The Sun.
London, England, 1828-11-27 00:00:00

SINGULAR METEOR.

We have received the following from a fet.
the accuracy of whose observations full reliant;
be placed :--While walking in Prince's•street
afternoon, about three o'clock, I observed'a ream,
tea.
able meteor, like a ball of fire, of the colour 0f
di.
hot iron, from the leavens, nearly in a westerit,
rection from the Castle, and could not be snore
a mile distant ; its fall was qsiite perpendicular,
not in a parobola, as is generally the case with el.
teors. It appeared to ignite about a mile in o.erlieh,r
slicular height above the earth's surface, and It`
spot left a long upright pillar of light blue ti,e4,0,.
smoke, which continued withsant any visible 6,.itt!ed
tion for nearly a minute; it then gradually ttl'ir'fis/
a triangle, and afterwards became sespentsnes °):,f
ultimately assumed the irregular appearalge,;
a cloud. It moved in an easterly (litet:os'
and was not completely dissipated for 20 01)",,ioll;
after the fall of the meteor. So slow was its 01°`cht
that it had not travelled farther than in a str,°_,l%,
southerly direction from St. Andrew's.street,risie
that time. It was then blowing a pretty /is'''.
at the earth's surface, from which it would qrriii
that the lower current did not reach quite ana
perpendicular height from the
.earth. At till
let
tance the ball was from me, it had the appeal*,
of being somewhat less than the moon in diasaw:„:"
so that it must have been of considerable
tude. I think, in all probability, it must have
a meteoric stone, and that it had burst at the
was seen, and probably the small fragments were
visible at that distance. If this should be the c!Le
I think it likely the stone will be found. sornelvw.,
to the west of Fountain-bridge,—Scotsman.

'lO
!PO

THE SEVEN DISASTROUS YEARS'

From 1697 to 1704 were years of almost tillaielt;
ampled sterility in the North of Scotland; and rtile
a touching tale is found in Morayshire and along ye
coasts of Aberdeen and Banff, of the distress to 011.,10
the famine gave rise. In the. parish .of
only three smoking cottages were left ; the inho'vi
ants of the others having all died during this hello
visitation. From poverty and the awful prevsllol
of mortality, the ordinary rights of Christian 10 ja
were denied to the poor, large holes being dugd,
many places, into which the bodies were consigalo
One maiden lady in Garmouth, whose memorY,.l.
still gratefully embalmed in the traditional re7;t%
lections of the peasantry, provided shrouds and I#o
fins for such as wandered to her door to die, 011"1,01
anxious were the poor to avail themselves of thi9:ol
privilege, that they husbanded their little stno;tht
meal, and journeyed far and near, that they2,fl.ltitt
close their eyes secure of decent interment. W'
the same period, a calamity of a different nattire;ir
curred, which has entailed a still more lasting ,
fortune on many proprietors of the soil. Bet g•`
Findhorn and Nairn, below the latter place, 7:01
chain of sand•hills, and the people on the beete
coast having plucked for fuel the broom and ;t1
grass with which they were covered, the vi,../0)131
which in this part of the country blows P.t-tie
the west three-fourths of the veal% caught 4-0
sand, and blew it like chaff upwards of twentrde
miles along the shore. Thousands of acres no
in this manner overlaid. In some places I'. fo
not above a foot in depth, but in vales and hullo
it lay so deep that many gardens were comPleta
engulphed, and apples might be seen shooting the
from the topmast branches, and rolling upo"Lci
sand. In the parish of Dallas, above 1500 a'ao
were rendered useless, but the proprietor aftenvtroo
obtained some compensation in a grant of 2001.'1,he
Government. The estate of Coulbiti, which i0:01,
assessed books of that period, was valued at 1Z
se•
Scots, shared the same fate,,and is still totally 0
less, though the lands might be now worth frc,
1500/. to 1800/. sterling." One gentleman of our.„s‘•
quaintance has, by patient digging and trench'
rescued about 300 acres of good land from the
of this destroyer; but partly from the extent 0' 01
evil, and partly from the benumbing tendellefoa
the entail laws, many hundreds of acres yet flit of
in their dreary sterility, the calamitous effec,,
the Seven Disastrous Y ears.-- Inverness Cogret