412 Expedition to the 



combustion of a coal-bed, or the decomposition of a mass of 

 pyrites, has, we believe, given rise to many more astonishing 

 stories than he related. 



He gave an account of several luminous appearances that 

 had been seen at the breaking up of winter, or in unusually 

 rainy seasons, or at other times of the year. These had been 

 witnessed by many persons of unquestionable veracity, but 

 so great had been their terror on the occasion, that they 

 could never afterwards recollect the precise spot, where the 

 light had appeared to them. He told us of two itinerant 

 preachers who had encountered an indescribable phenomenon, 

 at a place about nine miles east of Loutre lick. As they were 

 riding side by side at a late hour in the evening, one of them 

 requested the other, to observe a ball of fire attached to the 

 end of his whip. No sooner was his attention directed to 

 this object, than a similar one began to appear on the other 

 end of the whip. In a moment afterwards, their horses and 

 all objects near them were enveloped in wreaths of flame. 

 By this time the minds of the itinerant preachers were so 

 much confounded, that they were no longer capable of ob- 

 servation, and could therefore give no further account of 

 what happened. He also stated as a fact, authenticated by 

 many credible witnesses, that a very considerable tract of 

 land near by, had heen seen to send up vast volumes of 

 smoke, which rose through the light and porous soil, like 

 the smoke through the covering of a coal-pit. This had in 

 one instance been witnessed by a son of the celebrated Col. 

 Boon, and was at first mistaken for a prairie on fire. This 

 phenomenon also occurs at the breaking up of winter, or at 

 such seasons as the earth is drenched by uncommon quanti- 

 ties of rain. 



Within a few miles of the Lick, are eight or nine rude 

 furnaces disposed in the direction of a straight line, extend- 

 ing about two miles. He stated, that it was not known by 

 whom, or when they were built, nor could it be ascertained 



