and below, 

 might form such a muhiple image, by successive reflections and 

 partial refractions at the lower surface, the sun-beam which fur- 

 nished the direct or principal image to any observer, A, furnish- 

 ing the second, third, &c., images to observers behind him, so 

 to speak, and sun-beams behind the former, successively furnish- 

 ing A with the images forming the upper part of the pillar. 



I understand that German physicists give this phenomenon 

 ■the name of Sonnensaule — sun-pUlar — and that they have pub- 

 lished some speculations as to its origin. I hope some of your 

 readers will kindly contribute information on this subject. 

 " Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas." 



Omagh, Co. Tyrone R. V. D. 



P.S. — Since writing above I have learned that the "sun- 

 pillar " was visible over a district of the north-east of Ireland, 

 extending from Portrush in the north to Armagh in the south, 

 and from Bangor (Belfast Lough) on the east to Omagh on the 

 west. I have also heard from two intelligent correspondents 

 that it was visible at simset, when it attained an altitude of 30° ; 

 and from two others that it presented to them the appearance of 

 being crossed by bands, alternately of a brighter and darfcer 

 shade. 



Freezing Phenomenon 



I HAVE waited to see whether anyone else would notice a 

 letter that appeared in Nature, vol. xiv. p. 191, from Mr. 

 Power, under the above heading. Failing such notice, may I 

 point out that the phenomenon to which he refers has aheady 

 been described. Plumes produced by the crystallisation of 

 water form the frontispiece to Dr. Tyndall's Lectures on Light 

 (Longmans, 1873), and a description of them is given in p. 257 of 

 that volume. 



