BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 
422 
Miscou, notably Mr. Jas. Bruno and Mr. Ed. Vibert, both of 
whom sail much on the bay, tell me they have never seen it, and 
do not believe in its existence. 
So much for local testimony. But it receives confirmation 
from another source. For many years past Dr. J. Orne Green of 
Boston, a Professor in the Harvard Medical School, has spent 
several weeks on Miscou and has taken a great interest in all that 
relates to the region. He tells me that he has himself seen a 
light which he was told was the fire-ship. Many years ago when 
running at night towards Caraquet he saw a fire off in the bay, 
and called the attention of his companions to it, but finally 
thought it must be a woods fire on the north side of the bay. 
Reaching Caraquet, however, he found the people excited, be- 
cause they said the fire-ship was out in the bay. He told them of 
his belief that it was a woods fire, but they declared this could 
not be, because it had moved. The wind at the time was gentle, 
from the southwest, but it w ! as followed the next day by a great 
northwester. His interest being thus aroused Dr. Green, in later 
years, attempted to investigate the phenomenon. He found that 
it w r as reported not only in Bay Chaleur but also in the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence as far south as Northumberland Straits. He came 
tc; the conclusion that while the stories were mostly exaggerated 
and distorted there was nevertheless some basis for them in fact, 
and that there does occur in this region some natural light of the 
general nature of “St. Elmo’s Fire.” This was exactly the con- 
clusion to which I had come independently, as stated in this note 
when originally read before this Society. 
Grouping together 'all the evidence it seems plain,— first, that 
a physical light is frequently seen over the waters of Bay Chaleur 
and vicinity; second, that it occurs at all seasons, or at least in 
winter as well as in summer; third, that it usually precedes a 
storm ; fourth, that its usual form is roughly hemispherical with 
the flat side to the water, and that at times it simply glows with- 
out much change of form, but that at other times it rises into 
slender moving columns, giving rise to an appearance capable of 
interpretation as the flaming rigging of a ship, its vibrating and 
