192 J- B. CLELAND. 



References to these sounds in other parts of the World. 



In an article in Nature (Oct. 31, 1895, p. 650), Prof. G. H. 

 Darwin, f.r.s., contributed a short article on ' Barisal Guns' 

 and ' Mist Pouffers.' He said : — " In the delta of the Ganges, 

 dull sounds, more or less resembling distant artillery, are 

 often heard. These are called 'Barisal guns,' but I do not 

 know the meaning of the term. 7 The object of this note is 

 to draw the attention of the readers of Nature to this 

 mysterious phenomenon, and to the similar 'mist pouffers' 

 of the Belgian coast. My attention was for the first time 

 drawn to the subject some days ago by a letter from M. 

 van der Broeck, Conservator of the Museum of Natural 

 History of Belgium. He writes of certain ' curious aerial 

 or subterranean detonations, which are pretty commonly 

 heard, at least in Belgium and in the north of France, and 

 which are doubtless a general phenomenon, although little 

 known, because most people wrongly imagine it to be the 

 sound of distant artillery. 



"I have constantly noticed these sounds in the plain of 

 Limburg since 1880, and my colleague of the Geological 

 Survey, M. Rutot, has heard them very frequently along 

 the Belgian coast, where our sailors call them 'mist pouffers' 

 or fog dissipators. The keeper of the lighthouse at Ostend 

 has heard these noises for several years past ; they are 

 known near Boulogne, and the late M. Houzeau spoke of 

 them to my friend M. Lancaster. More than ten of my 

 personal acquaintances have observed the fact. 



" The detonations are dull and distant, and are repeated 

 a dozen times or more at irregular intervals. They are 

 usually heard in the day-time when the sky is clear, and 

 especially towards evening after a very hot day. The noise 

 does not at all resemble artillery, blasting in mines, or the 

 growling of thunder." 



1 T. D. La Touche, Brit. Assoc. Eep. 1890, p. 800. 



