Prof. Hall on the extraordinary darkness of Nov. 1819. 397 



The cause of this phenomenon^ whatever it may be, is undoubt- 

 edly to be sought at a considerable distance to the south of New 

 England. Many persons in this vicinity, as well as myself, obscrv- 



I 



ed, that when the wind blew most powerfully from a southerly quar- 



■J 



ter, it brought with it a vast quantity of smoke, or of something much 

 resembling it ; and that the sky was then the darkest ; that when 

 the wind shifted, and blew a short time in any otiier direction, the 

 atmosphere was in a degree cleared of this smoky matter. D'lr- 

 ing the time the darkness lasted there was for the most part a 

 pretty strong wind from the south. On Friday morning it changed 

 to the w estj, and continued to blow for some time from that quarter- 

 The unusual obscurity gradually disappeared^ and objects, both in 

 the heavens and upon the earth, soon assumed their ordinary aspect. 

 Since writing the above, I have seen an article in the " Mis- 

 sionary,'' of the twelfth of November — a very respectable paper 



± "I 



printed at Mount Zion, Hancock Co. Georgia, relating to this 

 phenomenon. It is stated, that " the atmosphere had been very 

 smoky for about a fortnight preceding ; so much so, that it had 

 literally intercepted the rays of the sun at noon during a part of 

 this time, and seriously affected the eyes." " It is doubtless,'' ad- 

 ded the writer, ^' occasioned by great fires in the Indian territories. 

 The wind has blown almost invariably from that direction for some 



time.'' 



That the late darkness had its origin in some of our most 

 southern states, or in the territories belonging to them can, I think, 

 hardly be questioned. It is by no means improbable that it was oc- 

 casioned by fires, running on those immense prairies that furnish 

 annually such vast quantities of combustible materials. We are 

 told that these prairies " are covered with a coarse kind of grass, 



