Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-03-18
AN AFRICAN THUNDERSTORM
The Peculiarly Sudden Sun-DroP as
Seen in South Africa.
San Francisco Call.


Did YOU ever read of an African
thunder storm? It is said that 1t is
uneoualed in any other part OF the
world. lay one evening an hour be-
fore sunset. in my tent. after a toll
some DAVIS Journey. Without q mo-
ment's warning a sudden crash was
heard. another In quick succession,
and again another, louder and more
vehement than if q hundred parks of
artillery were fired about my ears.
Then the rattle and the binding
flashes of blue-green lightning sending
it's bolts into the earth all around, kill
ing everything both animals and
plants, within It's reach. Ny nerves
got completely unstrung, and would
have given worlds for some dark cav
ern to crawl into to hide my own
nothingness. There I had to stand,
paralyzed with awe, expecting every
moment the dread messengers that
were floating about me would summon
me to the other life. Now began to
fall heavy drops of crystal water
on my tent, increasing every instant
till it seemed TO fall In one solid sheet.
Then the wind roared through the
trees and I was startled almost into
unconsci0usDess by heavy thud on
the ground near me. In all my long
life never experienced anything so
awful as the storm that night IN the
Transvaal. After about an hour of
this terrible din OF the elements there
was suddenly cease to all just as
suddenly as it began. The red sun
appeared near the horizon, the clouds
all passed away, leaving the atmos-
phere deliciously cool and refreshing,
and when the sun dipped behind the
mountain it was succeeded by a sill
very moon that looked like a glitter
ing crescent in the beautiful blue sky.
The shock Of the system was succeed
ed by q quiet repose that was indie
Misunderstanding far beyond the
dolce far niente of Italy or Spain.
When | awOke next morning to the
call oil the Kaffir muleteer, felt a
sense of great refreshment and e4r
hilaration that was something abaor-
NAL. We were aroused from our
slumbers another night by commo-
ton among our guides. One of them,
a Kaffir, rushed into my tent and
SuOuL6u, IuS 1uSdudAls IuO 1lOhSs
Itseems they were attracted by the
light of our fires from the caves in the
rocks adjacent, and reared as lions
only can roar when they saw our
mules and oxen. But the big fires the
Kaffirs kept burning and the firing of
their rifles overawed them, and they
skunk away growing as they went.
While on the journey through the
Transvaal we always started soon after
sunrise, and travelled for two or three
hours, then pitched our tents and fed
our animals till Or o'clock in the
afternoon. We then travelled till an
hour before shutdown, when we again
camped, picketed the oxen and the
donkeys, and got the boys to pile up
wood for the night. The sun was
always ready to "drop" when we had
this task done. The drop is express
sive enough when you imagine s red
hot globe of iron dropped into sea of
ink. Unless when the moon is in her
first quarter, the sudden darkness that
overspreads the earth is remarkable.
But the fires Of the Kaffirs are already
ablaze, and we look INTO each others
faces smilingly, and defyig the
paipable darkness that revels around
our outer circle