A STARTLING PHENOMENA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 42, 17 January 1884, Page 2

A STARTLING PHENOMENA.

(London Letter.) Much surprise has been caused m this country by 'the remarkable sunrises and sunsets that have been witnessnd m various [localities for some weeks past. News from abroad speaks also of strange appearances of the "sun! In Trinidad (West Indies), on Septeuiher 2nd , the sun looked like a blue globe, and at sunset turned into adeeo Sil A i? lombo (Ceylon), from Sep. tember Bth to 15th, the rising and setting sun was of an tmusnal green rotor while at Barbados, about' the S date, it was various colors. At Barinas, Venezuela (South America): on September 2nd, from sunrise to noon ami from 3 pm. to sunset, the sun looked like burnished silvef; between noon and 3 p.m. it was bluish green. Now m London, and, indeed, all over South England, the rifle and setting of the orb of day ha* been accompanied by an extraordinary rone color, alternating with brilliant orange and yellow. Commenting on th,?«e strange sights, Mr U J. Nymonj* (celebrated Tor his reBeareliCH into the xubjecfc r.f rainfall and MMsteoroJogj) frnggcfil!! that the appearance* may be d ,<; to clouds of volcanic d«wt floating m the upper strata of the atnioipnerft, from t-Jie . eruption m the Strait* of HnndsL. Profwaor Tyndall has long ago s j, own } iOW the impure condition of the zimmpkere brings abont iU r»ii/,m colored rays, vwMe at «nnri*ft m d settiW by arresting thft varion* hn<w of the awi trum travelling at varying velocities. U is, however, notic^ble that fche terrible erupUon took place on Aoguat 26 and 21 and that most of the atran^elycobredsuns were seen immediately after that event, wheieas the remarkable sunsets visible here have occurred two and three months later : but, if%ue to this cause, the 1 vast clouds 'of comrmnated ashes most -be floating m some upper region beyond thereach of rain and the earth's attraction- Speaking of.the. .eruption, Mr Symons says that full detail, concerning it are yet wanting, but that it. was appalling beyond all precedent Such vast cloud* of smoke and ashes ascended from: the furnace that the whole of North Java was darkened by clouds for thirty-six hours. could be seenexcept byartiaciaihght during the whole of that time. The tidal wave, so called, was 98 feet high, and such * .derage would have destroyed- • the greater parb of London had it occurred; there. The effects of the- wave were even experienced at the Cape, at least the tide guages registered an. uuusual range of rise and fall about that time. ' The looses of the Dutch Government are so great, that Mr Symous suggests that the scientific world -generally should combine to investigate the, phenomena attending the eruption and its "effects all round the globe. At Batavia was an observatory equipped with splendid instruments of every sort, and if they have escaped destruction their records ought to be of immense interest. Ihere were also 151 rainfall stations, but many of these, with their observers, have been swept away by the flood. It is lo be noted that the. great eruption of August was preceded by a lesser one m, May, and that a party from Batavia courageously landed oh the island of Krakatowa to observe its effects.