PROCEEDINGS 
OF 
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
Vou. IV. 1839. No. 65. 
November 6.—George Samuel Fereday Smith, Esq., of Manches- 
ter; William Taprell, Esq., Caroline Place, Mecklenburgh Square ; 
and Edmund Morris, Esq., Oxford Terrace, Hyde Park, were elected 
Fellows of the Society. 
A notice of showers of ashes which fell on board the Roxburgh, at 
sea, off the Cape de Verd islands, February, 1839, by the Rev. W. B. 
Clarke, F.G.S., was first read. 
The object of this communication is to register an interesting oc- 
currence, though the author possesses no direct evidence of its pro- 
bable cause. 
On February 2, when the Roxburgh was in latitude 21° 14!’ N. 
long. 25° 6! W., the wind, which had blown from the north-east, 
during the passage from Plymouth, changed to the east and south- 
east, and was accompanied with a thick haze of a peculiar kind. The 
same description of weather prevailed on the 3rd, when the ship was 
off St. Anthony, one of the Cape de Verd islands. 
On Feb. 4, the latitude at noon was 14° 31/N., long. 25° 16’ W. 
The sky was overcast, and the weather was thicker than before and 
insufferably oppressive, though the thermometer was only 72°. At 3 
p.m. the wind suddenly lulled into a calm, then rose from the south- 
west, and was accompanied with rain, and the air appeared to be 
filled with dust, which affected the eyes of the passengers and crew. At 
103, p.m. the wind returned to the east and blew strongly. During 
the continuance of the haze, which was as thick as a November fog, 
and extended all around the horizon, dust was gradually deposited 
on every part of the ship that offeredalodgement. At noon, on the 
5th of February, the Roxburgh was in lat. 12° 36’ N., long. 24° 13! 
W., thermometer 72°, barometer 30°, the height at which it had 
stood during the voyage from England. ‘The volcanic island Fogo, 
one of the Cape de Verd’s, was about 45 miles distant. The wea- 
ther was clear and fine, but the sails were found to be covered with 
an impalpable reddish-brown powder, or a kind of triturated pumice, 
which Mr. Clarke says resembled many of the ashes ejected from 
Vesuvius, and was evidently not sand blown from the African de- 
sert. On the 6th the wind returned to the south-east, and the wea- 
ther afterwards resumed its ordinary characters. 
The circumstances connected with these atmospherical changes in- 
VOL. Iv. N 
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