Geological Society. 145 



one of the Cape de Verds, 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- 

 duced the author to infer that they were due to an eruption in the 

 Cape de Verd group. 



In June, 1822, the ship Kingston, of Bristol, bound to Jamaica, 

 while passing near Fogo, had her sails covered with a similar brown- 

 ish triturated pumice, which it is stated smelt strongly of sulphur. 



Mr. Clarke also mentions the following instances of similar phe- 

 nomena on the authority of the officers of the Roxburgh : — 



In the lat. of the Canaries, and long. 35° W., showers of ashes 

 have been noticed two or three times. At Bombay the decks of the 

 vessels were on one occasion covered to the depth of an inch with 

 dust, which was supposed to have been blown from Arabia. 



In January, 1838, dust Avas noticed by the crew of a vessel navi- 

 gating the China sea, a considerable distance from the Bashee islands, 

 one of which had been previously seen in eruption*. 



In 1812, ashes fell on the deck of a packet bound to the Brazils, 

 and when 1000 miles from land. 



Mr. Clarke also mentions the ashes which fell at sea during the 

 eruption of Vesuvius in 1822, and 400 miles from that volcano ; 

 likewise the reddish dust which fell in the south of Italy and in Sicily 

 on the 16th May, 1830, as well as in 1807 and 1813, during eruptions 

 of Etna, and at first attributed to those outbursts, but afterwards 

 found to be sand similar to that of the desert of Africa. During the 

 eruption in May, 1 830, a caravan perished beneath a whirlwind of 

 sand, and similar storms occurred during the eruptions of 1807 and 

 1813t. 



A letter was then read from Mr. Caldcleugh, dated St. Jago de 

 Chili, 18th February, 1839, containing the following translation of 

 the declaration of the master and crew of the Chilian schooner 

 Thily. 



" I, the undersigned, Joseph Napoleon Escofier, master of the said 

 vessel, and with the corroborating evidenqe of my crew, declare as 

 follows : — 



"This, the 12th day of February, 1839, at ten minutes past 9 

 o'clock in the morning, being in lat. 33° 32' S., and 74° 32' W. long, 

 of the meridian of Cadiz (80° 51' W. of Greenwich), we felt an earth- 

 quake, which lasted more than a minute. The noise which accom- 

 panied it was similar to that caused by the running out of a heavy 

 chain cable. At fifteen minutes past 7 o'clock of the same evening 

 we saw an island rising out of the sea, of the height of Curauma 



* Mr. Clarke believes that this is the first announcement of a volcano in 

 that group. 



t Bulletin, Soc. Geol. France. 



PJiil. Mag. S. 3. Vol. 16. No. 101. Feb. 1840. L 



