The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-01-04
The Mc,corIc shower in syria.
A morning paper has the following de-


mctcoric shower in the public Journals was
dry noted, and in order to draw the atten-
ton of the people Of Syria to the SUBJECT
ono or the American missionaries In our
CITY wrote an article in Arabic for the
weekly Arabic newspaper, requesting tue
public to watch during the nights Oh tue
18TH and 18th for a grand display OIL iai'ns
stars The notice was read with astonish-
mcnt by some, and with ridicuie oy others.
Have they prophets in America VINO hno"
when the stars will fall Who told them
One old sheikh, famous ARABIC scaoia, ,
declared he should not believe u until nc
saw it. The thing was Incredible. IL was
a piece of western assumption 10 MAKE ou'
that they know more than we eastefheis
do, sc. 49,, ca ,
1T . little after midnight, some young men
in Beirut, who were out OF doors' sd"
,,'ha, tb.y described as rain of fire, the
s,,rs seeming TO have got loose and to be
running about the sky In DISORDER. ooo.
after. terrific thunderstorm set IN, ana
for two hours there was an almost unin'e'
rupted crash of thunder and glare OF shee'
lightning. ,,o.. 10Th.
On the nights Of the llth and l2th notn'
ing was seen, as it was cloudy ana rainy
On the nights of 18th and 18Th was walch,
ing by the bedside of SICK frieha' anu
though looked out every hour III III.
night, | could see nothing III the soaPo y,
metuors. though the clouds were oen'e
during nearly the whole night. oh the
morning of the 18th, at o'clock,l was
awakened from sleep by one oi Tue ~
tcstant Young men shouting, Inc s,ais al :.
all coming down." | arose lmneaia'e'!
and spcnt the rest Of the night with some
friends, guests in my house, walking upon
the housctop. The sight was indesctioa-
hI,, Grand and beautiful. A slight mist oo-
strncted the view towards the south, put
over Lebanon and the sea the SKY was
/ clear and the mctcors were pouring down
| like a rain Of fire. Some were small, and
others large, and almost every one LETT a
long train of fire behind it, so that the
effect was beautiful in the extreme. One
immense green meteor came down over
Lebanon, nearly as large, to appearance,
as the moon, ahd burst with loud noise,
| leaving q pillar of lightin the train. Many
! of them roarcd through the air, and eX-
plodcd before reaching the earth.
While looking toward Lebanon the whole
| sky became suddenly Illuminated as if by
| the light Of MONDAY, and turning around
we saw an immense column of light to
/ the northwest over the sea, being evidently
the train lett by some enormous meteor
which had fallen into the sea. 1t was in
vain to count them, and the display con-
! tinued until dawn, when their light was
obscurcd by the king of day. The young
man who aroused me from sleep said that
half hour previous, or at half-past 5, the
sight was terrific, and he ran into the
house for fear Of being overwhelmed with
the fire. Il was, he said, a continuous fire
rain Of large aud small stars for more than
| half an hour, when he remembered my re-
! quest and ran To give me word. The alarm
was first given by native Waterman at
! the preparatory department Of the Syrian
| Protestant college who had heard OF the
Fexpccted display and was on the lookout.
I have Just received the Arabic newSpa-
per Of this weeks issue, and find in it the
following news about the mcteors, which,
lor your benefit, | will translate literally:
"BEIRUT Domestic INTELLIGENCE
There has preceded this a notice in No. 43
Of our journal, of the falling metcors on
the 18th and 18th Of November, and there
happened a marvellous thing OF the kind
on the night Of the 18Th ard morning of
the l4'n OF said month"; and many Of the
people Of Beirut that night, from the ninth
hour of that night until the eleventh hour
thereof Tor halt-past 2 to half-past 4 O'Clock
4. VI J, saw the mctorc stars scattered
through the heavens, flying from every
side, and they saw thousands Of these
mctcOrS mixed in commotion and con-
fusion, and they compared their extent IN
the heavens to the spreading ont OF the
locuStS in the sky. And we have news
from Damascus that these same events
were seen there, and they compared them
to the mighty armies joined in fierce strife
from the four quarters OF the sky, and the
arrows of fire, great and small, dashed
to and fro between them, and falling to the
earth, smote one another To the east and
west and north and south, and from the
multitude of the meteorS of different sizes
| il was impossible for one observing them TO
tell how many fell in minute"
| The Arabic journal then gives highly
! fanciul letter on the subject from one of
the learned men of Damascus, the scholar
! Solcyman Ettcndi Sooleh, who says:
{" In this past night, which corresponds
to the morning OF Wednesday the l4th of
our month, November, the stars begun the
war from east to the west, and from the
south to the northern side. They dashed
at the pace of fiery Stceds and ghoulS SO
that you could not distinguish the Plei-
AIDES from the Hyades for the passing Of
| the meteors across them and the intensity
of the brightness. But you now thought
! that the two stars IN LcO'S nose had been
dispersed, and the two fishes were eclipSed
aud immersed, and the spearman OF Arc
turns had togotten lis spear, and was think
| ing on.y of his own safety, and the Adhal
was complaining 10 the bright daughters of
| UrSa Major about the extent Of his wound,
and the lofty pole had fallen into the
claws of the eagle, and the Hedheah was
PROSTATE, and the face of Night like Il
| leopard's skin; and to sum up all, the
heavens were like a sphere Of fire, or a
cleaning Of sparks, excepting that the fire
and sparks were harmless, not touching
our earth or iniuring our safety, as if
Nights daring h. r.eman, who continued till
morning beating one another in single COM
bat, gave US protection and peace. This
write for his EXcelency our Prince the
| Sultan Abdul A2izkhan. May God perpe-
tuate the seat OF his government to the
end of earth'S revolution"
| This will do for an Oriental description
! of the meteorS Of 1S"G. | should state, in
connection with this subject, that the great
majority of all the mctcors seen in Beirut
seemed to come from point in space
northeast, and to move in parallel columns
toward the earth in n westerly course.
| The old incredulous Sheikh in Beirut, who
refused to believe, was reused up by his
sons, and saw all with his own eyes, cx-