ALARMING DARKNESS.
On October 23 Woolwich experienced a sudden and almost unexampled visitation of darkness. Thejmorning had been wet and gloomy throughout, but at 1 p.m. the sky was overcast with a dark pall which seemed to obscure every vestige of light from above. The darkness was not that of a London fog, for vistas of lighted windows could be seen for a long distance. It more resembled the darkness of midnight, but there was a reddish tint in the sky like that occasioned by a great fire. The atmosphere was very heavy and oppressive, the rain had ceased, and the wind, which had been blowing from the south-east, entirely abated. The effect was dismal in the extreme, and' even terrible. Nervous people experienced the most dread forebodings ; the more reasonable ones attributed the darkness to an eclipse of the sun, but found no confirmation in the almanac. Fowls went to roost, pigeons and other birds stopped in their flight to seek the nearest shelter, and every living thing seemed impressed with the gloom. The period of intense darkness lasted about five minutes, when light gradually broke in from the west, and an hour afterwards there was brilliant sunshine.
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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 128, 29 January 1874, Page 2
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199ALARMING DARKNESS. Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 128, 29 January 1874, Page 2
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