The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1831-12-28

the surface of the sea about a foot high; it
was whltish, and appeared above that
height Ike thick smoke. so that il proper-
~ resemhled some burning straw. which
only smoked; it made II noise like that Of i
torrent which runs with much rapditv in
deep valley: hut this noise was mixed with
clearer, similar to the strong hissinp of
serpents or vpers a little while afterwards
we perceived something like dark canal.
which bore strong resemblance TO smoke
which ascends towards the clouds. turning
round with great velocity this appeared
about the thickness of my finger, and the
same noise still continued; the duration Of
tins spout was no longer than about half a
quarter of an hour: this over, we perceived
another on the south side OF us, which he
gan IN the same manner as the preceding
ana almost as soon, a similar one n,ade lis
appearance on the west side and, directly
ATE, tbiId by the Gi.Tc of the serond; the
farthst of tho three might be about mus
ket-ssst distance from as they all three
appeared like burning heaps ofstraw, foot
and half or two feet high. We after
wards saw as many canals, which descend
ed from the clouds on those places where
the water was raised up, and each of them
was as broad at the end fastened to the
clond, as the broad end of trumpet, and
resembied the human breast or that of an
animal, drawn perpendlcularly down by
| heaVy weight; these canals appeared of
darklsh white, and were not straight. hnt
crooked IN some places; they even were
not perpendicular but on The contrary.
nom the clouds where they were Joined TO
The parts which drew in the water, they
were very much bent; and what is more
particular u.s. that having been driven bv the
wind, this canal followed it without break
ing or quitting the place where it drew in
the water, and passing behinG the first ca
nal, they were sometimes crossed like st.
Andrews Cross. At the beginning thew
we're oil three about the thickness of nv
finger, but afterwards the first of the three
increased considerably: but the last which
was formed scarcely remained longer than
that which we saw on the north side. The
second on the south side remained about
quarter of an hour, but the first on that
side remained little longer, and this it
was which terrified us the most. At first
its canal was as thick MS my finger, after
wards as thick as my arm, then as nv leg.
and at last as the trunk of large tree,
whIrh man might compass with his arms.
We distinctly perceived water through this
transparent body, which assembled in ser
pentine manner. Sometimes it diminished
little IN size, sometimes at top and some
times at bottom: then it resemhled exactly n
soft tube, with some fluid matter pressed with
the fingers, either upwards to make this
liquor descend, or at bottom to cause it to
ascend. After this, it diminished so much
that ii was thinner than NV arm afterwards
1t returned as thick as my thigh and then
again became very thin; at last, saw that
The water elevated on the surface Of the
sea began to lower and the end of the ca
nal which touched it divided and grew
narrower, when variation of the light re-
moved it from our view."