Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-08-25
Sea-Dust.

People laughed at the man who said
that the fish he had hooked clicked up
such dust IN the uater." Perhaps they
will laugh at the heading to this article:
but there wall still be "sea-dust," never
theless.
We have heard of water-spouts, of
showers of fish, of salt rain, and many
other curiosities which present them
selves in the atmosphere, but to assert
mat there is such thing as sea-dust is
to transcend all reasonable bounds. The
evidence, however, in favor of it's ex-
lstence is exceedingly powerful-indis-
putable, in fact-and this is the story
told by eye-witnesses. They say that in
certain parts Of the world, notably about
the Cape de Verde Islands, there are con-
stanty met at SEA, several hundred miles
away from land, thick, yellowisIl-redf ogs,
not unlike London fogs i'll November.
These fogs obscure the atmosphere, and
are very injurious to navigation, but they
have not the baleful odor of their Lon
don prototypes, nor do they affect the
breathing in the same way. Whilst sail
ing through them it is found that the
ship, sails and rigging are covered with
q fine, impalpable powder, which falls as
dry rain, and covers the surface OH which
it falls sometimes to the depth of two
inches. In color, it is Of brick-dust
hue, sometimes of light yellow, and it
feels between the teeth like fine grit,
such as might be blown into the mouth
on a windy day in March. No place is
free from it's presence, it's fineness giving
1T power to penetrate everywhere. The
sea, while the dust is falling, looks as if
it had been peppered, and is discolOred
G. i ,eto Il
dust comes in shower, and passes off
again. The fOgs are nothing but vast
quantities of the dustsuspendedi in the air.
1t is not only in the vicinity of the
Cape de Verde that this wonderful dust
is seen. In the Mediterranean, OH the
northern parts of Africa, in the middle
of the Atlantic, it has been reported. 1t
is invariably the same in kind and APP
pearance, and examination under micro
scopes was proved the identity Of said
Cape de Verde sea-dust with Medterran-
can sea-dust. All this is very remarka-
BILE; dust falling in clouds, no land with
in some hundred of miles, nothing visi-
BILE which could possibly account for the
curious phenomenon. Sand-spouts there
are in sandy deserts, and showers of
sand taken originally from spots whereon
the carrier wind has left its mark but
here there is no desert from which the
sand can be rapt, and the wind, SO far
from being bosterous, or disposed to
play whirlwind pranks, is light and
steady, blowing ships along at a calm five
knots an hour.
In connection with these facts, hear
what Humboldt says of the sight he saw
in the dry river beds and sandy valleys
of Central America: "When beneath
the vertical rays of the bright and cloud
less sun of the tropics, the parched
sward crumbles into dust, then the in
durated soil cracks and bursts, as if rent
asunder by some mighty earthquake;
and if at such time two opposite cur
rents of air, by conflict moving In rapid
gyrations, come in contact with the
earth, singular spectacle presents itself.
Like funnel-shaped clouds, their apexes
touching the earth, the sands rise in va
pory form through the rarefied air in the
electrically charged centre Of the whlrl-
ing current, sweeping on like the rush.
ing water-spouts which strike such terror
into the hearts of the mariner. A dim
and sallow light CLEANS from the lower
ing sky over the dreary plain. The hOrl-
ION suddenly contracts, and the heart of
the traveller sinks with dismay as the
wide steppe seems to close upon him on
all sides. The hot and dusty earth forms
a cloudy veil which shrouds the heavens
from view, and increases the sitting op-
| preston Of the atmosphere"
1t is believed by scientific men that
these dust-clouds of Central America are,
| in all probability, closely connected
with the phenomenon of sea-dust.